4H ‘Wherewolves’ Hunger For Science

By JENNA RHUDE

Moapa Valley Progress

What do you think of when you hear the word werewolf? Well, it probably does not bring to mind a 4H club? But that is exactly what you will find at the Cooperative Extension.

The 4H Wherewolves club is the brainchild of Doyle Raines and his wife, Peggy. The club hosted a two-part youth day camp last week. On Monday and Tuesday, the older club members attended a two day science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) event.

Later in the week, on Thursday an Friday, the older kids came back as volunteers to help guide the activities of a younger group made up of kids ages 8-12.

The kids were taught all about geocaching, a recreational activity which has participants hunting for hidden objects by means of GPS coordinates. The participants were so excited to use actual GPS units to find different objects hidden around the Cooperative Extension grounds.

The club members helped the younger kids during a “treasure hunt”. They were given a variety of GPS coordinates and had to go out and find them. Envelopes were hidden all over outside and were found using the GPS units.

The envelopes contained numbers. After searching for the envelopes, the numbers were tallied up for each kid. The person with the largest combined number won a prize.
“Geocaching was so much fun,” said youth participant Rion Zerkle. “I can’t wait to ask my family to go with me.”

The kids were also introduced to the art of Japanese haiku poetry and water color art. Mr. Raines is retired geography teacher and a 21 year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. He feels it is important to balance all aspects of STEAM.

The Wherewolves 4H club began in January of this year and is a free program run out of the Cooperative Extension. The focus of the club is science.
“We are a club that focuses on the science behind ‘where’,” said Peggy Raines. “We use GPS, maps, cartography and geography to give the kids a more hands-on experience.”

The group currently has about 5-6 regular members. But they would love to see their enrollement maxed out at 10.

The club is hoping to be able to create story maps during the next school year. The website: Esri Story Maps let you combine maps with narrative text, images, and multimedia content. The club members use the maps and geography to tell a story.

For more information on joining the Wherewolves, contact Lacey Sproul at the Cooperative Extension: 702-397-2604