[CQ-Contest] Contesting and Young people.

[Allan Cameron]

Thanks,

Allan Cameron, N7UJJ
Chandler, AZ Speaking of young people in contests:

> The Collegiate Championship has "piggy-backed" on the ARRL
> November Sweepstakes

The ARRL has also added a School division in the Sweepstakes.  (Our School
club was second, after Arizona State University's team -- mostly our
graduates.  They received a nice trophy.  We will be trying harder this
November....

"As has the School Club Roundup that is conducted each February and the
Kid's
Day Contests."  From Dale L Martin

The School Club Roundup (SCR) is a lot of fun.  We beat the universities
last February.  They'll be trying harder next February....

Last year, the California QSO Party started a school category.  We are going
to give it a try this year.

The Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) is coming in November.  There's a Boy or Girl
Scout troop that would love to spend a 2 hour field trip to your station.
(The ARRL has some videos and comic books and stuff you can get)

We do field day as a school club.  Teenagers, camping, parents, camp fires,
contesting, tents...  It's great.  Clubs could invite interested kids...

We have always found that a lot of hams take the time to give us a contact
and we can get some great runs at times.  Other times.... well, you know, it
builds character.  We usually have a number of kids who have never really
spoken on the radio before but get involved in the contesting.. as
observers, loggers, "take the mike for a minute"  to full-fledged "I want
the mike during the European opening...".  I don't think a lot of them would
have become involved without the competition of a contest.

Any contest can be a school contest, even if there is no explicit category.
I've had my daughter and a few of her friends work the 10 meter contest with
me at our house.  We don't get much of a score and we wind up in a multi
category, but then again, I've never had much of  a score.  But I do have a
couple of neighbor kids wanting to know when is the next contest that we are
going to do.

I remember a few years ago when K6LL has some kids at his station for the
School Club Roundup.  They did fantastic.  I kind of thought that the
following year there might be a super contest station challenge, but there
was none.  Wouldn't it be cool if some of the contest clubs/stations invited
some local junior or high school (or university) students to participate in
a contest?

I'm not posting this to get the nice strokes, but to let everyone know that
there is another level of contesting... involving young people.  Who would
have predicted how much fun Kid's Day has become?  Involving a whole school,
or even a classroom can take a lot of work, but involving a few relatives or
neighbor kids is relatively easy.  Hey... maybe I'll have some company in
the multi category where there is only one call sign listed.

If we all involved just one kids,  we would double the number of ops and we
would be doing a good thing for a lot of kids.  I guarantee there would be
no complaint about how boring contesting is becoming...
Thanks,

Allan Cameron, N7UJJ
Carl Hayden Community High School, KC7KFF
www.hayden.edu/~ham


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