April, 2018
Bryant Pond 4-H Camp News
|
|
A note from our Director…
The first few months of 2018 have been quite busy at Bryant Pond 4-H! We have been all over the state in one form or another and we are preparing for our spring school program season that begins April 9
th.
I want to take a quick moment to thank all of you for your continued support. Your trust in us to provide high quality, meaningful experiences for our various participants is something that we don’t take for granted. Enjoy these last few weeks of snow and mud season!
We hope to see you at Bryant Pond 4-H this season!
|
Camp Northwoods
In its 4
th season, Camp Northwoods will once again return to Bryant Pond. Our staff work alongside game wardens, recreational officers, and state biologists to provide a week like no other! This year, CNW will be open to boys and girls ages 9-13, and all will have a chance to earn their ATV Safety Certificates during the program!
To get a slot, you must enter a lottery system. Don’t wait as the lottery will close on April 6th! Good luck! Hope you get drawn!
|
|
4-H Shooting Sports
June 16-17th 2018
|
State Training:
Join us to become a volunteer 4-H Shooting Sports instructor! Slots are limited for this training, which offers either Archery, Rifle, Shotgun, or Pistol certification. This certification allows you to work with youth, leading shooting activities at camps, clubs, and other organizations. Join our growing team of instructors statewide and have a positive impact on Maine’s youth.
|
National Training Shooting Sports Training
|
We’re very pleased to be sending 6 members of our State instructor team to National training in Iowa this May. Gary Proulx, Matt Cole, Brittany Humphrey, Tonya Fonz, John Linfield, and Rich Bouchard have been selected to attend this train the trainer certification course. Each brings a range of talent and experience to Maine’s growing 4-H Shooting Sports. Contact the state coordinator on how you can get involved at:
ronald.fournier@maine.edu
|
|
Bryant Pond’s Tech Wizards Program Wraps-up Year 7
|
Year seven of the Tech Wizards grant has come to a close with more than 125 Oxford County youth participating in STEM-based programming in their classrooms. Molly Ockett School celebrated the end of their program with bathymetry (underwater topographical mapping) of a local lake and culminating with a fun-filled day of ice fishing.
Check out the video of the students on the lake
. Paris Elementary students finalized their engineering projects focused on bridges and catapults. At Telstar Middle School, student-built Estes rockets were flying through the sky to celebrate the end of their time with the program.
The Tech Wizards program includes project-based learning, leadership development, mentorship and service-learning. The central goal is to increase the academic aspirations and social resilience of our participants. Young people gain valuable life skills, knowledge of applied science, and problem solving through real life projects. Programs increase youths’ knowledge of technology and STEM, and engage youth directly within mentoring relationships with caring, knowledgeable adults. Bryant Pond 4-H has begun its eight year of programming with Telstar 7
th graders with the lessons on circuits, electricity, and engineering. Students will be designing underwater remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to use for biological assessments of local lakes and waterways.
|
|
Your Summer Camp Adventure Awaits!
|
|
Despite the snow banks and unpredictable weather, summer will without a doubt be here before we know it! Enrollment is very strong and right now is the time to register your son or daughter for camp! We are excited to announce that we have scholarships available for specific programs.
Our conservation camps have scholarships towards hunter, bowhunter, Natural Explorer, Archery Camp, and several others. These programs include all of the excitement of a week at Bryant Pond, while giving the camper the opportunity to earn their appropriate safety certificate.
New Registration system makes signing up simple!
Bryant Pond has recently started using a new system that has streamlined the task registering for any program we offer. You simply create an account and register for the session you’d like. The next time you return to register, you simply check your information to make sure it is updated, click on the session you’d like, and make a payment. It’s simple, saves time and paperwork, and all of your necessary forms are uploaded right to your account. For folks that attend multiple camp weeks, B.O.W. sessions, or other programs, you will soon see that this will simplify everything for you (and us!).
Check Program Availability Here!
|
|
Spring is in the air and the students at the Telstar Freshmen Academy are in the middle of their fourth unit of study, Exploration and Discovery. Goal setting and self-discovery have been a common theme throughout this unit and students have been taking advantage of rock climbing during physical education to push their limits and literally reach new heights. We welcomed Enock Glidden to the TFA where he shared the personal story of his accent of El Capitan as a climber who does not have the use of his legs. This inspiring story from a member of their own community helped students set challenging goals and realize that it does take a village to help them achieve those goals.
Special thanks to the Maine Gem and Mineral Museum for engaging our students in a place based learning experience where they explored a world class collection of meteorites and listened to a lecture from world renowned expert
|
|
|
on meteoritics, Henning Haack. Through this experience students discovered how scientists determine the origin of space debris and how they can give us information about the birth of our universe. We are extremely lucky to have this amazing resource so close to home.
As students prepare for the unit’s final project they are capturing video, images, and other materials for the creation of a digital story that highlights them and their learning throughout the unit. We are sure to get a lot of great footage from their upcoming trip to Washington D.C. If you would like to view these multimedia projects and participate in the question and answer sessions that follow please join us at the GEM Theater on April 13th from 8:30-12:00.
To read a wonderful article about the culminating project for the Energy Systems unit of study please click the link below.
|
|
|
|
NorthStar Program-Overnight to the Maine Science Festival
|
Telstar seventh graders enrolled in Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center’s NorthStar Youth Mentoring Program recently attended the Maine Science Festival in Bangor on March 16th-17th. Seventeen students, two 4-H professionals, and 7
th
grade science teacher Mr. Dow had the opportunity to learn from Maine’s premier, nationally renowned science organizations through forums, hands-on activities, workshops, exhibits, and films. Youth experienced virtual reality tools, investigated marine life, learned about sharks in Maine, operated robots, and made ice cream! To check out more information about this year's event visit the event website at
https://www.mainesciencefestival.org
. To learn more about the NorthStar program please contact Lyndsey Smith, NorthStar Program Coordinator at
lyndsey.smith@maine.edu
.
|
|
|
|
The mission of the University of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Center at Bryant Pond is to educate and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability and conservation through affordable, experiential learning.
A Program of:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
