July 12th Youth Program – Do You Need Help With Your Case?

If you need help or have questions regarding putting your case together for our Gem Show in September just show up at our General Meeting at 6:30 pm. Mike and Kat will be available to help.

The Cascade Mineralogical Society is a member of AFMS’s program Future Rockhounds of America. All kids belonging to clubs affiliated with Future Rockhounds of America automatically receive the FRA Membership Badge.

The badge program is designed to encourage young Rockhounds to learn further about the hobby of rocks, minerals and/or fossils. It also teaches them confidence in speaking, how to organize their thoughts, writing and presentation skills. Along the way they are awarded badges for their accomplishments and various other forms of recognition for their efforts.

We are working on the Showmanship Badge. In order to earn this badge you must fulfill 3 of the requirements listed in the manual below.  We encourage all our youth members to plan on displaying their own collection at our Rock and Gem Show September 22 & 23. Setup will be between 4 & 8 pm September 21st. Take down is after the show closes on September 23rd.  We will have a display case at our June 14th meeting so that everyone can see what they have to work with.

There are 5 age categories and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons will be awarded in addition to earning your “Showmanship” badge.

CMS Badge Manual is available at our General Meetings.

Updated: September 30, 2018 — 9:55 pm

Presidents Message

  • Digging It!  September is here, and it looks like a wonderful month so far for getting together and getting out in the field. First, thank you to everyone who helped make our August picnic and club auction such a success. The delicious food, generous donations, volunteer help and spirited bidding made it a great afternoon, and the auction raised $750 for the club. We return to our regular meeting schedule on Thursday, September 10, at 7:00 p.m. at the American Legion Hall in Kent. Our program is all about YOU: Show, Tell & Transform, where you get to briefly present …

Meeting Announcements

  • This program is all about YOU. Bring a rock, mineral, fossil, or other field find that you would like to turn into something. It might become a cabochon, carving, display specimen, jewelry piece, slab, polished piece, or something entirely different. Bring your item and share: Where and how you found or acquired it What interests you about the material What you’re considering making from it Any questions or challenges you would like help thinking through Then we’ll open the conversation to our knowledgeable and curious club members. Together, we can discuss the material, possible designs, cutting or finishing approaches, and other ideas that might help you take the piece from field find to finished project. You do not need to have a complete plan or any special expertise. That’s part of the fun. Bring the piece itself if possible, along with any sketches, inspiration photos, or examples that might help explain your idea.

  • Noelle Barnes will present Using Gaia for Rockhounding, an overview of the features and tricks associated with the app Gaia and how you can use it for GPS, saving waypoints, navigation, photo tagging, trail recording and more. Show and Tell: Bring the rock(s) that have the best “story” – and tell everyone how you found them and where!

  • Club board member Paul Ahnberg will talk to us about the impact of wildfires on our lives – from protecting your home to staying safe while out rockhounding – and what we can do today to help mitigate our risk. Paul will combine his knowledge gained from learning at both the WSU Green School (Master Gardener) and WSU Climate Steward programs. Show and Tell: Bring something you found, from a place that you know has since been impacted by floods or wildfires – or was impacted shortly before you arrived. Tell your story!

  • December’s date and time is coming soon. We will update this page as soon as we know more.

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