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4-H Science Day immerses young people in technology

Young people across the nation became scientists for the day Wednesday during 4-H National Youth Science Day. National 4-H Council President and CEO Donald Floyd says the annual event seeks to spark youth interest in science and perhaps in future science careers.

“4-H National Youth Science Day brings young people to a fun experiment around building robots,” Floyd told Brownfield Ag News, during an interview Wednesday. “That’s really what we’ve been doing for a long time is making science a practical learning experience so that young people get that science is part of their future,”

This year participating 4-H’ers were to program a robot to clean up a simulated environmental spill. Floyd says scientific practice and skills get young people thinking about how the demand for technology – and technology in agriculture – will grow.

“Corn today has more technology in it than our cellphones, and what we’re trying to get young people to understand is science is going to provide the solutions to where food’s going to come from over the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years as population projections are daunting, really, about how we’re going to feed the planet,” said Floyd. “Science has got to be a part of that solution.”

More than five million young people across the nation participate in 4-H science and technology programs.

AUDIO: Donald Floyd (6 min. MP3)

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