Super Awesome Summer Fun-Time Video Countdown

It's too soon to eulogize the summer of 2013.

Our end-of-summer party isn't until August 15; and children still have about two weeks until school begins again.

(Yes, kids, only about two weeks. Mentor Schools restart on August 21; Lake Catholic, August 22; and St. Mary's orientation day is August 26.)

Sure, we still have some fun stuff coming up. (I'm especially stoked for the Abbey Road concert and for Holi on the Lawn -- stoked enough to use the word "stoked.") But that doesn't mean we can't take stock of how awesome a summer this has been.

And, in my humble opinion, the best way to do that is with a TRL-style video countdown.

5. Ronald McDonald teaches kids that readers are leaders

The moral of Ronald's lesson is both true and important, but it's his juggling skills that have me absolutely fascinated.

4. Teens beat the buzzer in Minute to Win It competition

In case you were wondering, two of the teens managed to successfully move their cookie from forehead to mouth using only their facial muscles.

I tried it twice myself. All I got was broken cookies.

3. Mentor's Rock Roots come home to roost

I refuse to pick a favorite band from our Mentor Rock's Roots concert series, which featured four homegrown bands from in and around Mentor.

Instead, I'll link to performances from all three concerts and you can tell me who your favorite was:

• Altered Generation
• Brendan Burt Band
• Cheap Clone and Hedgehog's Dilemma

2. Constructing catapults at the Lake Branch

True to Lyndsey Gvora's hopes, a lot of the kids who participated that day said, "Wow, I didn't know I could do that."

1. Becoming a library ninja

This is my favorite library video of the summer so far; but, as I said before, the summer isn't over yet.

For more information on programs and events happening at the Mentor Public Library, visit www.mentorpl.org.

Building Catapults and Confidence at Mentor Public Library

Before you read any of this, you should watch this video first.

Those kids made catapults.

They made catapults and used it to shoot tiny gnomes at a scoreboard on the Mentor-on-the-Lake Library branch's lawn on June 24.

How cool is that?!

Rachel Sumrada prepares to fire her team's catapult.

The idea came from Lyndsey Gvora, one of our library associates at the Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch of the Mentor Public Library.

She wanted to host programs where kids actually built something with their own hands -- something cool. And had fun while doing it.

That idea became the Excavation Station series.

"I started this series because I think a kid who knows how to build things has a much higher confidence level than a kid who doesn't," she said.

"I think -- with America's move to college education -- we lose the emphasis on trades and the importance that has in our society, and I want to bring that back."

Brandon Barton launches a tiny wooden gnome across the lawn of the Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch of the Mentor Public Library.

The kids who go to the Excavation Station series have already built catapults. Later this summer, they'll also make sculptures out of dismantled electronics and racetracks out of ordinary household materials.

And it's fun -- a lot of fun, actually. But it also teaches the kids science and math (without them even realizing it.)

It also teaches them about their own potential. All of the teams who participated Monday designed and built their own working catapults. They had the help of some wonderful volunteers and the oversight of Lyndsey; but it was the kids who made the catapults work.

Jude O'Toole fixes his team's catapult with duct tape when one of its crossbars suddenly breaks.

And (as Lyndsey explained) if you can build one thing, then it also builds confidence.

"I hope at least some of these kids say, 'wow, I never built that before and now I think I can do some other things,'" she said.

By the way, if your child is between fourth and eighth grade, he or she can join the fun also. They can register by calling our Lake Branch at (440) 257-2512 or by visiting the Mentor Public Library's web site.

Seriously, how cool our catapults?