4-H'ers at the Louisiana Outdoor Science and Technology Camp built their own rockets, then launched them above Camp Grant Walker during the week of Aug. 4-8. (Photo by Bruce Schultz. Click on photo for downloadable image.)

4-H'ers celebrate as their entry in a boat contest wins. The event was part of the Science, Energy and Technology track offered during the weeklong sessions at Camp Grant Walker. (Photo by Bruce Schultz. Click on photo for downloadable image.)

POLLOCK – Students attending the camp at the LSU AgCenter’s Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center had the chance to take classes in science – learning about rockets, robots and other high-tech subjects.

The increased offerings are in the form of a new Science, Engineering and Technology track – or SET – for fourth- through sixth-grade 4-H’ers. Campers in the seventh and eighth grades attended the Louisiana Outdoor Science and Technology Camp – or LOST Camp – that included instruction in energy, rocketry, outdoor skills and forensic science.

David Boldt, an instructor in the LSU AgCenter’s 4-H department, said LOST and SET are in response to a nationwide study that shows U.S. students lack science proficiency and lag in bachelor’s degrees in engineering.

“These programs are aimed at helping change that disturbing trend,” Boldt said.

LOST filled a need for a weeklong camp aimed at seventh- and eighth-graders. “This was an opportunity to bring them back for one more week,” Boldt said.

In the past, summer camp has been only for fourth- through sixth-graders, and 4-H University, held in June on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, is for high school-age 4-H’ers.

The only alternative for seventh- and eighth- graders was the one-day Challenge Camp.

Boldt said 230 4-H’ers from 40 parishes attended this year’s weeklong LOST camp, Aug. 4-8.

“We consider it a success for the camp’s first year, and next year should even be better,” Boldt said.

SET and LOST involve some classroom instruction but emphasize hands-on activities.

“We’re trying to make it fun,” Boldt said.

The cost is $110, and scholarships are available to students whose parents can’t afford the fee.

Next year’s camp will be enhanced with an expansion of the Grant Walker facility that will include more space and a large lake with the acquisition of an adjacent camp facility. New offerings could include boater safety and a more in-depth wetlands area, Boldt said.

SET courses are available during the regular summer camp for fourth- through sixth-grade students who choose from a smorgasbord of activities, or tracks. The weekly offerings include outdoor adventures, dramatic arts, cooking and nutrition, wetlands and wildlife, and SET.

In one phase of SET, campers crafted boats from plastic cups, Popsicle sticks and tape, then raced the vessels in the scenic creek that passes through the camp.

The grand prize – the coveted front of the lunch line for that day.

Some boat builders deployed sails, but they had little effect in the still air of Central Louisiana.

An ungainly looking boat named Titanic III won its heat even though it got snagged briefly on an underwater obstacle.

Jenna Kidder and Peyton Rivera, 4-H’ers from Lafayette, crafted the “Journey 2,” but they didn’t expect much from it.

“Ours is not going to win,” Jenna said. “It’s a cruise ship.”

Kealy Stelly and Raquel Potier from Lafayette teamed up on their entry named the “Best Boat Ever,” or the BBE.

The BBE looked top-heavy, but it won its heat handily with an easy 10-foot advantage over the closest competition. It also was victorious in a runoff, then swept the finals.

During the victory celebration, Kealy summed up the results, saying “The BBE stood up to its name.”

Nina Hoffpauir of Lafayette said she had a wide variety of experiences during the SET classes.

“I got to shoot a rocket, and I learned how to throw a boomerang,” she said.

Nina’s brother Nathan said the week’s activities went along with what he does at home, experimenting and making things.

“I’ve done some chemistry here at camp, and we actually made ice cream,” Nathan said.

He has ambitions for a career in science.

“I’m going to be in advanced science class next year,” he said. “I want to be an astronaut.”

Sister Nina aspires to go into medicine. “I’m going to be a pediatrician,” she said.

Students at the LOST camp choose three tracks from the offering of six that include robotics and rocketry, global positioning systems, wetlands, energy, outdoor skills and forensics.

Brooke Espinoza of Port Allen said the forensics track was her favorite. “I like investigating stuff,” she said. “It’s pretty cool.”

Not surprisingly, Espinoza is a fan of the “CSI” television show.

She and her friends had just finished pouring a plaster cast of a footprint.

Brandi St. Romain, also an eighth-grader from Port Allen, said this was the fourth time she’d been to 4-H camp.

“LOST camp is really different from any I’ve been to,” she said.

Brandi said she liked forensics best, and pouring the plaster-of-Paris footprint mold was her favorite activity all week.

“It’s kind of messy, but it’s fun,” Brandi said. “It was basically like a big CSI. It was cool.”

Tracey Hankins, an eighth-grader from Tallulah, said she “had a blast” at the camp. “We learned different things every day,” she said.

Tracey said her week started a little bumpy. “I was homesick the first day,” she admitted. “But I’m having a good old time right now.”

Had she not attended camp, Tracey said she knows what she would have done – “Watched my brother, watched TV, talk on the phone to my friends, texted my friends.”

4-H is the youth development and outreach program of the nation’s land-grant universities and is operated in Louisiana by the LSU AgCenter. It involves young people in educational projects, camps, activities, trips and school enrichment programs that foster development of life skills in science, engineering and technology, citizenship, healthy living and much more.

###

Contact: David Boldt at (225) 578-2196 or dboldt@agcenter.lsu.edu

Writer: Bruce Schultz at (337) 788-8821 or bschultz@agcenter.lsu.edu