Oct 15 2010
National 4-H Council and JC Penney have granted $50,000 to Washington State University Extension 4-H (WSUE 4-H) for developing the 4-H program, a multi-county robotics project. WSUE 4-H was one of the five locations chosen from all over the nation for educating the young generation in science, technology and engineering.
Janet Edwards, WSUE 4-H Afterschool Specialist has stated that the sponsorship made by the National 4-H Council and JC Penney will help them to augment their efforts in enabling the youth for enhancing their skills and to explore new engineering job prospects.
WSUE 4-H will instigate robotics-based 4-H clubs across the state and its advisors, students and community members will be selected by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), a non-profit organization. These 4-H clubs will participate in the FIRST Regional Robotics contest which will be held at Qwest Field in Seattle between March 17 and 19. The club teams will contend in brief games featuring remote-controlled and fully automatic robots.
The development of robots will be initiated by the student teams by January 2011. They will create the robot archetypes within six weeks and will assess and restore their projects before demonstrating them in the contest. After the contest, these robots will serve as teaching tools in the clubs for displaying their abilities and widening the students’ proficiency in science, technology and engineering.
The robotics program will offer adequate training to the teens and volunteers and issue course materials for continuing this program across the state. An additional contribution of $6,500 per site is offered by JC Penney covering the price of robot kits and contest registration fees.
Pierce, Whatcom, Chelan/Douglas, Skagit, Grays Harbor, Clallam, Spokane, Benton/Franklin, Cowlitz, and Clark regions will form new 4-H clubs and they will also participate in the FIRST Regional Robotics contest.
Source: http://www.wsu.edu