The week after camping was day camp for our local Girl Scouts. Richelle was a Program Assistant this year instead of a camper - a mile-stone she's been looking forward to reaching. Program Assistants are Girl Scouts going into seventh grade or older who help the leader give the day camp program to the younger girls. Richelle's goal was to give the younger girls the same wonderful experience she had. She was a splendid PA, working hard and never complaining even though it was very hot and the girls were demanding.
Our day camp is a week long outdoor event located on a private semi-developed park area. There is a large concrete pavilion, flush toilets, running water, picnic tables, and a fire ring. I say semi-developed because the road is gravel and the lawn is mowed down native grasses and it isn't well-watered. There's also poison oak around the edges and little green frogs in the bathrooms.
The temperatures ranged from 103 up to 108 that week. I made it clear to the leaders and PAs that I wanted everyone drinking water like little fishes and I wanted everyone hosed down four or five times each seven-hour day. I wasn't the first-aider -my job was to crack the whip over the heads of the PAs- but I didn't want any girls not having fun because she was ill with heat exhaustion. So I told my PAs that it was their job to keep the girls drinking water and getting wet. They had no problem spraying the little urchins with water and making them shriek. And the little urchins had no problem shrieking for more water. All together, great fun was had by all. I didn't see any girl dodging the water. Instead, I saw girls standing in front of the hose, water coming down their faces in sheets, shoes squidgiting, yelling that they weren't wet enough. Not one girl came to the first-aider for heat-related problems.
Last week was the local fair. I posted earlier about Richelle's entries so won't repeat except to say that her Lego house ended up with a garden roof instead of having an attic full of attic-y stuff.
The judging for her category (Science, Electronics, and Technology) was on Monday before fair so her jitters were over with early and she could enjoy things. We attended every day because the 4-H SET program is fairly new to this area and we wanted to give as much exposure as possible to the public. With that in mind, we gave demonstrations for two hours each afternoon and allowed any youth who wanted to program a robot and run them. We especially wanted Richelle and her female club member there to help attract girls who were interested. Legos and robots still seem to be a boys domain and it was good to have the girls there demonstrating, tutoring, and being knowledgeable.
I didn't take pictures of her house and my camera is acting up right now (I got some pictures of what could be ghosts but is really the light coming in the sliding door between the curtains) but here is a picture of her robot.
This is a Butler Bot and his name is (appropriately) Jeeves. He was designed to carry a plate of goodies to a guest in their room. The basic bot with the motors, wheels, and 'brain' placement was put together from a diagram. The rack to hold the plate and the touch sensor placement was Richelle's own construction. She wrote the program and built in a delay so the robot wouldn't move until the plate was loaded on. All of the motors the club had were being used on other kids' projects so she didn't have a third one to allow Jeeves to knock on the door. Instead, she programmed him to say, "Good morning" repeatedly until the plate was removed. He says a quick, "Thank you" and returns to base. Then it is all done again for room #2. Jeeves has a bit of an English accent and it's the cutest thing to watch.
All her entries got blue ribbons meaning they exceeded expectations for her category. All her entries were also selected for state fair and her robot got champion and reserve grand champion. She did well.
State fair runs from August 25th to September 5th. I'm curious how well her robot will do against the best in the state.
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