Brain and Brawn Meet at Picatinny Arsenal with Pumpkin Slinging

In 2016 students from 6 schools made a splash into Picatinny Lake with a variety of catapults and trebuchets. The student ages, school districts and machines varied, but they all shared one thing in common – the focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
 
Careers and subjects surrounding STEM are in high demand and it is important for the youth of today to be exposed to these subjects early to develop interest. The Pumpkin Sling contest allows participants to use STEM knowledge in a fun and competitive way. By building catapults to fling pumpkins, participants will be using a variety of physics and mathematics including: linear kinematics, projectile motion, trigonometry, and engineering physics. To reach maximum distance, participants will have to calculate the degree at which their catapult will fire. 

Participants may encounter specific problems with their catapults. The pumpkin may reach maximum height without any distance or be fired into the ground. By troubleshooting and calculating, they will find the perfect median between range and height to make their pumpkin go the furthest distance. Along the way they will learn to construct their catapults to their own design involving the important quality of engineering, designing and drafting. The pumpkin sling contest allows participants to use STEM in an interesting way in order to get people involved in STEM subjects and careers. 

For the second year, the event will be held on Friday, Oct. 20 at Picatinny Arsenal in conjunction with ARDEC (Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center) and the Picatinny’s STEM Office.

Picatinny Arsenal’s interest in hosting this event is to make sure they fuel the passion in future engineers.

The event originally began in Warren County, New Jersey. After 4 years it moved to the Pocono Raceway, but that became cost prohibitive. When Picatinny offered to host in 2016, organizer Giulia Grotenhuis decided to give it a try. While the event was scaled down considerably, the most important mission was still alive and well – kids learning and preparing for their futures. For some students building a trebuchet offers knowledge not easily learned from a textbook.

Grotenhuis’ husband was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, and instrumental in getting the project off the ground. She feels it an honor to have the military installation as a new home for the event. In addition, Giulia Grotenhuis has grown special pumpkins for the Sling the past 7 years. This year her farm, The Farm In Harmony, will again be supplying the pumpkins for the event. Proud of her husband’s service she also launched a new project at The Farm In Harmony that she thinks the Picatinny workforce will be enthusiastic about – a 7-acre military themed corn maze of the POW/MIA flag emblem.

More information may be found at www.pumpkinsling.com.
 
 
 

Contact Information

Giulia Grotenhuis

Organizers

Giulia Grotenhuis

(1) 908-283-0721

giulia51@verizon.net