Students in Newtown Continuing Education’s Design It, Build It, Launch It camp tested some of their designs on Wednesday, July 15, with the help of Newtown Hook & Ladder Company #1 firefighters.

For the second year in a row, Design It, Build It, Launch It instructor Rick Lowry challenged his campers to design and create a contraption that could safely hold and prevent a raw egg from breaking when dropped from the height of an extended ladder truck.

As Design It, Build It, Launch It campers gathered outside Reed Intermediate School on Wednesday, the students held their creations in their hands. The campers said they used things like duct tape, bubblewrap, old tissue boxes, wooden sticks, plastic straws, and “fluffy pipe cleaners” to design and build their containers.

The Design It, Build It, Launch It camp, according to Newtown Continuing Education, offers students in fourth through seventh grade the chance to use their hands and minds to build machines. The course uses engineering concepts, and it is geared to students who enjoy science, according to the camp's description at summersmartcampct.org.

Camper Dante Verna said he designed a suspension system inside his container to cradle his raw egg.

As Mr Lowry said, campers this year were not allowed to use parachute designs on their contraptions. He also said the challenge was designed to mimic a real engineering problem, with materials and funds restricted.

The Design It, Build It, Launch It camp was offered in two sessions, each two weeks long. The first session ran from July 6-17. The second session began on July 20 and runs through July 31.

Throughout all the projects during the camp, Mr Lowry previously said, he stresses the importance of solving problems and improving on designs.

Other activities Mr Lowry said campers participate in include building mousetraps, designing rockets, looking at and designing three different types of “balloon cars,” and designing and building catapults.

Newtown Continuing Education intern and The College of New Jersey student Rachel DiVanno, who is majoring in teaching and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), has been working with Mr Lowry and the students throughout the program this summer.

She was quick to add her guess when asked how many of the eggs would not break when dropped from the height of the extended fire truck ladder. Ms DiVanno, like some of the campers, guessed four eggs would remain intact.

“Hopefully it will be all seven,” said Ms DiVanno, “but I don’t know.”

All of the campers added their guesses, which ranged from three to six of the seven possible designs.

“Five. Four. Three. Two. One!” the seven campers, onlookers, and instructors all said together as Newtown Hook & Ladder Company #1’s Jason Shuttleworth held the first container up to be dropped.

With a splat, the group heard the first egg break.

“That’s disgusting!” one camper said as yellow yolk leaked out of the contraption laying on the concrete.

The second contraption, designed and built by Jack Dyson, was the first egg to remain intact after its 60-foot fall from the partially extended ladder truck.

Campers Jesse Kinsmann, Connor Adams, and Thomas Simms also had their raw eggs remain intact after falling the 60 feet.

For more information about Newtown Continuing Education's summer camp offerings visit summersmartcampct.org online or call Newtown Continuing Education at 203-426-1787.