The 4-H Edge: Connecting Kids to Campus conference is run by UMaine's Cooperative Extension 4-H program and invites 11- to 15-year-old 4-Hers (kids not enrolled in 4-H program can attend this program even though it is put on by 4-H) to the Orono campus to introduce them to college by having them participate in workshops representing a wide variety of academic departments. They also get a chance to experience campus life by staying overnight in the residence halls, eating in the dining hall and exploring the campus. The not-so-subtle message from the conference staff to the kids -- going to college should be in your future.
Last year G. attended this conference and focused her workshop choices around the animal sciences program (we still reminisce about that cow ultrasound class). This year she chose a more eclectic mix of classes that included animal hematology (she said it was very cool to try to identify animals by their blood), claymation (which also received enthusiastic thumbs-up) and marine botany. G. was particularly taken by the marine botany class, which was all about seaweed. She learned about its varied uses, from its use to make medication gel capsules to ice cream, pudding, salad dressing and some breads to shampoo and lotion (Kelp has "algin" which is used to thicken food and other seaweeds can also be used as thickeners as well). But this class also included creating seaweed pressings (like flower pressings) and sun prints of seaweed, a BIG hit with G. as she's a photography enthusiast. She asked several questions about how the photo-sensitive paper was created by the instructor (which she won't be able to replicate at home because of the powerful chemicals he used). All really interesting and fascinating stuff and G. said she plans to make more pressings this summer from seaweed she collects at the beach.
The kids were given a wide array of seaweed to choose from to make their seaweed pressings.
Sun prints setting outside. This requires about 15 minutes of direct sunlight on photo-sensitive paper. The prints are then "developed" like a regular photograph to create the final print.
L. was old enough to attend the conference this year and was thrilled with the robotics offerings (she was inspired after the Girls in Engineering program she attended in February). L. programmed her Lego component to beep at different frequencies, light up at various intervals and get a motor to run in different directions. I also found that L., who has always been a detail-oriented type, had a knack for reading and understanding the computer code so now I'm going to look more seriously at robotics opportunities for her in the next year (if you know of any robotics groups for 11-year-olds in the Portland area, please let me know!). But L. is also a creative type and the claymation class was right up her alley as well.
The other thing that was really great at the conference was the team-building experience for the kids. They had a chance to do some problem-solving within a group of people they didn't know and work together as a team.
One of the team challenges was to get each team's blanket (which they were standing on) flipped over on to the other side without anyone stepping onto the grass. There were more than 10 kids standing on each blanket so initially it seemed very un-doable. Then one of the kids suggested that one team jump on the other team's blanket until only a few remained to flip their blanket over and then reverse the process.
Everyone was laughing by the end of the workshop and thinking they were quite clever to have figured out how to get those blankets flipped. A great self-esteem boost for a group of young teens.
There wasn't much sleeping time allotted at the conference (less than 7 hours!) and as chaperon I got even less (but I had a nice chat with another mom sitting outside our room monitoring the hall until after midnight) but we didn't hear any complaints from the kids. They had fun and their 2 days on campus was worth a few hours of lost sleep.
This conference is an annual event held in mid-May and open to all Maine kids (4H subsidizes the cost for its members but any 11-15-year olds in Maine can attend). If you're interested in learning more about 4-H (if you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know 4-H is not all about animals), check out the state's 4-H website.
The kids were given a few minutes to create a clay creature before being set up with the camera to create their claymation movies.
G. in the New Media Lab working on her claymation project. (I'll share more about how to do this as it was quite easy!)
The kids also enjoyed their time in the recreation center on campus playing in the gym and swimming in the pool.
I couldn't let the kids have all the fun so I joined in on the volleyball court too.
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