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Pumpkin Launch 2023

Kennesaw State celebrates annual engineering competition

By Kennesaw State University

October 27^th, 2023

The mood was festive, with music pumping, and there was a palpable competitive energy in the air with 10-pound pumpkins flying down the field. The 13th annual Kennesaw State University Pumpkin Launch was a huge success by all measures as students from the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology launched pumpkins from hand-built trebuchets.

As a pumpkin splattered all over Kennesaw State University’s Marietta Soccer Fields , the DJ quipped “That was a gutsy move if you ask me. Boom!” The crowd laughed and groaned at the silly joke.

“It’s a fun day,” said Kennesaw State President Kathy Schwaig, who was on hand to give opening remarks and kick off the event. “Everyone looks forward to Pumpkin Launch. We are so proud of our students.”

The Pumpkin Launch is as loved at KSU as the changing of the leaves. This year saw some big changes. For the first time, the launch teams were not made up of first-year students from the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (SPCEET). Instead, it featured students in their second or third year of mechanical engineering or mechanical engineering technology. All participating students were from Dynamics courses taught by lecturers Michael Braswell and Mehdi Sarmast.

“It was my first time as a professor that I was involved with the pumpkin launch event,” Sarmast said. “These students had to draft design their trebuchets by computer this year. So, I expected better shots based on accuracy, distance and creativity.”

Nine teams, made up of 9 or fewer students each, competed in two areas – distance and creativity. Students designed and built their trebuchets from scratch.

“Our trebuchet is that pretty one there with the red on it,” said third-year student Chase Sturgil, member of the team Pumpkin Spice Killers. “My team tied for first place two years ago, and I think we are in contention to win again. I’m feeling good.”

Bryson Dubsky, Collin Brandau and Fahim Dorsey were on the team Smashing Pumpkins.

“We’re confident we’ll launch,” Dorsey said. “But we’re not confident we’ll go the farthest.”

“This is worth 25 percent of our grade,” Dubsky added. “We really want to do well. If we weren’t so competitive, it would be fine. But we’re competitive.”

As the pumpkins launched, the crowd reacted to the length and speed of the pumpkins flying through the air.

The festivities also extended to those not launching this year. Students were seen laughing and enjoying each other’s company as they competed in cornhole games, oversized Jenga and Connect Four games, and the seeming fan favorite - the stuffing of their own Jack O’Bears.

Food trucks and a DJ on hand made the event even more of a party-like atmosphere.

Senior student Edgar Bryant from Norcross was on the team Bonus Points, the one team from mechanical engineering technology.

“We literally put our blood, sweat and tears into this,” Bryant said. “We worked all day some days. I know we gave it our all. And now that we are here, I actually wish I could do this again next year.”

The day wasn’t without some malfunctions. One trebuchet lost its launching arm on a trial run. Duct tape was creatively used to get it back up and running. Another trebuchet sent a pumpkin flying 10 feet backward. One trebuchet failed to launch at all during the team’s third launch. However, in the world of academia, those setbacks are merely called opportunities to overcome challenges.

SPEECT Assistant Dean of Operations Cameron Coates announced the winner for the creativity category was the team Pumpkin Spice Killers.

The clear winner for distance was also the team Pumpkin Spice Killers who sent a pumpkin through the air an impressive 459 feet. Third-year student Carter Pike of Marietta was the team’s safety captain.

“What a day,” Pike said. “This is what I signed up for. This is what I’ll be doing when I graduate. I might not be building a trebuchet, but I’ll be working with a devoted team wherever I end up, working on amazing devices and contraptions that will do great things that no one could have imagined."

In closing remarks for the event, SPCEET Dean Ian Ferguson echoed those same sentiments.

“The Pumpkin Launch competition is a ‘real world’ engineering opportunity,” Ferguson said. “Today students saw the fruits of their labor, and whether their device performed as it should or not, the engineering lessons learned are the most valuable aspect of this process. The participants will undergo a similar but more rigorous experience for their senior capstone design projects. We know they will use the lessons learned from this current project to ideate, design and create something phenomenal.”

The Winning Teams

1st place — Pumpkin Spice Killers: Carter Pike, Grace Miller, Cole Hamamoto, Jason Stephen, Chase Sturgill, Camden Snider, Tyler Does, Evan Archer

2nd place — Pumpkin Payload Pirates: Tyler Neumann, Alex Sneath, Ahaad Shaikh, Hunter Nasrallah, Jacob Cox, Mateo Triana, Brian Quintanilla, Jalen Kruse

3rd place — Bonus Points: Edgar Bryant, Loren Oliver, Matthew Azaroff, Kiara Arno, Carter Cherry, Jake Cooney, Jordan Dubberly, Jesus Munoz

“We literally put our blood, sweat and tears into this. We worked all day some days. I know we gave it our all. And now that we are here, I actually wish I could do this again next year.”

— Edgar Bryant, student

Footnotes

Story by Amanda Cook; Photos Judith Pishnery, Darnell Wilburn, Matt Yung, John Brogan; Videos by Matthew O’Neill, Andre Quiles, Ben Versola, Phil Wirsig; Page Design by Kyle Dawson

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FootNotes

Story by Amanda Cook; Photos Judith Pishnery, Darnell Wilburn, Matt Yung, John Brogan; Videos by Matthew O’Neill, Andre Quiles, Ben Versola, Phil Wirsig; Page Design by Kyle Dawson

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