jamesbibb
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2009
- Messages
- 1,554
- Reaction score
- 311
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Central Va
- Detector(s) used
- T2SE
DFX
XLT
GPX
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
Back in the spring I was lucky enough to land a new job as facilities manager at a local kids camp in Charlottesville Va. It has been a very fun and rewarding place to work. Each week the camp has a theme and it just so happened that it was Ancient Adventures a few weeks ago. So that got me thinking, I decided to put on a small program for preteen - early teen kids and offer an exciting lesson in real, local history and set up a portion of my relics on display. Many of which I encouraged them to pick up and handle and ask questions to really experience the history in their hands just as we do every time we recover a relic or old coin. I took about 15 minutes to cover key important dates and facts of Va history and the rest of the time I allowed them to look at the collection and ask questions. They were absolutely thrilled and excited to handle and closely observe artifacts that they had only ever seen in a museum or many never at all. I also showed them a brief operation of my 2 best machines and they asked questions about that as well. It was truly an exciting experience for me and for the kids.
Then last week the directors asked me to put on a similar program for 7 separate groups of kids ranging from 7-14 totaling about 200 kids! I was floored and immediately got to work! I was telling a true friend Mike Post of Woodland Detectors about the opportunity and he immediately offered to drive 3 hours and furnish about 20 kid friendly detectors that had been donated by various manufacturers for a similar program he ran at 4H. Along with that he offered to help direct and manage the program for me! My first thought was that this was going to be a lot of work, and boy was i right! But let me tell you it was worth it! Mike showed up with a truck full of detectors and a tub full of donated tokens, jewelry & Key Chains! We seeded a large wood chipped lot for the kids to hunt in. I stared each 40 minute group basically the same way as the first program with a brief history talk but with a bigger focus on proper recovery and ethics for detecting. The kids loved the artifact display again and we were bombarded with questions from all sides! Asking about bullets, buckles, coins you name it they wanted to know about it! After 15 minutes of that we escorted them to the outside hunt area and gave them a 5 minute lesson on the machines and recovery. After that we handed them a machine and they were off finding buried treasures! Including a Walking Liberty Half Dollar prize coin that was redeemed by the lucky finder for a manufactures T shirt! These kids were barely big enough to hold the detectors but hold them they did and in any way they could! They were recovering the targets as fast as we could reseed them! They were truly having a great time. So much so that with some of the kids we literally had to pry the detectors from there hands! Sounds like me in a good spot LOL!
Special thanks goes out to Mike Post, the Manufactures that Donated Machines and Targets for the kids, the Camp Directors, my wife for putting up with me and Mike for 2 days of hunting and stuff and most of all thanks to the kids for being as great as they could have been!
Happy Detecting to All
James Bibb
Then last week the directors asked me to put on a similar program for 7 separate groups of kids ranging from 7-14 totaling about 200 kids! I was floored and immediately got to work! I was telling a true friend Mike Post of Woodland Detectors about the opportunity and he immediately offered to drive 3 hours and furnish about 20 kid friendly detectors that had been donated by various manufacturers for a similar program he ran at 4H. Along with that he offered to help direct and manage the program for me! My first thought was that this was going to be a lot of work, and boy was i right! But let me tell you it was worth it! Mike showed up with a truck full of detectors and a tub full of donated tokens, jewelry & Key Chains! We seeded a large wood chipped lot for the kids to hunt in. I stared each 40 minute group basically the same way as the first program with a brief history talk but with a bigger focus on proper recovery and ethics for detecting. The kids loved the artifact display again and we were bombarded with questions from all sides! Asking about bullets, buckles, coins you name it they wanted to know about it! After 15 minutes of that we escorted them to the outside hunt area and gave them a 5 minute lesson on the machines and recovery. After that we handed them a machine and they were off finding buried treasures! Including a Walking Liberty Half Dollar prize coin that was redeemed by the lucky finder for a manufactures T shirt! These kids were barely big enough to hold the detectors but hold them they did and in any way they could! They were recovering the targets as fast as we could reseed them! They were truly having a great time. So much so that with some of the kids we literally had to pry the detectors from there hands! Sounds like me in a good spot LOL!
Special thanks goes out to Mike Post, the Manufactures that Donated Machines and Targets for the kids, the Camp Directors, my wife for putting up with me and Mike for 2 days of hunting and stuff and most of all thanks to the kids for being as great as they could have been!
Happy Detecting to All
James Bibb
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Well Done!!!!!
Nuff said. 
