Refusal, Hard Work, Persistence, and Road to Singapore

Windya and Danbe's success was the result of their hard work which was realized through their creation, Harjuna Bridge. Undoubtedly, they had to go through many obstacles to seize the trophy. They shared many stories about their hardships, one of them was when they had to deal with the presentation session with their rather unprepared slides. At the time, they were overwhelmed with tight mid tests schedule. "What can we do?" Windya recalled, "we certainly couldn't go back to Jakarta empty-handed.  We had no choice but to finish this well."

Long before this event, both students, who initially hoped for nothing more than experience, determined to do their best after knowing that their department was willing to fully support their financial needs regarding this competition. Instantly, Windya invited Danbe to join her and since then they continuously prepared themselves for the competition. They had to work hard and extensively for several days so that they were ready before the examination week.

During their preparation, many interesting things happened along their journey. At that time, among the four applying teams, only three teams would be supported by the department.  The prospective teams should submit their bridge design proposals and the best ones would be funded by the department. Due to their tight class and task schedule, Harjuna Bridge Team failed to deliver a complete and sophisticated proposal. The other three teams, which mostly consisted of senior students who were working on their final projects, had more spare time to work on the proposals. "We were confident. At that moment, we decided to apply with our own money. After all, it will be a good experience and the prize is promising," said Danbe. On the other hand, it turned out that two of the three selected teams were late to submit their applications to the competition and that left only one selected team, Arkadiko, who were able to participate at the event.  With their persistence, the department finally decided to fund Harjuna Bridge Team along with Arkadiko Bridge Team to set off to Singapore.

Harjuna Bridge, Rookie of The Year

Knowing that the expectation was high on them, Windya and Danbe rushed to learn the bridge design configuration and trained themselves in building and simulating the loading test. From the two loading simulation tests they did in the laboratory, the team, who at the time had not found a supervisor yet, found many flaws. Utilizing their structural and software knowledge learned in class, both of them tinkered the configuration. Juggling between testings and the upcoming examinations, they could only optimize the bridge modelling with an application before flying off to NTU. They were still unsure about their design since it had not gone through the last loading test, but they were confident after considering it with engineering judgment skills. "We have learned the existing configuration through experience," they stated.

Their bridge design was graded based on three criteria, which are efficiency, esthetics, and presentation. Efficiency contributed highest to the total score (60%). The Harjuna bridge, which was built with wooden sticks amazed the judges by achieving the highest efficiency of 2.33 (ratio of load over bridge weight), slightly surpassing Universitas Gajah Mada's (UGM) team, which got 2.23. Danbe expressed his difficulties during the competition to maintain his health before the five-hour-assembly-session, "during the assembly, nobody watched over our precision. We felt that we made so many mistakes. There was even a time when the bridge was slightly tilted." Nonetheless, the final score of Harjuna Bridge was far beyond the other top five teams, which were CS Bridge (UGM), Bob the Builder (Malaysia), Arkadiko (ITB), and Bhakti Parahyangan (Unpar).

Harmony at Indonesia Domination    

Although NTU BDC trophy was won by the event's host itself in the previous year, this year's board of winners was remarkably topped by Indonesian teams which just started to participate. The domination was heavily felt by Windya and Danbe. While waiting for the results, they spent the time by mingling with other competitors. "While waiting for paneling session, we observed the other teams and talked to them. It occured that most of them were from Indonesia as well," stated Windya in her disbelief.

Danbe and Windya knew they were not alone in representing ITB and they maintained good relation with Arkadiko Bridge Team. "We are also very close with our seniors. Don't imagine us as the hot competitive fighters who are always at caution with each other. We're totally relaxed. Our designs are distinct, after all," Windya recalled.

Gratitude for HMS and ITB Civil Engineering Department

Danbe and Windya wanted to share their happiness to the organization that has given abundant support to them, ITB Society of Civil Engineering Students (HMS). "They are very supportive towards us; we were lent a workshop which was more convenient compared to the previous location, the Structure Laboratory, which was less favorable for bridge assembly. Before the event, every accommodation such as tickets and many more were prepared as well by the Department of Competition and Innovation (Kominov) of ITB HMS. We are very thankful to Timbul, Willa and other Kominov friends as well as Mr. Ryan as our supervisor." Interestingly, Kominov at the time was not officially formed yet because ITB HMS was going through the management transition.