By Ashley Du, Staff Reporter
A crowd watches as an aerial lift raises Science Olympiad head coach and chemistry teacher Dr. Derrick Wood 83 feet into the air. Drones circle the venue, ready to capture the moment. Wood releases the egg in its contraption, and the crowd watches as it falls to the ground. Senior Matthew Ma takes out the unscathed egg and holds it up for everyone to see.
The egg drop team, comprised of Ma, Wood, seniors Charlie Gawthrop and Jeffrey Wang, and Valley Forge Middle School sixth grader Breckin Shefflerwood, performed the drop on Sunday, Aug. 18 at the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center. In June 2022 the boys set a Guinness World Record for “Greatest height to drop a protected egg without breaking.”
On Sept. 25, Guinness approved the drop, making the team the record holder of this category for the second time. The boys’ first Guinness World record, a 44 feet drop, started in their Science Olympiad class. In December 2023, a college student from India beat the team’s previous record by 10 feet, which motivated the team to try again.
“We always said that if (anyone) broke it while we were in school, we would do it again. Because why not?” Gawthrop said. “They broke it at the start of last year, so then we started building (our contraption) again a little after that and started redoing everything.”
The team tweaked its last design by improving the egg’s parachute and changing the contraption from a rectangular shape to a triangular one to distribute weight more evenly. Its objectives this time were to find a higher place to drop the egg and involve more people.
“We had a public event that was able to showcase (the drop). 6ABC News came out to video that, so it seemed like a bigger deal,” Wood said. “Last time it was just eighth period; we walked out to the back of the stadium and did the drop. This time, it felt like a little bit more of an accomplishment.”
By reaching out to state senators and the museum for their help posting about the event, renting a lift and buying customized shirts, the team expanded the scope of its accomplishment. Wood helped find a venue for the event after their first location fell through, and Shefflerwood made sure they had enough video evidence to submit to Guinness.
Additionally, Ma conducted an egg drop workshop at Easttown Library to fundraise for the drop. Ma taught the participants physics concepts, which the students applied to create their egg drop. The workshop helped cover the costs of the drones while getting kids more excited about STEM education.
In the future, the team looks forward to conducting more workshops, at libraries, schools and museums.
“It’s one thing to do an egg drop. There’s not really that big of an impact in the community,” Ma said. “But if we do some workshops, we can actually make a difference in someone’s life. I think that’s a lot more impactful. That’s why I’m more excited for that.”
Ashley Du can be reached at [email protected].
