Physics in Action: NDP Hosts Local Middle School Students for Annual Egg Drop Engineering Challenge

On Saturday, February 7, Notre Dame Prep’s Science National Honor Society (SNHS) students transformed the Middle Level Gym into a competitive physics laboratory, hosting the annual Middle School Egg Drop Challenge. The event brought together teams of 4th through 8th-grade girls from local Catholic schools for a rigorous, hands-on engineering challenge.

Participants were divided into two age brackets: Division I (4th and 5th grades) and Division II (7th and 8th grades). Arriving with their raw materials, teams were tasked with constructing their protective contraptions entirely on-site. The core objective was daunting: deploy a device capable of protecting raw eggs from a 4.5-meter (15-foot) drop, not once, but twice. Division I teams engineered solutions to protect a single egg, while Division II teams faced the added complexity of securing a two-egg payload.

Rather than simply surviving the fall, teams were evaluated on strict physics and engineering principles. The SNHS judges scored designs based on a complex matrix favoring maximum efficiency; contraptions that were smaller, lighter, and landed closest to the target earned the highest marks. The pressure was further amplified by a surprise, on-site engineering challenge that tested the girls' ability to problem-solve on the fly.

The stakes for the competition were exceptionally high. Division I winners were competing for $100 Amazon gift cards, while the Division II champions vied for a $1,000 renewable tuition scholarship to attend Notre Dame Prep.

The competition showcased an impressive level of critical thinking and cross-school camaraderie. Among the top performers was NDP's own Division II team, "The Deviled Eggs." Comprised of 8th graders Saba A. ’30, Evelyn C. ’30, Abigail L. ’30, and Cassandra N. ’30, the team engineered a highly efficient structural design that successfully secured them a third-place finish against a competitive field of visiting schools.

Congratulations to all the visiting teams who participated in this celebration of applied science, and to our SNHS students who successfully facilitated this special event.