Wait...What? It's Wednesday?

   

Campers woke up this morning in the groove and ready to  roll with the schedule of events.  The temperatures are supposed to be in the upper 90"s today and conselors are making sure everyone has a water bottle and stays hydrated during the day (so that also means lots of bathroom breaks built into the day's events.

  After geetting up and doing cabin chores our campers headed to breakfast where they enjoyed french toast, sausage, and the fresh fruit bar.  There is nothing like starting the day with fuel to make sure you get through all the adventures that lay ahead.

  After flag raising our campers headed out on their great adventures.  For our younger campers (head, heart, hands and health) they went for traditional activities this morning and headed out to the pool (got to love to play in the water), archery, canoeing, and fishing (and yes the fish were biting).  Our older youth (Earth and Sun groups) headed up to the High Ropes course while hte adventures headed to the rock wall for climbing fun and our Trekkers headed off site to Hanging Rock Park for the adventure of a lifetime.

  Our Trekkers are our older youth and they usually travel to pilot mountain and canoe.  This year they headed straight for Hanging Rock Park and will be hiking to waterfalls, getting a chance to play in the falls and then heading over to the spot where they will pitch their tents and make dinner.  Tomorrow they will get to climb up the rocks and just enjoy nature at it's finest before returning to camp on Thursday, probably sometime around camp store.

 After a morning of fun adventures our campers headed to lunch.  There they enjoyed "Better than Chick-fil-A" chicken sandwiches, potato wedges, and a chance to make their own salad.  Talking with our incredible kitchen staff today we confirmed our hungry campers are eating up a storm, and seem to be enjoying every meal.  You would be surprised how much some of our campers can eat. 

After lunch it was time to hit the road and get back to the work of having fun.  Campers got to stomp thru the creek, get sweaty in the Ga-Ga pit, and jump in the pool and even the lake (dont worry they have on life vests) in the lake.  There is nothing like the fun of camp activites to work up a sweat and hunger.

  Youth got their afternoon snack at camp store.  I don't know if they like camp store because they are purchasing litterally cool treats (ice cream and sodas being options), or if it is becuase of the free time after.  No matter what it is they enjoy camp store and we can hear the buzz through the crowd as they talk about the dance on Thursday night and hurry to learn all the line dances they can in time. 

After activities it is time to eat, again.  Tonight's dinner is a favorite with almost all youth, spaghetti and meatballs.  Let's not forget the breadsticks and for dessert tonight, vanilla cake with frosting,  How much fun is that?  While our youth are at meals they have responsibilities.  Each meal a different group is assigned to be the table waiters and table cleaners.  What that means is that the table waiters come in a few minutes early and set the table, then they are responsible for getting the food, making sure the table gets more if they need it.  The table cleaners follow the procedures for getting the items from teh table to the kitchen to be washed.  It is quite the production and it helps streamline for more than 150 youth being up and trying to do this all at once.  Kind of like a chaos control for these positions.

  Our Trekkers aren't the only ones out there having a good time.  Our Adventurers were at camp but living at Outpost making their own Hobo Packs for dinner over an open camp fire.  Hobo packs are small foil packets filled with things like meat, diced veggies, etc.  Each camper can make it like they want theirs and I can attest they  had to be good becuase they devoured them.  Maybe something our campers could make at home, if someone might let them build a campfire at home?   

After our meals everyone got ready for the talk of the camp, our evening activity, the much awaited talent show!  Please note talent is not necessary to be part of this show.  Acts ranged from stick twirling to comedy routines, dancing, singing, artistic drawing and more.  The best part is that the entire camp cheered for every act and every child who was brave enough to take the chance to get on the stage felt like the biggest star as they left the stage.  For me one of the highlights was seeing one of my 4-H Alums and current Adventurer Conselor, Andy, get on stage twice.  The first time with his campers singing as a group and the second time with a co-worker singing a duet.  At the end he gave the youth an motivational speech on challenging themselves and being winners everytime they try something new, even if it isn't for them, at least they try.  As he put it you never know when that spark will hit and for him it all started on the stage at BJP when he was a camper.

  After a rousing talent show the excitement was palpable as our campers headed back to their cabins (or to the outpost tents for the Adventurers) and showered before heading off to bed.  It is hard to believe that we just have one full day left before heading home.  To check out all the fun from Wednesday please click this link.  Stay tuned for more fun adventures.

PS-One quick note.  We realize our post for Wednesday will be late and we apologize.  All of us were reminded last night that internet is a luxury at camp.  About three pm there was a system outage for the provider that effected thousands of folks, including the camp.  It camp back online during the night.  We are excited about being reconnect and please note that it was not lack of want to post on our media sites but lack of availability of connection that meant we couldn't.  Best part?  The campers had no idea becuase they are engaged with each other and aren't on devices at camp.

  

  

Now We're Cooking

   

Its amazing what a good night's sleep will do for your attitude.  Our campers woke up with the birds today and either started cleaning up their cabins or headed to breakfast.  Breakfast this morning was a huge hit.  The campers had th option of scrambled eggs, bacon, bagels, fruit bar and more. 

The temperature today was a little warmer but still pleasant outside for all of our activities.  After flag raising our youngest campers headed off for canoeing and the swimming while other made their way to the archery field and crafts.  Our Sun group got the chance to go fishing and the fish were biting today while the adventurer and trekker groups headed to high ropes to practice important skills before their outdoor adventures later this week.  In the second round groups switched between these activities and Yoga/meditation time was added in.  This activity allows youth a chance to rest in air conditioning and have a moment to recover before finishing their activities for the day.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the dining hall for lunch.   Our campers were enjoying the menu today.  We had a camper favorite hamburgers, curly fries, salad, and all the fixings.  Since meals are family style, if campers want seconds they can have seconds and even thirds.  No one goes hungry at camp.

After lunch our youth headed back to activities that included the pool, archery, the GaGa pitt and horses.  For many youth this is their first time learning about and riding on a horse and we are excited about their opportunity to do this and be able to say they rode a horse.  Creek stomping was also offered as an activity to our groups which let them get a little wet, stay in the shade, and learn about environmental science (Shhhhhh! Don't tell them).

Before they knew it our campers were lined up for camp store.  A snack
(chips or ice cream) and a drink were their choices for today.  When they get done eating our campers have a little down time in the rec hall.  Usually that means a rousing game of four square or line dancing, sometimes they just sit and read or talk, but it is time to just enjoy their friends and have fun on their own.  When camp store was over it was time to head back out to our activities and finish out the day's organized fun. 

  Dinner tonight was the favorite of barbecue chicken, green beans, mac and cheese, corn bread and vanilla pudding for dessert.  As with all of our afternoon and evening meals our campers have the opportunity to visit the salad bar.  So there is always something for them to eat and enjoy.

  Our evening activity wa a repeat of last night as our youth who were at water games went to pioneer cabin to play night games and our other youth were at water sports.  The slip and slide was epic tonight and everyone had a ton of fun.

To see the photos from today please click this link.

It's More than Expected

 

Our campers woke up this morning to an overcast sky and temperatures in the upper 70's.  You could not ask for more perfect weather for the first day of camp.  This morning our youngest campers got up and headed to breakfast while the oldest one made beds, cleaned cubbies and worked on cabin chores.  Things like emptying the trash, sweeping the floor, and cleaning bathrooms are all on the list and a little more.  At stake are the golden faucet, silver toilet seat, and bronze faucet.  The most coveted daily awards offered for the cleanest cabins.

  Breakfast today consisted of pancakes, turkey sausage, and of course we have cereal and fresh fruit available everyday.  We eat in shifts at camp with the youngest campers eating first and then heading back to their cabins to get ready for the cleanest cabin competition while the older youth make their way to the dinning hall for breakfast. 

Flag raising kicks off the activities for the day.  How this works is that youth are divded into groups (Head, Heart, Hands, Health, Earth, Sun, Adventurer, Trekkers) by age.  For example our 8-9 year olds might make up the head group and during the day our girls and boys of the same age come together and do their activites together during the day everything from arts and crafts, to meals, and camp store.  Even the evening activities are done together and at night they split up with the boys cabins being on one side of the camp and the girls on the other.  

On the schedule for campers today for their first activity after flag raising were events like new games, which have team building exercises, pool, canoes, wall climbing and ga-ga pits, archery, and more.  Groups have 15 minutes after their first activity to move on to the next one.  Our groups rotated around and in many cases were getting intructions and lessons and will have a chance to repeat these activities later in the week.

Before we knew it, it was time to get to the dinning hall for lunch.  Lunch was a camper favorite with pizza and salad.  You would be amazed at how much our youth can put away after a morning of activities.

After lunch our campers went right back to activities.  In the afternoon on Monday they also had a chance to visit the bookmobile (so it might not be operational so it was more like they turned one of the buildings into the book mobile).  Campers got a free book and pencil and now have something to read as they have rest time and time before bed or after chores to read.  Several groups also got to hike to the incredible beaver dam which hosts lilly pads and other natural wonders.  

This afternoon also marked our campers first camp store of the week.  Each child automatically has $15 dollars on their caccount.  Today they could purchase a snack and drink.  If they plan their cards right they can have a snack and drink all week and a little more to spend on a souvenir at the end.  

After camp store there were a few more activities and a little rest time either before or after dinner, depending on the group.  By the way did we mention Dinner?  Taco Monday?  It might not roll off your tongue but that is what our youth had for dinner.  Who doesn't love a taco and chips with all the trimmings?  Our youth had a great meal before they headed outside for the announcement they were all waiting for, the cleanest cabin.

After dinner we had flag lowering last night and the announcement of cleanest cabin.  Then it was on to the evening activities.  Our youth were either hiking to the pioneer area for night games and smores or having a ball at water sports.  Water sports incudes time on the slip and slide, the chance to literally jump in a lake (with a life vest on of course), and be in the pool.  This is a ton of fun and everyone has a great time. After evening snack it was time for showers and off to bed.  Tonight it didn't take long to hear the sounds of snoring from our cabins as everyone was exhausted from all the incredible fun of the day.

To see our day in photos please feel free to click this link.

We're BAAAACCKKKKK!

It's our Favorite time of year!  Overnight camp week and this year we are excited to be headed back to BJP with some of our favorite counties.  We started our day meeting at the NC Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center office to meet all of our adults, our new friends from Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Pender, and Robeson Counties.  Then after a brief schedule of events we boarded our luxury Academy bus to head to camp.  

 After saying goodbye to our loved ones our first stop was for lunch.  We have to give a very warm thank you to our friends at Golden Corral in Asheboro where we stopped to eat.  There is something for everyone there and we are appreciative of all the choices and good food.  We were also appreciative of our server, Ms. Sandra who looked after our entire crowd.  We sure do appreciate her.

   After a good meal we got back on the bud and headed to camp.  We were so excited to climb the hills to camp that we could hardly help ourselves.  Mr Smitty did a great job of getting us here safely.  Once we were parked and got all our luggage off we were split up by gender and the boys placed their times unter the arts and crafts shelter adn the girls put their things by the camp map before heading to the flagpole to get our paperwork and check in.  We found out what cabins everyone would be in and what groups and from there it was time to move in and unpack.

   Once unpacking was done we did a camp tour and we headed to dinner.  On the menu tonight were hot dogs, baked beans, chips, watermelon, and cookies.  After getting our fill we headed to the Rec Hall for introductions,  We met the staff, agents, and volunteers and learned about the emergency bells and whistles should we need them.

  Then our campers went on the riddle tour.  This is where they went to a different location around the camp and answered questions before to get them to the next location.  Kind of like a scavenger hunt.  Before they knew it, everyone found themselves down at campfire.  A traditional campfire is what you need for that traditional camp feeling.  So it is now official....we are at a traditional camp doing traditionally fun things.

  When campfire was over everyone headed to their cabins and showered before retiring.   We need to get our beauty sleep before tomorrow when we take the camp by storm! 

To see our phtos from today please click this link.  

Animals and Gravity

   

It's that week of Summer Fun....It's Biotech Day Camp!  For those not familiar with this very populr camp we do all things science while travelling in a 15 passenger van.  Ever since the beginning we have partnered with Hoke Couty on this scientific travelling scientific adventure and this year was no different. 

Our first stop after picking up our counterparts in Raeford was Aloha Zoo.  This is a small zoo with a variety of animals and offers a safari ride so campers could actually feed the animals as they learned about wildebeests, Ostriches, Emus, and so many more.  Not only were they able to see up close and personal with animals they are not used to seeing, they learned interesting facts about these animals and how they are cared for.  One of their favorite animals was the ring tailed lemurs.  Which will go well with our field trip tomorrow (stay tuned).  All in all we worked up an appetitie at the zoo so it was time to hit the next stop....lunch.

   Lunch was at CiCi's Pizza.  I don't know many children who don't like pizza.  There they can get any pizza they like and as much of it as they need to fill and fuel their growing bodies.  All of this was necessary to give them time to cool down and fuel up for our next stop which was out of this world.

We arrived at Surge around two and got everyone checked in, armbanded, and jump socks on.  Then they literally jumped in.  They played trampoline dodge ball, tag, basketball, jumped into the ninjaw pit and used the high dive to flip into the foam pits.  Some of our campers found the foam pits so comfortable that they just swam around in them like a swimming pool.  Others took a moment to climb the rubic's cube walls or even the regular climbing walls.  All in all I would say they had a good time learning about gravity and it's importance while trying to fly through the air with maybe not the greatest of ease...but as close as you can get with a gravatational pull around you.

To see all of our adventures from today please click this link.  Stay tuned for tomorrow as we go to some unexplored new places. 

Flying High at 4-H Coding Camp

   

Coding is more than our campers realized.  However according to them they are extactic to learn about all areas of it.  Today was no exception as we extended our coding knowledge on this the last day of 4-H Coding Day Camp.

  We started the day with everyone having a little time to learn how to fly our new indoor drones and how to work our new art robot Artie.  Now these many not seem like things you need to learn to code but you would be amazed and the thought that has to go into each of these two fun hands on learning opportunities.  

With the drones we learned our challenges (a battery life of about 7 minutes).  We learned how to fly them, take off, land, flip them and calibrate them each time we switched batteries.  Some of our pilots got so good they could land them on someone's hand.  It was amazing.

With Artie not only did our youth use their skills from Scratch coding but they had to use geometry to figure out how to navigate this art bot to turn corners go in circles, and other fun motions.  essentially they used Artie to create art, and as you will see he is essential in our afternoon challenge.  

 

   Our youth also took a moment to get on their newly created 4-H Clover accounts to work on a variety of coding and software opportunities available to them through the program.  Each youth has a user name and password (in the care of their parents) at home so they can sign in and earn achievements and badges as they go along and have fun learning.

 

After our pizza lunches it was time for our own version of Drone Challenge.  Today the challenge was planting the center of an agriculture field that traditional macinery could not get to.  They had to create a target using Artie, a system to get the seed to the target, and spread the seed.  They were given two hours to accomplish this callenge and they had to figure out rolls.  The group split in half and one worked on coding Artie to make the biggest target area possible.  

  The other team started engineering the basket that would attach to the drone and carry the seed to spread it.  The theory was that one drone would hover over the target zone, flip, and dump the seeds while the second drone came in and hovered over the pile and spread the seeds out.  They had an air marshall, navigators, piolots, mechanics, and air traffic control in place when our drone experts came in to asses the execution of the plan.  The target was in place and the air marshall was ready to bring them in.  However there were some glitches.  The basket had doublesided tape to hold things in place and the seeds got stuck to the tape which made them impossible to flip out.  One of our drones took off without permission from Air Traffic Control and they lost their piolts license.  However even with the glitches they got at least one of the seeds in the target area, so we are calling that a win! 

After such an effort it was time for their last coding activity of the day and snack.  So they codeded their own milkshakes.  They wrote out the coded and handed them to the engineer who followed the instructions and made them the most fabulous milkshares ever coded in our 4-H office history.  After enjoying that sweet treat we had a little time to clean up, watch a slide show of the week, talk shop and complete a verbal evaluation, and before we knew it, it was time for them to go home. 

We hoep our coding adventure was fun for all, and just maybe we can get a coding club started in the fall.  Stay tuned.  To see the photos from today please click this link.

The Strategy of Coding

   Our campers have figured out that we like field trips.  We like them because they can meet the experts, and do things with real world applications.  That makes a bigger impression and ah-ha moments for them.  Today we are doing something new and different, which makes sense since this camp is something new and different.   

We travelled to Robeson Community College (RCC) today to meet Mr. William Stubbs who is in charge of the Gaming and Simulator program.  Our youth learned some cool applications to coding and that when they are in high school they can take classes to learn more and create some practical applications.  They also learned more about the design, animation, and production of these types of applications.  The highlight of the trip, besides learning about careers in coding, was having the chance to play a video game developed by one of the students.  Our youth were again inspired by our host to pursue and education in technology, and they were all excited about the possibilities.

After leaving RCC our youth travelled to Golden Corral for lunch.  They needed full stomachs to head up to Fayetteville to Just Claying Around.  Just Claying Around is a business that allows folks to paint pottery and ceramics and will fire it.  So you might be asking yourself what this has to do with coding?  That is an excellent question.  One of the things we have been trying to get across to our day campers is that coding is about patterns, textures, and variables such as colors.  What better way to show that then to create your own textures, patterns, and variables with a piece of art.  Each one of our youth created something special but also had to have some faith in following their instructions or the code that was given to them.  You see often paint colors don't look right until after tehy are fired so they needed to paint three coasts of something that may not have looked right but by the end of the firing process will be what they were planning in their heads...just like coding.

Special thank yous today to William Stubbs with RCC and Just Claying Around for allowing us to visit and have an unforgetable experience.

To see all the photos from today please click this link.

Coding Your Life

   

Day three for our Coding Day Camp crowd and we were excited to apply coding to all aspects of our lives.  We started the day with a little team building and strategizing as we played a rather fun and silly game known as "Would you Rather."  After warming up we jumped into some coding fun.

  Today we learned the difference between engineering, electronics,  and

data by working with a couple of different things.  The game operation showed our youth the difference between data and engineering and also let them know that data and coding don't have to be electronically done.  Sometimes cards and written instructions can provide that rather than technology.

 

Using our snap circuit kit and our ipad to run teh coding program our youth learned about electronics and what they need to engineer to make things work and how coding enhances those things.  With this fun too our youth were able to build a circuit for power and then operate the componets through code.  However they learned quickley everything was dependant on everything else to work.  So coding is an important part of our lives.

Next up we hit the kitchen to code our snack.  Code your snack? Yes, code our snack.  We made trail mix with a set of four ingredients.  They were known as A,B,C, and D.  We used 3/4 c. A + 1/2 c. B+ 1/2 C. C+ 1/4 c. D= Tasty Treat.  When our campers deconstructed the algorithm and put ingredients in place their wrote their own code for a new trailmix that we tried and they were, as a group, very pleased with themselves.

Lunch today consisted of a coded spaghetti.  Campers decided if we wre having white or red sauce and if we were having meat or not in our sauce.  We were told it was the best spaghetti ever, but they might have been a little biased becuase they had their hands in making it what it was.

After lunch we learned about how we perceive things and the millions of thoughts it takes to determine what something is.  To demonstrate we played animal charades and pictionary.  Two very different ways to look at, and describe the same thing.  We also figured out how to code a walk and then fulfilled it.  Some of our campers found out that what they plan in their heads and what they can execute are two very different things.

After coding our walk we went back into the kitchen to make our coded cupcakes.  Our youth followed the code on the box and used a hand beater that was possible a century old.  It was the perfect way to show them that technology and coding aren't necessarily required to be together.  When the cupcakes were ready it was time for our campers to code the design.  they colored their icing, picked the toppings and adjusted for the seconded cupcake if the first design didn't work.  I must say this activity was deliciously fun!     

We also had a little time to enjoy running our Sphero robotic ball around our carpet and learn how to control this fun litte robot with a coding dashboard.

Before we knew it we were talking about our field trip for tomorrow and a change in plans for lunch at Golden Corral.  What a fun time we will have exploring patterns and textures that are intrigrual in coding with art.

To see all the photos from today's fun please click on this link. 

Coding...What can it do for you?

   

Today our 4-H Coding Day Campers ventured out into the world to see what the future might hold for some cool coding kids.     

Our first stop what to see John Allen and his robotics team at Robeson Community College-Early College program.  Our youth learned about engineering, planning, and coding when it comes to robotics.  Their favorite part was working with the students.  They said the students were so nice, patient with them, and helped them learn so much. 

Then it was time to see the main attraction.  The competition robot that they team built and takes to competitions and educational events to allow people to learn more about robotics.  Our youth got to see how it was put together and how it works.  But their favorite part was either handling the controls or trying to catch the rings that the robot shoots out around their necks.  The robot was much bigger and heavier than our youth anticipated and the code for it was a little foreign to them but that won't stop them from giving it a shot in the future.  

After lunch our youth dove into an activity that we often refer to in 4-H as junk drawer robotics.  Its where you take everything you have in teh junk drawer and use it to create your own robot. Our youth were creative and came up with some pretty cool designs.   

Once they finished that they got the chance to explore with some nanobots and had a ball with that.  All and all our youth were excited about the future of robotics, coding, and even said that they want to go to early college to be part of that program.  We can't thank John Allen and all his students for rolling out the red carpet and robot for our 4-H members.

After RCC it was time to go to the moon and back.  Ken Brandt at the planetarium welcomed our campers to talk about another engineering and coding marvel, the mars rover.  The youth took part in a planetarium show about Mars and learned all sorts of cool stuff about how we are exploring the planet and gathering data.  Our youth also got the chance to check out the science center and had a great time doing stem things.  Stuff and things is what they said they wanted to explore and I would ay that we are here,  Special thankks to Mr. Brandt for hosting us at the planetarium.

To see all the fun from today in pictures please click this link.

Coding? Coding Camp? Coding in 4-H?

   

Lots of questions around this brand new 4-H STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art, and Math) camp.  Hopefully by the end of the week we will have lots of answers.  For those of you wondering what coding really is, coding in today's world is a series of instructions written for computers to execute tasks.  However as we will learn during this week coding is part of our everyday lives and goes back long before the days of computers.

  To get the day started we did introductions and a little team building for this shy group of 4-H campers.  We know by the end of the week they will all be best of friends but this week is all about communication in a varity of ways so we thought we would break the ice in fun ways.

  It wasn't long before we got down to business.  Some experts say the first coding goes back to the 1830's when the telegraph and Morse Code was created.  Morse code was actually created from a series of patterns in newspapers and was created to send clear messages across long distances using the electric telegraph.   Today our campers used Morse Code to write their names and give us some secret messages.

Next up it was time for good old fashioned binary code.  Good old fashioned becuase it was actually created in the late 1600's but became the basis for our modern computers codes as recently as the 1970's and 80's.  Using a series of 0s and 1s our campers made bracelets and necklaces using beads and binary codes to spell their initials.  Realizeing this is a clunky for of coding it was time to move forward to something a little more updated and fun.

 

Coding with our mouse and robot are fairly simple, just pressing a series of buttons to get them to move through the mave our campers created.  However in theory it was easy in practice a little more difficult.  Things got in the way, there were environmental issues, sometimes our robots didn't go as far as we expected and we had to learn how to adapt our codes to acheive our goals.  

  It wasn't long before lunch and lets be honest who doesn't love a burger and tots.  It gave us a chance to sit down and eat together to learn more about everyone's coding wishes.  Of course it wouldn't be long before they were on teh computers and working with a new 4-H program that we thing will be a lot of fun. 

Once we had the computers up our campers worked together to start learning about Python, Scratch, and other fun ways to code on computers.  This is all part of the 4-H Clover curriculum which is an online partnership between National 4-H and Goggle.  We were excited to introduce our day campers to this great resource and to be able to hopefully make them their own accounts where they can earn badges and explore the world of coding on their own.

 

Our last activity of the day was to code making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  With the help of our adult volunteer Brooke our youth found out that coding is a lot of hard work and you must be detailed oriented.  Although their attempt at something they thought would be easy was an epic fail, it gave them an idea of things to look for as we move forward in teh week and that is what it is all about.

To check out all the fun from today in photos please click this link.