COLUMBUS, Ohio — Members of 4-H programs in years past dealt mostly with animals and other farm-related topics. But today’s 4-H member can gain hands-on experience in aerospace science, aquatic science, electricity, food science, plant science, veterinary science and robotics.

“When people thought of 4-H in the past their thoughts turned to cows and county fairs,” 4-H Program Coordinator Sally McClaskey said. “Then we moved on to shooting sports and rockets. Today the ‘in thing’ is STEM-related activities.”

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education Coalition works to support STEM programs for teachers and students at the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and other agencies that offer STEM related programs. STEM topics are available at the 4-H Camp Tech in Columbus next month.

“We’re starting to see a lot of STEM activity introduced into 4-H in different ways,” McClaskey said. “We’ve had school enrichment programs for a long time and 4-H-related items introduced to teachers, but a lot of educators are introducing 4-H and STEM activities in camps or after-school activities.”

Camp Tech will be at Ohio State University’s Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. The camp is scheduled for July 19-21 and is designed for students entering grades 6-8 this fall. Twenty-four attended Camp Tech last season; it is the second year for the program.

“This Camp Tech is a concentrated effort to reach kids who are interested in STEM areas and we do it in a way to get the kids that hands-on experience,” McClaskey said. “We keep our class size down and limit it to 24 students so they each get that hands-on experience.”

Registration fee for Camp Tech is $190. Students will stay overnight in university dorm rooms, and activities including building and programming a robot, using GPS receivers in a treasure hunt and learning the basics of engineering design by building a bridge and trebuchet.

Today, 4-H reaches youth in rural, urban and suburban communities in every state, tackling issues such as global food security, climate change, sustainable energy, childhood obesity, food safety and other key issues. More and more, McClaskey says, schools offer a wide variety of science, engineering, technology and applied math educational opportunities, from agriculture and animal sciences to rocketry, robotics, environmental protection and computer science.

For more information or to download registration forms for Camp Tech, visit www.ohio4-H.org/science or contact Sally McClaskey at 614-247-8141 or mcclaskey.12@osu.edu