WATSONVILLE—Roughly two dozen Watsonville High School students launched pumpkins into the sky with their class-made trebuchets, a large wooden catapult from a bygone era, at the school’s campus Friday morning.
Two Advanced Placement (A.P.) physics classes of juniors and seniors lined up 11 trebuchets at the school’s field adjacent to the tennis courts and sent several pumpkins for a ride.
One team fired the tough-skinned plant more than 40 meters.
“Being able to work with a bunch of my like-minded peers was awesome,” said junior Celeste Medina-Seymoure.
Teammate Beto Salazar, a senior, said the team worked on its trebuchet—of the floating arm variety—for roughly 12 hours.
The yearly school event is organized by longtime math and science teacher Stephen Buchter.
