The St. Clair County Cooperative Extension System hosted their 12th Annual Onedayful Kids event on Monday, July 28, 2003, at Camp Sumatanga. The camp is located in the Gallant community in northern St. Clair County. One hundred six children registered to attend this year's event. The children ranged in age from 6 to 11-years-old.
The annual event is geared toward providing children a "one-day-ful" of fun and learning during the summer. This year's event provided a wide variety of activities held in the serene outdoor facilities of Camp Sumatanga.
One activity provided by Extension staff from the Urban Affairs unit at Alabama A&M University allowed the children to take a trip through Germ City. Germ City is an interactive and scientific-based exhibit that increases the awareness of the consequences of poor hand washing. How does it work? While a catchy pop tune was playing, children were given a drop of Glo-Germ gel to spread on their hands. Glo-Germ is a non-toxic lotion that glows under black lights. After one trip through Germ City, a long black tunnel filled with glow-in-the-dark streamers and objects, kids were asked to wash their hands. Then the children were allowed to examine their hands again under the black lights to see how many "germs" they missed. The children enjoyed their visit to Germ City and vowed to wash their hands longer and more often to get rid of germs.
The children found some relief from the hot July heat by making "Ice Cream in A Bag." Extension County Agent Lee Ann Clark demonstrated how they could make their own chocolate ice cream. A zip-type storage bag, ice, rock salt and chocolate milk was all it took and the kids were shaking their way to a cool and creamy treat. While enjoying their new creation, the children learned that drinking milk and eating foods made with milk are an important part of a healthy diet.
Baron Sandlin, county youth development coordinator from the Pell City Career Link Center provided a fun, hands-on team building activity for this year's participants. Together with local paramedic Mr. Rob Gwin, the acronym TEAM was used to encourage the children that "Together Everyone Achieves More." Paramedic Gwin stressed the importance of working as a team, especially during emergency situations. He also gave the children an opportunity to tour his ambulance and see the equipment on board.
The day was incomplete without learning about the importance of our groundwater. District Administrative Coordinator Joyce Smith from St. Clair County's Soil and Water Conservation office and Shani Kruljac, coordinator for the Middle Coosa Watershed Project explained the hydrologic water cycle and how it is nature's recycling system. The students also had fun making bracelets using different colored beads to represent the steps of the water cycle: transpiration, evaporation, condensation, precipitation and infiltration.
County Extension Coordinator Dorothy P. Brice supervised the day's events with a camera and a smile. Brice can't say enough about the planning committee and volunteers who worked tirelessly to make this year's Onedayful Kids event possible. The St. Clair County Commission provided the financial support again and committee member Joan Deason did an outstanding job of securing wonderful support from numerous area businesses. The Onedayful Kids event is a big program for St. Clair County boys and girls who look forward to meeting friends, having fun, and learning something new.