Although they weren’t gingerbread houses like the one that sealed the fate of Hansel and Gretel, the towers built Tuesday by ISU engineering students and Iowa high schoolers at least had gumdrops.

As part of National Engineer’s Week, the College of Engineering sponsored the third-annual ICN (Iowa Communications Network) Tower Building Contest Tuesday in the ICN Room in Howe Hall.

The contest pitted about 200 high school students from 10 schools throughout Iowa against one another, with the object being to build the tallest tower of gumdrops and spaghetti noodles. Two ISU teams also built towers as exhibitions.

Tony Lambert, member of TEAM (The Engineering Ambassadors and Mentors), said each team was given only a 2-pound box of spaghetti noodles and a 24-ounce bag of gumdrops to construct its tower. The supplies were given to the schools by Iowa State to make sure everyone had the same materials.

Lambert said the teams were given 18 minutes to build their towers, which had to be free-standing.

Jodi Gilbertson, recruitment coordinator for the College of Engineering, said a lot of the high school teams were coached by their physics or math teachers, who incorporated the contest into their lesson plans.

The two teams representing Iowa State in the competition were women from SWE (Society of Women Engineers) and members of TEAM.

Gilbertson said the purpose of the event was to “get high school students interested in engineering and engineering careers, expose them to the ICN and to get students interested in Iowa State’s College of Engineering.”

The winning team, hailing from Cedar Falls High School, shattered the previous record of 150 centimeters, constructing a tower 216 centimeters high. For their efforts, Cedar Falls High School was awarded $200 to purchase equipment or educational materials and given possession of a traveling trophy until next year’s competition.

Gilbertson said she enjoyed the event because it made engineering seem exciting.

“It not only gets high school students interested in engineering, but it makes engineering fun as well,” she said.

David Holger, associate dean of engineering, said he also thought the event might have helped changed attitudes toward engineering.

“It was to publicize all the things engineers can do, even building towers from gumdrops,” he said.