Dorm Life 101

 Getting ready to go to college?  Want to know what living on a college campus is really like?  Well Dorm Life 101 is geared for youth 14-18 who want to explore just that.  The day camp went over budgets, campus life, cooking in a dorm room, how to do laundry and more.  Robeson and Hoke counties combined to make this camp happen with the help of our colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP).

  We started the day talking about finances and how often college students have to live on a budget.  To demonstrate we headed to Dollar Tree for our first challenge.  Youth were asked to purchase an item that they would need in their dorm room to cook with.  After a little shopping they each found something that they thought would fit the bill.  We had storage containers with lids for the fridge and microwave, plastic bowls for mixing and heating items and measuring spoons and cups.  All great items that they purchased using good budgeting skills.  

   Our next stop was at Helping Our Orphans Thrift Store.  Youth had ten dollars to spend on an outfit and something to either decorate their dorm room with or an appliance.  When we walked in there was a sale on clothing.  Whatever they could fit in a bag was $5.  They took the clothing challenge seriously and spent the time finding clothes they liked and filled their bags to the brim.

  We headed down the road to UNCP for a college tour.  Our 4-H members got a chance to see what classrooms are like, what the dorm rooms look like and what type of housing is available for students.  Our excellent tour guides gave them information on living on campus, some of their favorite things, and maybe even somethings to avoid.  They were awesome with our group.  At the end of the tour they dropped us off at the dining hall for lunch.  Youth got the chance to experience college food and decided it was much better than High School Fair.

  After lunch we headed back to the Robeson County office.  There we started with the real life lesson on doing laundry.  We separated all the clothes we just bought and did three loads, so everyone had a chance to load, put in soap, switch to the dryer and fold.  Clothes were then separated back out to the owners and bagged to take home.

  While the laundry was going we did a little craft project for their dorm room doors.  Cookies sheets, legos, and magnets make a great note board and it was a lot of fun.  Our youth had a great time designing and even made ribbon hangers for these fun works of useable art.

  During snack time our youth made their own snack from the cooking in the dorm room cook book.  Mac and cheese or popcorn were the choices and they all jumped in for the mac and cheese.  They learned about measuring, cleaning up a mess in the microwave and utilizing environmentally sound practices by using their cooking bowls as eating bowls (as well as doing the dishes after).

  All in all we had a pretty good day of fun and accidental life learning during Dorm Life 101.  We will let you know what they think when we get their responses back from the evaluation.  In the meantime we have lots of photos from our day of fun!