For first-year Industrial Design student Sophia Siddiqui, Pumpkin Ramble was an opportunity to prove that experience isn't everything. Her team, Four Cats and a Fairy, arrived with an ambitious plan inspired by Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night. Rather than simply carving a recognizable image into their pumpkin, the team wanted to experiment with depth, layering, and light. 

"By incorporating different layers of the pumpkins, we're going to try and create different layers so that you can see the depth in it," Siddiqui explained. And while competing against more experienced students might seem intimidating, Siddiqui wasn't concerned. "These are the top people in our first-year ID," she said. "We might seem like we have a disadvantage as the first-year team, but we're here to do it." 

Asked about her favorite part of Pumpkin Ramble so far, however, her answer had nothing to do with design. 

"The food," she said. 

Not every team arrived with a carefully developed concept. The Stragglers, represented by Grant St. Onge, weren't even sure they would make it to the event. "We just kind of showed up, and there was a pumpkin ready for us," St. Onge said. Their design took inspiration from Frankenstein, incorporating materials and techniques familiar from their work in the shop. "We're just kind of taking everything we know from the shop and throwing it on this pumpkin," he explained. 

The result was an unconventional creation with enough metal components to raise some eyebrows. "I think our pumpkin might be the only one here that can't go through a metal detector," St. Onge joked. Despite the team's spontaneous approach, St. Onge gave their chances of winning a respectable seven out of 10. "We are like the dark horse in this race," he said. "We might be able to squeak something out."

Beyond the competition, Shankwiler said Pumpkin Ramble creates connections that students might not otherwise make in their daily classes. "It's a chance for kids at all different levels to hang out together and intermix," he said. First-year students, seniors, graduate students, and faculty all participated in the evening, bringing different perspectives and experiences to the same creative challenge.

While students focused on their pumpkins this year, organizers had an even bigger announcement in store. In 2027, Georgia Tech plans to attempt a Guinness World Records title for the most people carving pumpkins simultaneously. 

The record benchmark organizers are working toward is 1,060 participants, and they're setting their sights on bringing approximately 1,200 people together for the attempt. The ambitious goal would take Pumpkin Ramble beyond its roots as an Industrial Design tradition and invite students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader Georgia Tech community to participate in a shared moment of creativity. This year's event provided an opportunity to build momentum, expand participation, and prepare for the logistics of a much larger gathering. 

But the spirit behind the event will remain the same: bring people together, give them pumpkins, and see what happens when creativity takes over.

As Siddiqui put it when encouraging other students to attend, "It's not high stakes at all. It's more for the fun." Whether students arrive with an elaborate plan inspired by a famous painting or simply show up hoping there's a pumpkin left, everyone has a place at the table. 

And in 2027, those tables could be part of something historic. Same Design spirit. Georgia Tech is carving its way into history.