Student Steel Bridge Competition brings over 500 students to UTEP.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) - Over 500 students from 44 schools came to El Paso for the National Student Steel Bridge Competition sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction for the teams to design, fabricate, and build their own 20 foot steel bridge.

Student lead planner Paulina Sandoval told ABC-7 the bridges are judged based on the construction portion of their bridge, a project she says teams have been working on since the fall, and specifically how quickly the bridges can be constructed.

Sandoval said penalties are given for dropping metal, with the other portion of Saturday's competition being based on vertical load tests according to Sandoval.

After this, Sandoval said, the total estimated cost of every students as if it were a real construction budget and the winner will have the lowest budget.

The teams are quiet and efficient, with the only noise in the room coming from the metal plates being stacked on top of each other for balance.

This is something Sandoval, a recent UTEP graduate in Civil Engineering, competed in last year and said collaboration is her favorite aspect of the field.

"Working in teams can be a little tricky sometimes but it really brings everything together," Sandoval said. "I mean first of all, you have your structural, geotech transportation. So putting everything together, you're always working with other people and you're learning from them and they're learning from you."

But according to Head Judge Javier Moncada, there was a twist to this years competition of a scaled bridge across the Rio Grande as if being built in El Paso.

Moncada said this included the challenges of fast construction times as well as a variable profile over a simulated river.

Moncada said the competition has grown overtime, reaching up to 1,100 students nationally and he said getting kids involved in STEM related fields early is important because then it becomes fun.