Made in partnership with Carter Weise and Professor Joseph Beaman of the University of Texas at Austin.

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At my elementary school, Bridge Point Elementary, we would have our annual Science Day fair where people would come in and teach us about certain science topics through hour-long courses that we would sign up for. I would always sign up for Seige the Day with Catapults since we would have clementines launched at us that could catch.

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In 6th grade, I was asked if I would like to take over teaching the class the next year since the students then teaching it were about to graduate. However, I was not left with any of the materials from the previous year's class so I went off what I could remember to reconstruct the class. In doing so, I made a rudimentary catapult that could launch clementines that served me for years to come. However in my Junior year of high school, now 4 years into teaching the course, I felt I had amassed enough engineering and construction knowledge to make a much larger and more impressive catapult tailored to the needs of launching clementines at the specific Bridge Point soccer field.

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Firstly, I went to the site and took videos of myself throwing clementines a the trajectory I was hoping for. I then measured and traced these paths on the field and in the video and found the necessary force to launch the clementines how I'd hoped.

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Since I wanted to be able to adjust the path of the clementines and they needed more accuracy and distance than power, I decided to make a ballista catapult instead of a mangonel or trebuchet. I also needed to be able to disassemble and reassemble it for transportation which the ballista design allowed for much more easily. I then researched designs of others who had made ballistic and drew out a schematic for the ballista.

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I then bought the materials I needed, cut wood, secured rope, and sewed a pocket until the catapult was complete. After testing it at the soccer field, I found that it succeeded in every measure. Due to this enthusiasm, I brought it along to my Boy Scout Troop's renaissance-themed campout that Fall since Science Day would not be until the Winter of 2022. The scouts loved it and I loved that I had some more time to work out the kinks before the class.

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However, due to COVID still being a worrying issue at the time, the school chose to go with pre-planned classes that would not include mine. I was never about to present the catapult to the kids taking the course since 2022 was my senior year and I would be moving out of state for college, but that doesn't mean they won't ever see it. This last winter I was approached by some middle schoolers who were interested in continuing to teach the course. I provided them with the lesson plan I had developed and improved upon over the years as well as the old rudimentary catapult for them to teach the class with. From what I've heard it's been a success and if they choose to teach it again next year I'd be happy to show them how to operate the ballista for the class.