4-H Updates
•Academic Conference – See below
•4-H Summer Camp – Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, all 4-H Summer Camps have been cancelled for this summer.
•4-H Livestock Shows – Keep an eye out for updates on dates and locations for goat, sheep, and beef shows.
•4-H Zoom meetings will be on Tuesday and Thursday for 4-H’ers who want to meet with Mrs. Samantha. Contact her for the link to the Zoom meeting.
STEM Activity
Last week’s activity involved some fun colorful fireworks in milk – why did it work? There’s a couple of reasons why this activity works. The first is the soap disrupting the surface tension of the milk, which allows the surface molecules to spread out and the colors to explode like fireworks. The second is the property of soap, being that one end of a soap molecule loves water (hydrophilic) and the other end hates water and loves oil and fat (hydrophobic). This characteristic of soap molecules is why soap can get dishes and clothes clean, because the hydrophobic end picks up the grease, oil, and dirt, and the hydrophilic end dissolves in water and washes the dirty stuff away with it. Milk contains fat, and when the soap is added to the milk, the hydrophobic end of a soap molecule grabs onto a fat molecule in the milk. With millions of molecules finding partners all at once, the mixture gets all stirred up!
This week’s activity requires only a black marker, a coffee filter, scissors, and a small bowl of water.
-Step 1 – Using the scissors, carefully cut a strip of the coffee filter approximately two inches wide.
-Step 2 – Use the black marker to make a thick line at one end of the coffee filter about one inch from the end of the coffee filter.
-Step 3 – Dip the tip of the coffee filter into the water and allow the water to begin to soak up into the coffee filter.
What happens to the black line? What does the end result look like?
Take a picture and post it to the weekly experiment post on https://www.facebook.com/groups/WayneCounty4H/. We’d love to see your results!
Make sure to check out next week’s column for the explanation of how this experiment works and for another fun STEM activity that you can do at home!
Virtual Junior High 4-H Event Offers “College Life” Experience: Tennessee 4-H Offers Academic UN-Conference in June 2020
What has BINGO, prize packages, office hours and tours of lands far, far away? If you guessed the 2020 Tennessee 4-H Academic UN-Conference, then you are correct!
For the last 30 years, Tennessee 4-H hosted a 4-H Academic Conference in June. This four-day event provided junior high 4-H members all across the state to come to the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for a week-long college experience. 4-H’ers lived in the residence halls, ate in the cafeteria, learned about the university, explored potential careers and took college classes (that relate to their 4-H project) with actual UT faculty and Extension specialists … just like a “real” college student.
This year, it’s going to be a little different. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, 4-H Academic Conference – along with other summer events – has been converted into a virtual event and UN-Conference – in order to protect the health and safety of all involved.
Dr. Dwight Loveday, Interim State 4-H Program Leader explained, “In spite of the outbreak, we wanted to still give every Tennessee Junior High 4-H member the opportunity to get a taste of college life while learning more about their 4-H project area.”
So, instead of 4-H Academic Conference, this year the event is called 4-H Academic UN-Conference. While some of the traditional experiences are on hold, the UN-conference, scheduled for June 9-11, 2020, will continue to focus on helping 4-H’ers gain important subject matter knowledge and skill as it relates to their 4-H project. Instead of face-to-face instruction, UT faculty and Extension Specialists will work with 4-H’ers virtually to share in-depth, research-based knowledge and career exploration through a variety of teaching methods such as hands-on demonstrations, interactive activities and virtual tours.
“Virtual technology does not limit our ability to learn and network with others” said Loveday. “Actually, our 4-H’ers will be experiencing exactly what our UT students experienced last semester with their class work. While it is not the norm, it was the norm this spring.”
This year’s 4-H Academic UN-conference will feature more than just learning! 4-H’ers will participate in hands-on activities, meet other 4-H’ers across the state and have an opportunity to win prizes for their academic achievements.
Another change for this year is the selection process and cost. For 2020, any Tennessee 4-H member in the 6th-8th grades (as of January 1, 2020) is eligible to attend the conference in one of 16 different project areas. Conference fees are also waived for 2020. 4-H members should contact their 4-H agent to register. The registration deadline is June 1, 2020.
