October 16, 2015, Accra, Ghana – Knight Piésold Ghana hosted a model bridge building contest for its annual Schools Initiative Program (SIP) on October 9, 2015. Held on the theme “Building Bridges–Connecting People,” the contest challenged students from five senior high schools in the Accra area to design a model bridge using wood, strings, and glue. Participating schools included the O’Reilly Senior High School, Osu Presbyterian Secondary School, Accra Academy, Armed Forces Senior High School, and St. Mary’s Secondary School.

Now in its fourth year, the SIP aims to educate students on practical engineering applications—in line with the company’s vision of creating platforms for skills training for more Ghanaians. Students were briefed on the preparation of the model bridge at an orientation workshop and were given a week to build it for presentation on the October 9^th finale. Robert Boamah, chairman of the Knight Piésold’s SIP team, noted that “participating students have had their capacity enhanced to actualise the many dimensions of science learned in class into a practical civil engineering design.”

Participating students from the Armed Forces Senior High School won the contest, followed at a close second by students from the Accra Academy. Knight Piésold Ghana recognizes the knowledge and skills demonstrated by the students and looks forward to providing learning opportunities for more students in the future.

“We have received positive reports since we began the competition in 2012. Students who have been taking part in our competitions are performing well in their academics,” said Ama Nketiah, member of Knight Piésold’s SIP team.