Sling & Smash
Students chuck pumpkins for charity
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A catapult-like instrument, called a trebuchet, was used to throw the pumpkins through the air. Photos by David Wells.
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A local woman carries her son’s “Harry Potter” pumpkin to the launch site.
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Raegan and Kierstin Baute sit with their dad as they watch their pumpkins fly through the air and then smash on the ground at Sunday’s “Great Pumpkin Toss.”
A contraption operated by the Society of Physics Students, which looked as if it should be outside a castle rather than down the field from Harden Club House, chucked pumpkin after pumpkin down the hills of South Campus on Sunday.
Shouts of “It exploded in the air!” “Bye-bye jack-o-lantern!” and “It’s still smiling!” came with the flight and eventual crash of every pumpkin by the many children in the crowd. Seven-year-old Kierstin Baute and 5-year-old Raegan Baute came to have their pumpkin, which had a Mr. Potato Head inside, smashed on the grass. Professor Thomas Arcaro came with his two daughters as well.
“We came here to watch the pumpkins get chucked and give some food to Loaves and Fishes,” Arcaro said. “It’s fun and it’s a contribution in a meaningful way for people who need food.”
For every pumpkin brought to the event, a canned good or dollar donation was required. All proceeds will go to the local Alamance County charity Loaves and Fishes.
The catapult-like instrument used for pumpkin destruction is a trebuchet, a military apparatus used in the Middle Ages to throw stones at enemy armies and fortified castles.
“Our whole project started last year when we wanted to build a trebuchet. The question was what to do with it,” said Evan Dempster, SPS president. “The answer was to do it after Halloween and launch pumpkins.”
Many other physics students shared the enthusiasm for both a physics and community project, as well as a small history lesson.
“Anything done with medieval warfare and weapons is cool,” said sophomore Pierre Cieniewicz.
The trebuchet was the same one built the previous year, but several repairs were made due to the deterioration of its main supports. The society promises a freshly built trebuchet for next year. Although everyone cheered for an especially long launch, it was the final smash that enthralled the crowd.
“It would be great if they reached the woods,” said Allison Arpin, a 2008 Elon graduate and former president of the society of physics. “But what people really enjoy is seeing the pumpkins blow up.”
Updated November 6, 2008
