Using drinking straws and bag ties

Students on the Umina campus of Brisbane Water Secondary College spent a challenging lunchtime recently in a competition which combined problem-solving, construction and French culture, according to college principal Mr Pat Lewis.

The task was to use nothing more than drinking straws and plastic bag ties to construct the tallest Eiffel tower in 10 minutes.

The only condition was that the finished product had to look something like the real thing.

"With a large audience cheering on their favourites, the students worked feverishly despite some frustrations along the way with leaning towers (sorry, wrong country) and even some falling towers," Mr Lewis said.

Mr Lewis stated that at the end of the allotted time, every participant had very credible Eiffel tower.

"Judged on audience applause for the best tower, the clear winner was Corey Bartlett of Year 8," Mr Lewis said.

Press release, August 17 Pat Lewis, Brisbane Water Secondary College