Bamberg youth explore engineering, robotics and cooking at spring break camp

Christopher Green watched nearly 25 Bamberg-area children move from robotics and engineering activities to soil science, cooking and Zumba during a spring-break camp that turned a few days off from school into a hands-on lesson in how things work.

The camp in Bamberg was part of South Carolina State University’s 1890 Research & Extension and 4-H youth programming, which sits inside the university’s Public Service & Agriculture division. SC State says that work is designed to improve quality of life and raise the standard of living through teaching, research and service, and it uses outreach in rural and urban communities to reach young people, support health and wellness and promote college and career readiness.

Green, who has led the Midlands Region since November 2023, oversees extension work in Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties. He has said he wants the office to become the top resource for stakeholders and the community, and the spring-break camp showed how that mission plays out in a place like Bamberg, where children were able to touch, test and try activities tied to engineering and agriculture instead of only hearing about them.

Bamberg United Methodist Church added a kite festival to the mix, giving the camp a community feel that matched SC State 4-H Youth Development’s approach of helping children learn by doing, build confidence and make new friends. The university says its camps are hosted across South Carolina to help youth develop skills that lead to successful and productive lives, and the Bamberg program fit that model with a mix of STEM activities, cooking and movement.

The spring program also reflected a broader pattern of partnership between Bamberg County and SC State. Bamberg County Council minutes from Jan. 6, 2025, show Green in the room with county leaders as he discussed the 1890 summer camp schedule, including an Explorer’s Camp in Bamberg County for children ages 8 to 13 set for June 16-20. For Bamberg families, the camps have become a local doorway into robotics, agriculture and other experiences that can widen what children see as possible.