Franklin Elementary students have fun with egg drop

Carried by balloons and construction paper parachutes, cushioned by bubble wrap and supported by Popsicle sticks and straws, raw eggs sailed through the air at Franklin Elementary School’s egg drop on Tuesday.

A group of product development engineers from Siemens spent the morning with third- and fourth-grade students, coaching them through the development of a contraption that would carry an egg safely through the air starting with a 6-foot drop and ending with a 25-foot drop.

Students worked in teams with names like Eggceptional and Eggcellent Eggsters.

“It was really fun and you get kind of stressed trying to agree on everything,” said Isaac Ortega, 11, adding that at first he didn’t quite believe it was possible to cushion the egg against the fall. “But we made it through the first round.”

Successful egg vehicles moved through to the next level – with the winning team, The Eggstravagant Engineers, making it through the 25-foot free fall.

Olivia Wiser, 10, said she had a great time.

“I’ve never done another egg drop but I’d do it again,” Olivia said.

The five student teams were assigned certain materials and could pick some on their own.

Cameron Lee, 9, said his team used cups, dental floss, masking tape and bubble wrap for their vehicle.

Cami Richardson, 10, said her team used spaghetti, cotton balls and dental floss for their egg carrier.

“We also used the spaghetti box,” Cami said. “Building it and watching it fly was the best part.”

Franklin Principal Irene Gonzales said she’s excited about the partnership with Siemens.

“It’s the first year they are there but they told us they will come back every year,” Gonzales said. “It has been so much fun for all of us to work with them.”