Teams Take Pumpkin Launch to New Heights (and Lengths)
IIT Today November 01, 2007

Teams at the 3rd annual IIT Pumpkin Launch raised the bar high this year, smashing last year's launch records and entertaining a huge crowd as they enjoyed cider and candy apples.



19 teams of more than 100 students, faculty, staff, and alumni rolled a wide variety of launching devices, including catapults, trebuchets, and ballistas, onto Siegel Field for the launch.



The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) team, which counted President Anderson among its members, came just one foot shy of the maximum allowed distance with their winning launch of 234 feet. Their trebuchet design featured an enormous arm swung by a massive counterweight, which sent spectators scurrying out of the way as their winning pumpkin soared across the full length of Siegel Field. The ASCE team members included Kaitlyn Conley, Kevin O'Leary, and Will Patterman, with assistance from Bill Wylie, Carmen Aguilar-Wedge, Dave Belanger, Lucas Rodgers, Steven Leeman, Nathan Schmidt, Dan Votipka, Carl Eckstrand, Xavier Alarcon, and Bernard Froehlich. The ASCE team would also like to thank Sigma Phi Epsilon for temporarily housing components and materials as well as the reconstruction on Siegal Field.



Coming in second place with a launch of 168 feet, 8 inches were The Delts (of Delta Tau Delta fraternity), who included Kyle Haines, Josh Sullivan, Dave Cooper, Kevin Kuabrick, Matt Renfree, and John McClusky. In third place was 50 Dolla, whose pumpkin made it 162 feet 11 inches, and their team included Josh Marell, Ryan Rudiera, Leon Chan, Zach Capps.



The judges no doubt had a difficult time deciding on the most creative pumpkin launcher, which was awarded to The Delts for their intimidating ballista design. Teams better start work on next years designs, because the ingenuity of this years launchers will be hard to beat.



Congratulations to all the teams and to the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Student Government Association for their excellent work in organizing the pumpkin launch.



Media loves pumpkins


The media came out in force to cover the IIT Pumpkin launch, both on TV and in print.



Television



ABC 7 News



ABC 7 News



CBS 2 News



FOX 32 News



CNN



Print and web



Chicago Tribune



Chicago Sun-Times (article)


Chicago Sun-Times (photo gallery)



Medill Reports (with video)