Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

4H Members Attend Space Camp

A total of 85 4-H members from 35 counties, including Clark, attended the three- day Arkansas 4-H Space Camp recently at the Aerospace Education Center in Little Rock.

The camp was co-sponsored by 4-H, a department of the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas, and the Aerospace Education Center.

The camp gave 4-H members hands-on experience in the areas of aviation and aerospace science and technology.

Representing Clark County were Robyn LeMay and Elizabeth Ezell, according to county agent Ron Matlock.

LeMay is the daughter of Tim and Judy LeMay of Gurdon.

Ezell is the daughter of Denise Ezell also of Gurdon.

The 4-H Space Camp, designed for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students, included the building and launching of rockets made from two-liter soft drink bottles and operating a Mars Rover replica.

Off campus, the group attended a special show at the UALR planetarium and a star party at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. The camp highlight occurred as the group took turns boarding airplanes at Central Flying Service for a 20-minute flight over Little Rock. The 4-H members also watched IMAX films at the aerospace center.

"This camp can be a life-changing experience for young teens," Mary Heard, assistant 4-H and Youth Development specialist with the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas, said.

Becky Ramsey, education coordi-nator for the Aerospace Education Center, said activities such as the camp help fulfill the center's mission to provide educational programs for Arkansas youth. Last year, 40,000 school children visited the center.

"It has always been our intent to be available to school groups, but also to be the aerospace and technology center of learning for other specialized programs," she said. "We want to build our programs around community needs."

For more information about 4-H, contact the Clark County Extension office at 246-2281. For more information about the Aerospace Education Center, call 501-376- 4232.

Robyn LeMay and Elizabeth Ezell both of Gurdon represented Clark County 4-H on a three-day Arkansas 4-H Space Camp recently at the Aerospace Education Center in Little Rock. The camp was co-sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service.

Becky Baumgardner, l-r, Sarah Connell and Judy Beaty from Clark County Farm Bureau were among 140 members, guests and staff who attended Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation's statewide women's conference March 24 and 25 in the Embassy Suites Hotel at Little Rock.

This wagon contains pennies the students at GMS have collected to help furnish the new school. They have collected over 50,000 pennies. If you would like to make a contribution there are jars set up in different businesses in Gurdon for you to donate your pennies.