The rains in Colorado started off as a simple shower but grew bigger and stronger. This rainfall continued for almost 5 days producing a total of 14.62 inches of rain. The normal rainfall for the month of September is 1.63 inches. All this water created flash flooding in Colorado and resulting in major damage and lives lost. These flood waters would be flowing into Nebraska soon. Preparations needed to be…
Read MoreAcademy Science FLL Programming Camp
Grandpa is an engineer. He is a programming wonder! Little passes without Grandpa assessing the situation and dispensing his experientially qualified advice. Today Grandpa says, “Plan the work and work the plan!” We will get this under our belts one day! Until then programming camp will look like a wild flurry of people, planning sheets, pseudocode, binary programs, robots, attachments, construction materials and miscellaneous stuff going every which way! What…
Read MoreNebraska 4-H Club of the Year
Someone is always watching … Grandpa says this. Guess who is “4-H Club of the Year?” The Awards Moderator’s introduction for Academy Science Club, 4-H Club of the Year: Academy 4-H Club lives the 4-H Pledge and 4-H Motto all year round! We are a club that is always accepting visitors and new members. We serve the community all year round through community projects and club demonstrations. This last year…
Read MoreNebraska 4-H Club of Excellence
A great day in a club member’s and leader’s experience! Nebraska 4-H Extension recognizes Academy Science Club as a Club of Excellence at the Awards Dinner. The Certificate of Excellence reads: This certificate is presented to Academy for developing enthusiastic young people who boldly take action to demonstrate life skills as capable, caring, confident, competent kids of character thus contributing to the improvement of themselves, their family, their club, their…
Read MoreHow to Take Care of Yourself in the Heat
When it is hot outside you need to take care of yourself. Here are some steps to stay cool in warm weather. 1. Limit your sun exposure in the hottest hours of the day between 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. 2. You should wear colored clothing that is light-weight and loose fitting. 3. You should stay hydrated, drink plenty of water even if you are not thirsty. 4. Keep cool…
Read MoreRiver City Rodeo Robotics
River City Robotics RCR is a cool robotics challenge. The Knights of Aksarben host this event as part of the River City Rodeo celebration. We even had a real cowboy stop by and ask us about our robot planning, engineering and programming because it looked like we were having so much FUN! We are up for the challenge this year working with coordinating two CEENBoTs to do the “heavy work”…
Read MoreFirst Lego League Nature’s Fury Challenge
Nature’s Fury Challenge may very well be one the most exciting FLL challenges I have met so far! Just take one look at the mission challenges on the game board. There are pets we have to place with people. A plane has to come in to land safely. I have no clue as to how it will get out of there after all the debris collect on the runway. There…
Read MorePorcupines are Coming This Way!
Porcupines are considered large rodents. Porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) have been sighted recently in forested locations along the Missouri River. The porcupine is noted for its quills and extremely long guard hairs on its back and tail. It can easily weigh more than 30 pounds and appears as big as a raccoon because of the length of the hair and quills. Their coloration is a mixture of black, white, and grey…
Read MoreSwift Migration
This morning at dawn the sky is filled with chimney swifts on their migration south. Beauty and sadness all in one view. No more peeps from the fireplace. It is quiet out in the yard. There are about one dozen starlings perched on the power line watching this impressive exodus southward.
Read MoreBroadcom Masters Semi-Finals
We are proud of our Broadcom Masters Semifinalist! There are about six thousand middle school science projects that are judged worthy enough to go on to Broadcom Masters national science and engineering competition. The top three hundred of these six thousand are selected after further extensive application submission from all Broadcom Masters worthy submissions. Of course the competition process is quite selective. Our Broadcom Masters selected science student has made…
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