PARKERSBURG - Franklin Elementary Center students tested their engineering skills against the forces of gravity Friday as part of the school's annual egg drop contest.
This year the egg drop was one of several events and stations in a school-wide egg-stravaganza.
"Instead of in-room parties we decided to rotate the students through several activities," including an egg hunt, egg race and face painting, said Principal Michelle Jeffers.
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Franklin Elementary Center music teacher Kelly Beckett tosses a packaged egg from the top of a 12-fo
Students also had their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny and could decorate frames for their photos to take home to parents or give as gifts, she said.
Even with the additional activites, the school's egg drop was still the hit of the day, with students testing their home-made creations.
This year, Jeffers said, students were asked to complete their projects at home, asking parents and friends to help them design and build a safety container for a raw egg. Those containers and their cargo were then dropped from the top of a 12-foot tall ladder to the pavement below.
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Photos by Michael Erb
Franklin Elementary Center third-grader Haley Dunn shows her intact egg after her protective egg container and its contents were tossed from the top of a 12-foot ladder to the pavement below.
Those students whose eggs survived the plunge were given a certificate and a wooden egg based on the eggs used in the 2010 White House Easter Egg Hunt.
Dozens of students from each grade level submitted and tested containers, with about half having their eggs survive the fall.
"I'm thrilled with how many students chose to participate," Jeffers said. "They worked on these entirely at home. We didn't do any work on these during the school day."
The egg drop and games also were helped by Friday's beautiful weather, with sunny skies and temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s.
"It is just beautiful outside," Jeffers said. "It's not too hot, not too cold. Just perfect."
