The WVU student section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) hosts the annual pumpkin drop and raises money for the Ronald McDonald House from the entry fees. Originally eggs were dropped, but now it is pumpkins who make the 11-story fall.
You have to design a container/device/contraption of some kind to hold a pumpkin that will hopefully keep said pumpkin in one piece. The ultimate goal is to have your pumpkin survive the fall AND come closest to the target (a hand-drawn Jack-o-lantern painted on a white tarp). This year we worked on the project with several other homeschooled kids in the area (Monongalia Area Homeschoolers). My kids and I did two other drops in previous years and ended up with a smashed pumpkin both times.
We were the first ones in line (thanks to one of the homeschool moms in town who arrived early), which was great because it poured down rain the entire time we were there. And let me tell you, it was cold and miserable. I am not a duck. Our pumpkin survived it's fall, but ended up too far away from the target to qualify for any prizes. We didn't care about that because we were just happy the pumpkin made it. The kids are already planning next year's design hoping to get the pumpkin closer to the target.
The building the pumpkins were dropped from (that's the launch board way at the top)
Sydney in her froggy raincoat
Dylan trying to keep dry
Tucker (red pullover) with his friends getting ready to take pumpkin up
The aftermath of the first few pumpkins...we left early, so couldn't get a picture after all pumpkins had been dropped
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