Climate Change

For the start of day eight, the guest speaker for the day, Chris Wiegard, spoke to the students about climate change. Mr. Wiegard, who is a climate change activist and lobbyist, explained what the greenhouse effect is and how it affects the Earth. The greenhouse effect is the trapping of the sun’s warmth in the Earth’s lower atmosphere. The students learned that a woman by the name of Eunice Foote, conducted a series of experiments in 1856 to demonstrate the interactions of the sun’s rays on different gases. Foote’s experiment ended up being the first description of the greenhouse effect.

After listening to the great information from Mr. Wiegard, the students continued reassembling the computers from day seven. The students rebuilt and tested them once they were completed. Some of the computers, however, did not turn on or sounded out beeps that indicated something had gone wrong. The number of beeps that the computers made can mean anything from a bad hard drive, to a dead battery on the motherboard. If the computers failed the test, the students tried to figure out what the problem was so that they could test it again by researching what the beeps represent and replacing the parts with the problems.

Once the students finished their lunch break, they got a visit from Mr. Norris. Mr. Norris came to visit to take a look at the sunflowers. Mr. Norris taught the students about pruning and what a taproot is. The students helped Mr. Norris transfer some of the sunflowers into different pots. After they dealt with the sunflowers, the students got a chance to work on different project. The students create catapults by using popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons. After creating their catapults, they tested them to see if they worked and competed against each other to see who could launch their paper ball, or ammunition, into the opposing basket (like a game of basketball). The students overall had an informative and exciting day eight.

Written and Photographed by Onnia Thomas

Majoring in Computer Information Systems, Onnia is a STEM Camp 2019 intern and rising senior at Virginia Union University.