The five engineers on the winning team in the nationwide design competition were celebrating their victory, partying hard on Haagen-Dazs and Nestle bars in their top-floor headquarters, standing around the soaring creation that had absorbed so much of their time and imagination, and boasting that no one else could have done the job.

"Especially not boys; boys are too picky," said 12-year-old Melissa Rivera. Boys want everything their own way, Melissa said, and they don't make good team players. Girls, simply put, can do just as well, maybe even better, she said.