Last Friday, over 70 students gathered in room P-7, in a race to build the highest tower… out of marshmallows and toothpicks. Participants tried a variety of designs and shapes, ranging from cubes to pyramids to blobs. By the end of the allotted time, juniors Rohan Chakraworty and Jeff Li tied with juniors Kyle Nguyen and Brian Lee for first place. Their towers stood 27 centimeters high, earning each of them $5 gift cards to Jamba Juice.

This year, 34 teams of two signed up at a fee of $2.  As an incentive to join, extra credit was offered to most science classes.

Each team was given a bowl of marshmallows and a handful of toothpicks as starting materials. The tower is required to fit on a standard piece of 8.5 x 11 paper, and participants had exactly ten minutes to finish. During the frantic building, Mr. Alex Lee walked around with a loudspeaker to keep order in the room. Ten minutes later, members of the Science Club measured each tower to the highest marshmallow. As Mr. Lee announced the winners, the rest of the students pulled apart their towers apart and ate them.

The Marshmallow Contest is hosted by the Science Club annually to raise money for its activities.