Taking Over the World

  It's the first day of 4-H Biotech Day Camp and even though we spent a lot of time on the road by the end of the day we had learned to code the workforce of the future and grow our own food without soil.  Not bad for day one, Huh?
  For those of you not familiar with this camp, Biotech has been a partnership with Hoke and Bladen county for more than a decade now.  Each year we offer new opportunities so that youth who start at the camp at the age of 9 don't repeat anything in the five years they attend this camp.  Today was a first for all of us, and a whole lot of fun.
  We headed out early as we hit the road for A&T University in Greensboro, NC.  Once we got there we worked with Misty Terry and her staff to program Lego Mindstorm robotic mobile units.  Our youth learned how to code, how to make the machines move through a maze, and how to trouble shoot mechanical difficulties.  What they weren't expecting was having to work as part of a team, with youth they might not have met until a few minutes before this activity.  They also had to give a presentation at the end of the time and talk about what they learned and what they did to make it all work.  We had Lego units rolling around everywhere and it was a ton of fun.
  We took a break to eat lunch because we were so hungry.  Thanks to Chick Fill A for delivering to us at the University.  We took time to sit and get to know our new friends before piling back up in our vans and heading to the farm.
  Actually A&T has a lot of farms for research.  We headed to the hydroponic farm just a couple of miles from campus.  There are youth learned from Kurt about the different parts of seeds, plant terminology, and how to build their own hydroponic growing system from a takeout tray.  You had the opportunity to plant a variety of things in their trays and will just need to add water with a little miracle grow to make it all work.    We also planted plants in their permanent hydroponic system in the greenhouse and will get updates as our plants grow.
  Before we knew it it was time to head back to Lumberton.  It was a lot of fun and we might have accidentally learned a little bit along the way.  Stay tuned for tomorrow as we all become Stars.