WAITSBURG - At 8:55 last Tuesday morning, the mercury was already pushing 80. Twenty local students clustered in the cool shade of Waitsburg's First Christian Church, happily chattering as they waited to be signed in to the Waitsburg Resource Center's "Knock Out Boredom" program.

According to Pam Conover, the program's director, that's a small crowd. "We've been having 40 kids come in," she said. Emily Wilson, a recent Prescott High School graduate, comes in on the Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays the program runs to help supervise the youngsters, who range from pre-Kindergarten age to teenagers.

Outside the church, the kids goofed around as they waited to go in. Little girls switched nametags and joked about being each other. Boys chatted about their latest fishing expeditions - with the customary enlargement of the ones that got away. Those with music on their phones played pop tunes and watched younger siblings bop around to the beat. Everyone seemed to be having a good time - and "Knock Out Boredom" was living up to its name, which Conover credits to her friend Donna Ingle.

The program, still in its first year, focuses on a different activity every day, with each week having a theme. The first week (animal week), program participants learned about pet care, birds of prey, and salmon habitat through hands-on activities. This was the second week of the program, and the theme was now art.

Conover introduced the participants to Vicky Beckmeyer, who owns Croft's Floral in Dayton.

"This is Vicky," she told the eager crowd. "She brought some things for you to paint."

With that, Conover unlocked the church door, and twenty-five excited kids dashed down to the church's basement.

Conover says that the program has been lucky to have individuals like Beckmeyer donate their time and resources. Amazingly, no one has ever turned down a request to present at KOB: "When I called people," she said, "no one said, 'Well, I'll get back to you.' They said, 'When do you want me?'"

In the basement, participants took their seats at tarpcovered tables while Beckmeyer gave a few tips on decorating the ceramic objects arranged on the table in front of her. After she finished, the kids filed by one table at a time and selected their projects.

"They (the kids) are a delight," says Conover. "Nobody's been naughty."

The students settled down with their chosen pieces - everything from plaques to boxes to three-dimensional hands - and began painting.

Seven-year-old Tanner was busy painting colorful blobs on the lid of a football-shaped box. "Nana said I could paint a tank," he explained. When asked if the project in front of him was his tank, he thought for a moment before saying, "No. Well, on the top it's something different. But on the sides it will be!"

Around the room, everything from self-portraits to green-and-yellow basketballs was taking shape. Laughter bounced off the basement walls and the tarp-covered tables began to bear a passing resemblance to Pollock canvases.

By 10:45, many participants were finishing up their projects and a steady stream of newcomers trickled in. Meanwhile, 6-year-old Sarah was busily putting the finishing touches on a thank-you note to Blue Mountain Wildlife, who had given a presentation on birds of prey the previous week.

"They brought my favorite bird," said Sarah. "The Peregrine falcon!" She enthusiastically described it, noting that it was the "world's fastest diver".

During the upcoming week, Conover said, the kids at the program would be building rockets - which, weather permitting, will be launched at the Waitsburg fairgrounds on Thursday. "They should go about two hundred feet in the air," she said. During the program's final week (July 29-31), workshops on music and percussion will be held.

The program is free and participants are accepted on a drop-in basis.

"I'm not quite sure how it all got started. It just did," said Conover. "We wanted to do something for kids, and it all came together."

She paused and glanced at the happy crowd, then smiled.

Right: Lynn Thompkins from Blue Mountain Wildlife in Pendleton, Ore. shared about hawks, owls and falcons earlier this month.

"Well, not quite. Obviously, God had a hand in this. Then it all came together."