The Mission: Protect the Egg
A piece of a pool noodle. Two rubber bands. Zip ties, band aids and a packaging envelope.
Those were the supplies in the kit handed to each participant at the egg drop competition during the San Luis Obispo Farmer’s Market on May 7.
With a $350 prize on the line, participants had to build a package that safely delivered an egg from a fall of 30 feet. People spread out on the sidewalks of Higuera and Chorro streets hard at work building their package, taking on different designs to try to be the best.
Others just observed to watch the eggs drop.
Business administration senior Miya Huffman tried to use the piece of paper as a parachute for the egg.
When asked about the strategy for the egg drop, Kaitlyn Lor, industrial technology and packaging sophomore – and egg coordinator for the night – said to remember high school physics.
“But it’s not that deep also,” Lor said. “As long as you protect the sides, I think you have a fair shot.”
Lor is a member of the packaging club on campus, Cal Poly Packaging Club, which holds this annual event, sponsored by Pregis, to connect with the San Luis Obispo community.
“We’re hoping for a lot of eggs, we’re hoping for a lot of drops,” Lor said prior to the event. “It seems to be pretty successful every year. People in SLO especially seem to be really hyped about it, so we’re hoping to continue that trend, maybe get some people more engaged with the community and the packaging club as a whole.”
Participants who built a package that safely delivered the egg to the ground uncracked were graded on three criteria: The total mass and volume of the package and the time of the fall. The winner won a grand prize of $350, with second place receiving $250 and third place receiving $100.
People could enter in the assembled kits division, where they had to use the kits provided by the club, or the open division where they could use their own kits, as long as they met the design and contest rules.
Packaging club members spoke on the microphone to passersby, using egg puns and appealing to the prize to try to get people to try their luck at the competition.
Huffman came out to the competition with a friend, sociology senior Charlee Dirickson. They were walking through Farmer’s Market after dinner and came across the event.
“I’m excited, I’m feeling really hopeful,” Dirickson said. “Pretty much, as long as I do better than Miya, I’ll be happy.”
Huffman was excited about the event and happy to do the event with Charlee.
“We’re feeling very spontaneous to do this tonight and we’re really excited and hopefully we win,” Huffman said.
Along with helping to connect the community to the Cal Poly Packaging Club, Lor said the event helps them practice their packaging skills.
“The other day, we had to prepare the kits that they have and so we had to test, how can we make a kit that you can make something that can survive, but also not too easy where every kit survives,” Lor said.
Top photo: Packaging students drop egg packages from 30 feet during the San Luis Obispo Farmer's Market. (Photo: Jack Fleming)
Your support helps our packaging students participate in meaningful Learn by Doing experiences that will prepare them for a competitive workforce.
Photo gallery: Jack Fleming and Rintaro Sato
