The Yolks on Some Eggs at Science Expo

About 80 high school students from the Conejo Valley and beyond attempted to beat the odds Wednesday with contraptions built to protect falling eggs at Cal Lutheran University’s Math and Science Expo.

The students used a variety of materials to protect their eggs as members of the Ventura County Fire Department dropped them 25 feet from a ladder truck. Packing materials included cooked pasta, tape, foam, rice, inflated rubber gloves, newspaper, a world globe and rubber bands.

But only a few of the more than 30 amateur scientists prevented their eggs from being scrambled in a gooey, yellow splat outside the Ahmanson Science Center.

Travis Mendel, 15, a Newbury Park resident and ninth-grader at Hillcrest Christian High School, had one of the lucky eggs.

“I put a lot of cushion on it and made a newspaper parachute,” Travis said.

Fifteen-year-old Michelle Refuge from the San Pedro Magnet School in Carson was one of the students whose design efforts failed.

“I think it was the weight,” Michelle said. “I put in an air cushion, but I should have made sure the egg was centered.”

Jim Wolf, director of CLU’s Science Outreach Program, said the expo is meant to bring attention to the fact that the liberal arts university also offers math and science programs, as well as to expose youths to those subjects in a fun environment.

The daylong event also included a variety of lectures and hands-on experiments on various topics, including marine biology, chemistry, polymers and plastics, math, light, Web page design, seismology and academic competitions.

CLU students worked alongside high school students in the experiments.

“The main reason we are doing this is to show them it can be fun and how science can be applied,” said Susan Bloomgren, a senior studying math and physics. “I think they are learning a lot.”