In Statics, students learn to apply the equations of motion to non-accelerating systems. One very important such engineering system is a truss which is used in large structures like bridges, cranes, and buildings. Therefore, each year students are challenged to design, build and test plane truss bridges using balsa wood. This is the first experience students have with optimizing their designs as the bridges are judged on their strength to weight ratio (i.e. the load the structure can carry before failing divided by the weight of the structure). Therefore, students use analytical and numerical techniques to analyze the forces in their structure in order to optimize their design.