Area youths tested their engineering skills Friday in downtown Watsonville at the 2026 Egg Drop Challenge.
The 23rd annual contest celebrates National Engineers Week, which aims to honor engineers as well as inspire future generations to join the field.
Groups from local schools, community programs and the City of Watsonville’s Public Works and Utilities Department came out for the two-hour event to hurl their contraptions built to protect an egg for the 70-foot drop from the top floor of the Civic Plaza Building.
Moses Bennet, 18, said he was entering for the second year in a row with a gadget he created called Omlette Express V2.
“I like challenges, and I enjoy projects like this,” he said. “My egg cracked last year, so I improved the design and had fun doing it.”
Each egg container must comply with certain regulations, such as being made from a material that won’t shatter on impact and with a circumference less than 14 inches.
Winning entries were those whose egg survived the fall without cracking and landed closest to a target on the ground.
Watsonville Principal Engineer Murray Fontes, principal said there were 35 entries this year, including walk-ins and 29 from the Nucleus program (formerly the Environmental Science Workshop).
The contest included city staff, and members of the community, Fontes said.
“We’ve been pleased with the participation; maybe some day we will have some of them working for the city as engineers,” he said.
