Pumpkins Fly as Students Put Teamwork to the Test
Three, two, one ... launch! The Halloween season ended with a smash as pumpkins flew across the Kellog Ranch field as part of the university’s first-ever student trebuchet competition.
On a sunny afternoon, nine teams lined up on the field with trebuchets of varying shapes, builds, colors, and height to compete for the best design, most precise pumpkin launch landing, farthest distance and best presentation. Trebuchets and flying pumpkins were a fitting example of how Cal Poly Pomona students Become by doing, solve problems, and learn through teamwork and collaboration.
During the competition on Nov. 3, spectators cheered as 8-pound pumpkins soared through the sky. Each team was given five launches. As the competition progressed, on-the-fly modifications by some teams improved success.
Team Rose Float won the event with best design and budget analysis, best launch accuracy (tied with Team Bob’s Storage Closet), second longest distance at 168-feet with the 315-pound official counterbalance weight, and combination of trebuchet art and team costume. Bob’s Storage Closet had the furthest competition launch at 170-feet.
The student teams from the College of Engineering and College of Science had a $500 budget and a little more than a month to design and build their medieval catapults.
“I had no clue what a trebuchet was,” said first-year industrial engineering student Patrick Yahner, captain of the Smashing Pumpkins team.
“I think the hardest part has been turning conceptual, like CAD design into an actual product,” Yahner said. “We spent so much time working on the conceptual design and figuring out the parameters we wanted. That was the biggest struggle — working on how we want to build this thing with our assigned budget.”
Despite the challenges, team Smashing Pumpkins scored several successful launches. The team celebrated their victories as each pumpkin shattered on the ground.
Oren Artstein, a third-year aerospace engineering student and member of team Glover Inc., said design flaws in their original concept appeared during their building process. Major changes were made before testing their trebuchet.
“We originally wanted the sling to be longer,” said Artstein, “but realized that the weights would have crashed onto the pumpkin before it actually launched. So, we had make the sling shorter.”
The tight timeline for designing and building trebuchets made teamwork and coordination essential to a successful launch.
For Kaiser Meng, a first-year mechanical engineering student and captain of the team Two-dollar Henchmen, that meant distributing responsibilities across his team — evenly dividing the workload to enhance productivity and ensure an inclusive environment.
“We had multiple people doing multiple things at the same time. That makes it more fair for everyone and makes sure that everyone can have fun and like contribute equally,” Meng said.
Josef Velten, faculty lecturer in physics and mechanical engineering, organized the event with the support of Andrew Ketsdver, dean of the College of Engineering and interim dean of the College of Science, and Ethan Orr, dean of the Huntley College of Agriculture. Huntley College hosted the event and provided leftover pumpkins from PumpkinFest that would become food for campus livestock.
Velten encouraged students to rely on their teammates and available resources to guide them through the building process. The competition was an opportunity for students to practice mentorship, collaboration and improvisation.
“I’m hoping that they’ve learned the joys — the questionable joys — of trying to get everyone pointed the same direction and planning,” Velten said. “Completion of any projects is as much a social muscle as it is an understanding of the mechanics.”
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