Medieval Castle Pumpkin Catcher Wins Top Award

A pumpkin catcher modeled after a Medieval castle and built by high school students from Portsmouth won the top award at the 11th annual Pumpkin Drop sponsored by the Old Dominion University Society of Physics Students on Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Batten Arts and Letters (BAL) Building on the ODU campus.

The winning catcher, which successfully cushioned the fall of a pumpkin dropped from the top of the 9-story BAL, was designed and built by the Apocalyptic Nightmarish Pumpkin Eaters team from Portsmouth Catholic School. Members are Liz Wagner, Laura Daigle, Nick Crawford and Stacey House.

The team was mentored by Portsmouth Christian teacher Aaron Karavias, who holds a degree in physics from ODU. His teams have been frequent winners in the competition for the past five years.

The honorable mention award went to an innovative bubble in a box catcher that was powered by a small leafblower. The entry, which also successfully caught a pumpkin, was designed and built by students in the ODU Physics 231 class taught by Professor J. W. Van Orden.

Approximately 200 spectators were on hand for this year's Pumpkin Drop, which featured not only the demonstration of catchers, but also physics experiments using the falling pumpkins.