Adilen Martinez and Simon Valdez, two students with New Mexico State University’s Aggies Without Limits, were part of a group of volunteers that built a 237-foot suspended pedestrian bridge in Utuado, Puerto Rico this summer.
Each year, Aggies Without Limits, an organization in NMSU’s College of Engineering, chooses construction projects in North and South America to work on.
This year, the group chose Puerto Rico, because the island was devasted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
The project ran from May 14 to June 12, with fifty-five volunteers including thirty-nine NMSU students and alumni and sixteen University of Texas-El Paso students and faculty in the Engineers for a Sustainable World organization. The bridge reached 237 feet and cost around $40,000 in materials.
According to NMSU’s Tiffany Acosta, the service project is part of the organization’s drive to help communities with sustainable engineering projects.
NMSU mechanical engineering senior David Castellanos said he learned a great deal as project manager.
“It was a beautiful experience,” he said. “It’s crazy how a project like this brings people together.”
While the Aggies Without Limits began as an engineering organization about half of the group’s members are from other disciplines. Communication senior and Aggies Without Limits president Molly Williams joined to volunteer for international service.
“You don’t have to be an engineering student to move rocks or to help pour concrete or help build a form,” she said. “If you have a basic understanding you can help.”
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