Frisbee: April's Green Hour

Give the Kids a GREEN HOUR!

A GREEN HOUR is one hour per day for kids to play outside! The National Wildlife Federation initiated the GREEN HOUR network as a way to get kids active, healthy and enjoying nature. Here are some ideas from NWF & the SD Discovery Center.

Yes, it’s cold out. Bundle up anyway and give your kids the healthy and joy-filled memory of playing outside with their favorite adult.

Rediscover the Fabulous Frisbee!
In the park, your yard or on the beach… With a friend or your dog… frisbees are fun! Dig that frisbee out of the the garage (or purchase one at the Discovery Center) and take your kid outside to play. It is a wonderful, simple pleasure.

Or, try the modern evolution of frisbee, disc golf. The Pierre–Fort Pierre area features two disc golf courses.

The game is simple: Players take turns throwing plastic discs — Frisbees — at a metal basket. Each player then throws again from wherever his disc lands, until he lands the disc in the basket. At the end of the course, typically nine “holes,” the player who finishes the hole in the fewest throws wins.

Play at Oahe Downstream and Steamboat Park disc golf courses is free; at Oahe, a valid state park entrance license is required. Both parks have discs available for check-out. Contact the Pierre Parks Department for more information: (605) 773-7445.

Stop in the SD Discovery Center for your set of rules with score cards today!

This GREEN HOUR tip is provided by the SD Discovery Center, 805 W. Sioux, Pierre, SD, www.sd-discovery.com.

Press Release – For Immediate Release

Contact Information: Danette Jarzab or Kristie Maher, SD Discovery Center, 224-2895 or danettejarzab@sd-discovery.com or kristiemaher@sd-discovery.com

World’s Best Female Ball Handler to Keynote Conference for Young Women

The little town of Elkton, SD is home to a woman with big time talent. Tanya Crevier, a native of Jefferson, SD and resident of Elkton, SD, is known as the World’s Best Female Basketball Handler. Crevier will provide the keynote performance for the South Dakota Discovery Center’s Expanding Your Horizons Conference (formerly Women in Science) on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at the Ramkota.

Crevier, a graduate of SDSU, is a professional ball-handler, performing all over the world at all levels of basketball games, including the NBA. She played three years in the Women's Pro Basketball League before performing her current basketball show full-time. Crevier spins, dribble and juggles balls. She even performs a trick that includes her handling 10 basketballs at once.

“When it comes to ball handling, Tanya is one of the best I have seen.” says former NBA star Michael Jordan, according to Crevier’s website, www.enthusiasminternational.com.

Why a basketball handler as a speaker for a science and math conference? “Our conference is about motivating girls in science and math.” says Kristie Maher, executive director of the SD Discovery Center, host of the conference. “To find success in these areas, girls have to set goals, get involved, develop confidence and expect a lot of themselves. Tanya has done this to become the best in her field. The concepts transfer to any goal.”

The conference committee expects that middle and high school girls will be excited to see Crevier perform and will listen to her message. Throughout her performance she discusses the importance of teamwork; commitment to goals; good attitude; making positive choices for direction in your life and staying away from drugs and alcohol.

During the rest of the conference, middle and high school girls will participate in hands-on sessions led by professional women in science, math, technology and engineering careers. These sessions and an exhibit hall demonstrate career opportunities, help the girls network with like-minded peers, introduce the girls to colleges, and to potential employers who offer internships and hands-on learning opportunities.

“You don’t have to love, or even like, science and math to benefit from this conference. Girls who don’t have a clue about what career they want are highly encouraged to attend conference,” says Maher. The conference is designed to let girls learn about fields they may have never considered. It also demonstrates the benefit of taking science and math courses to build skill sets that are valuable in other career areas.

Careers featured at the 2009 conference include paleontology, nursing, computer technology, horticulture, massage therapy, cosmetic research and development, game theory, renewable energy, wildlife biology, computer networking, robotics, environmental science and laboratory technology.

“The hands-on portions of our conference are the favorite of most girls.” says Maher. This year Aveda Cosmetics chemists will involve the girls in the creation of lipstick. In a session lead by nurses from Augustana, the girls will act as nurses in a different country and use technology and teamwork to save a non-English speaking patient. Jane Stewart of the Hughes and Stanley County Extension services will challenge the girls to program Lego robots to complete a series of tasks.

An exhibit hall will host universities, technical schools, associations and businesses that have even more opportunities to offer.

Any 6th -12th grade girl and her parents or teachers are invited to attend. On-line registration will begin February 1, 2009 at http://www.sd-discovery.com/EYH.htm. There is no registration fee.

Conference sponsors include: SD NSR EPSCoR, SD Space Grant Consortium, SD Knights of Columbus Native American Cultural Exchange Program, SD Department of Education, SD Discovery Center, Natural Resource Conservation Service, SD Women Work! Women’s Educational Equity Grant, Pierre-Ft. Pierre American Association of University Women, Pierre-Ft. Pierre Tobacco Prevention Coalition.

Tanya Crevier of Elkton, SD, the World’s Best Female Basketball Handler, will keynote the Expanding Your Horizons Conference for 6^th -12^th grade girls on April 7. Registration is now open at http://www.expandingyourhorizons.org/.

Nurses from St. Mary’s Foundation showed conference participants how to take each other blood pressure. Hands-on experiences are an important part of the Expanding Your Horizons Conference.

Call for proposals for small watershed information projects

The SD Discovery Center announces it is receiving proposals for small watershed information projects.  Applications must be received by May 15, 2009 with a project start date of July 1, 2009.  Up to $5,000 may be requested. Requests should be no more than 60% of total project costs. 

Projects should focus on one of the following:

• Wetlands and Watershed ecology
• TMDLs
• Nutrient and manure management (no demonstration projects)
• “Smart Growth” and low impact development
• Volunteer monitoring
• The value of keeping land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)

Projects should seek to increase:

• Knowledge and awareness of local or statewide watershed issues and concerns related to watersheds and nonpoint source pollution.
• Knowledge and awareness of urban and innovative agriculture watershed protection activities.
• Participation in activity or activities that maintain, protect or restore watersheds.

Please see the link for complete application requirements: http://www.sd-discovery.com/watershed_minigrant_RFP.shtm

Contact Anne Lewis (annelewis@sd-discovery.com) at the SD Discovery Center (605-224-8295) for more information.