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Pepperdine Student Chapter of the Society of American Military Engineers Wins National Pumpkin Design Contest

The Pepperdine student chapter of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season after carving out a name for itself as winner of the SAME national pumpkin carving contest.  

Tasked with designing a carved pumpkin that emphasized the theme "Types of Engineering," the Pepperdine physics and engineering students took their inspiration from the Golden State's Golden Gate Bridge, carving out a 3D landscape that was both intricate and classically Californian.

"We decided to depict San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge because it is one of the most magnificent engineering feats," explains student Colin Lane, who carved out the sides of the pumpkin with the Pepperdine "P" and SAME logos (see his photos below).

Winning the contest was a coup for the Pepperdine SAME chapter, which only last month received its plaque from the organization recognizing it as a brand new student chapter. The students traveled to the SAME base in Ventura with faculty advisor Gerard Fasel, visiting professor of physics, to collect the plaque in October and on a whim decided to enter the inaugural contest, stopping at a pumpkin patch in Ventura on the way back to Malibu.

After selecting the pumpkin with the best dimensions for their design, the group started the process by projecting a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge on to the pumpkin and tracing it.

"We then went to work carving the bridge—we free-handed the skyline and the constellations," notes student Julia Flicker. "We spent about 6 hours carving the majority of the pumpkin."

Lane adds, "The process of carving the pumpkin was so different from what I have ever done before—because we did not cut all the way through the pumpkin and only partially carved the pumpkin, which was a lot harder to do."

The Pepperdine
cross

As well as creating a multi-dimensional view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the students also gave their design the Pepperdine touch—subtly incorporating the Pepperdine Theme Tower cross into the San Francisco skyline.

As well as recognition as the first winners of this contest, the group will select two representatives to take an all-expenses paid trip to the SAME leadership workshop in Glendale, Arizona, in January 2013 to collect the group's cash prize.

"It's astounding that we just started our student chapter and that this was the first contest of its kind by SAME, and we won," Fasel reflects. "It was very cool to see a group of students striving for a goal and putting their minds together. They took a conceptual idea and really made it something real."

For more information, visit the Society of American Military Engineers website.

(The below photos courtesy of Colin Lane.)