4-H Tech program catapults forward

By TOM STANKARD

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Bessemer - As school gets under way, the Gogebic County 4-H Tech Wizards have much planned for September.

Coming up on Tuesday at A.D. Johnston High School from 4 to 6 p.m., program manager Monie Shackleford said children will be able to build Lego robots.

"It's really fun," she said. "You can program them to move around and speak."

By building them, Shackleford said children learn how to follow directions, program computers and develop building skills.

Then on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at A.D. Johnston, Shackleford said state 4-H Tech wizard organizers will visit Watersmeet.

So far, Shackleford said the program has taught students how to construct and operate catapults, air-compression rockets, balloon-powered cars, solar-powered cars and other items.

When there's down time at programs, Shackleford said kids like to play with a robotic ball. Children can program the ball to move, light up and make sounds using an application on a tablet. Some programs include making the ball move in a square, back and forth and side to side.

"The children have one called 'awesome' and one called 'cool,'" Shackleford said.

Shackleford said she wants more kids involved. She said there are 20 children registered so far.

To encourage children to register, the program is hosting open houses. Shackleford said time and dates are still to be decided.

The goal is to match children with committed adult mentors with focuses on science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics projects.

To date, there are four mentors.

"Mentors volunteer once a week for two hours," she said. "We're are in the process of training them."