Newtown Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 members assisted Reed Intermediate School sixth grade math and science teacher Drew Hall’s students on November 12 by dropping student projects from a ladder truck.

According to Mr Hall, the sixth grade students were challenged to work together to create a design that could protect a raw egg from cracking or breaking when dropped. Students worked in groups to use recycled materials from home to then build the design in school as an engineering and science project. Many clusters at Reed conduct similar projects, and Mr Hall said this year he decided to “ramp it up.”

The sixth grade students gathered outside on the breezy and chilly morning of November 12 to watch as the ladder truck’s ladder extended, then as firefighter Matt Campbell dropped each design one by one. First Assistant Chief Jason Rivera, firefighter Emily Clark, and firefighter David White assisted in the experiment. Ms Clark also climbed the ladder to help drop the experiments.

As the students waited for the firefighters to set up the ladder, they explained their projects were made out of different collected items. Groups used things like boxes, tissue paper, newspaper, straws, tape, plastic food containers, and foam on their projects.

Students AJ Stinson and Jeffrey Hanna were the first group to have their project dropped, and the boys quickly dug into their design to learn if their egg was still intact. Jeffrey held his hand up high to display their egg, completely unbroken, as students cheered.

According to Mr Hall, 20 egg containers dropped from 50 feet on November 12. Of the 50 designs, 12 eggs “survived.” The class and firefighters then “upped the height to 75 feet and had eight survivors.”