ELEANOR, W.Va. -- "Wacky World of Balsa Wood Towers" competition displays some serious engineering talent from area middle school students.

With guidance from the Putnam Career and Technical Center's Pre-Engineering Program, over the past month the county's middle school gifted students have been focusing on math and science skills by designing and building structures made of Balsa wood. To culminate the month's activities, the structures were tested for their weight-bearing abilities in the school's first Balsa wood building competition.

Pre-Engineering Program instructor Katie McDilda explained that the students were enthusiastic about the project. Students had to conduct research on building and construction design and create a skit to incorporate into the tower's strength test, the competition's main agenda. The primary construction standard was that the design could not weigh more than 15 grams, and with the winning entry holding 130 pounds.

She added that Balsa wood is good classroom-model material to work with because the wood is easy and safe to cut, use and glue in creating construction models, along with being inexpensive. Additionally, she explained, "The materials allow for the understanding of geometry and angles looking at weight and where stress points are."

"The project was an excellent example of 21st century project-based learning, requiring students to demonstrate problem-solving, teamwork, presentation and communication, as well as math and science skills," Karen Nowviskie, Putnam County Board of Education director of early childhood education/community outreach, said in a prepared release.

Of the 18 teams that participated in the competition, the following winners were recognized: A first-place trophy went to Winfield Middle seventh-graders Garrett Grafton, Brock Pence and Merry Batt. A second-place certificate was awarded to George Washington Middle sixth- and seventh-graders Ben Martin, Adam Richmond, Ryan Humphrey and Gabe Garrison. A certificate for third place went to Winfield Middle seventh-graders Sequoya Bua-Iam, Mary Jorgensen, Caitlyn Miller and Tyler Holstein.