Each year, students at the Fred S. Engle Middle School team up to try and overcome a classic science challenge -- how to protect an egg from damage from a high fall. The students are given the requirement to fashion a protective covering/container that can hold the egg, and protect it from a fall of about 75 feet to the ground.

Students create their designs in teams of two, and then those designs are first tested at about 6 feet in the classroom. Those that survive move to the next round, where they test from a longer fall in the stairwell of the school.

Those that make it through the first two rounds get dropped from the top of the West Grove Fire Company ladder truck at a height of about 75 feet.

Needless to say, not all eggs survive the fall. Packaging includes the expected rolls of foam and bubble wraps, boxes and cylinders, and fabrics. Some students are creative, packaging in semi-liquids -- this year we saw "fluffernutter" used as cushioning (it worked!).

About 50 projects were dropped from Ladder 22, including a short break when the Ladder and Rescue responded to a reported structure fire in Hockessin, Delaware (and returned 15 minutes later).

A good time was had by all (except for the many eggs that didn't survive the fall).