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The Great Pumpkin Drop

Ball State University in Indiana has announced the winners of its second annual Pumpkin Drop. NPR's Robert Siegel, host of All Things Considered talks with several of the winners about their pumpkin-protecting designs.

Isaac LeMasters and Breydon Allen of the Halloween Trampoleen Team, from Warsaw High School in Indiana, won first place in the K-12 division. Team Ramrod, represented on NPR by Kevin Powell, took top honors at the college level.

Participants had to design an apparatus to protect a pumpkin when dropped 50-feet from the top of a cherry picker. The sound of defeat -- a loud splat.

The Trampoleen Team's pumpkin survived thanks to a 27-inch by 27-inch by 27-inch cube made from metal bars. The pumpkin sat on beach towels stretched over the frame. The towels acted like a trampoline, and tape kept the pumpkin from popping out. Witnesses on the ground said after the drop, Team Trampoleen's pumpkin looked perfect and was without a scratch.

Team Ramrod's pumpkin remained unscathed through a design that involved a 20-gallon trash container filled with air and water balloons and varying sized sandwich bags filled with air. The pumpkin sat atop an ATV tire inner tube, with more air packed around it and a lid to seal it in.

Event sponsors -- The Technology Education Collegiate Association and Howell Farms -- awarded each winning team $100.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.