4-H camp is ‘awesome fun’
Counselor Grace Miller and camper Britton McCoy are pictured enjoying crafts at the Coshocton County 4-H Junior Camp at Camp Ohio. Almost 120 campers were attending the camp from Thursday, July 5 – Monday, July 9. Jen Jones | Beacon
ST. LOUISVILLE – The campers attending 4-H camp were excited to share their thoughts of camp. “Awesome fun!” “Great!” “Love my counselors!” “Camp is the best!”
Youngsters, ages 8 – 13, were dropped off on Thursday, July 5 and would stay at Camp Ohio until Monday, July 9. The theme this year is #gameon and many of the activities that were planned involved board games or game shows. Some of the counselors even decorated the cabins with game show theme items, such as Monopoly money and pieces.
Jenny Strickler, 4-H educator for Coshocton County, said 118 campers and 28 teenage counselors were attending the annual experience. “The campers get to pick what activities they want to try. We have volunteers that come from Coshocton to help with different programs, such as the air rifle. Frontier Power brings “Camp Lamps” and the campers really like to make them.”
The campers paint a piece of wood and then volunteers from Frontier Power help them wire their lamp and add a pen holder. This activity is always a popular one for the campers.
Other activities that campers can choose include swimming, kayaking, canoeing, different shooting skills, several crafts, water polo and bottle rockets. For the bottle rockets activity, the campers have two liter bottles, duct tape and cardboard wings and build rockets to launch and see which one will go the farthest.
The wild life run is another popular activity. The campers have squirt guns and chase each other through the woods. Pioneer Life campers made apple fritters and their own candles by melting wax.
Campers could choose to bring a white shirt and tie-dye it. They chose the colors they wanted and counselors squirted their dye choices onto the shirts. While the shirts were drying, several other crafts were ready to make. Jacque Wagner has been the “craft lady” at the camp for 23 years. (Her husband, Dave, has been the swim and outpost guy for the same 23 years.)
“The counselors decide on the theme and then I look on the internet to find ideas for crafts to go with the themes. This year, they can paint backpack bags, wooden tops, peg games and paddle ball games. Frames, journals and friendship bracelets are always something they want to do, too,” said Jacque.
Abigail Lorenz, 13, and Brieanne Hagans, 13, were having fun with the crafts. Lorenz has been attending camp as long as she has been able to go. “I like the high rope. It’s obstacles in the air and then you go zip lining.” She said the best part of camp is being able to hang out with her friends. Hagans is attending camp for the fifth time and she likes being outside and with her friends. Both girls like being around the campfire where they get to watch skits performed by counselors and other campers.
Grace Miller is a counselor for the second year. When asked if she liked being a camper or a counselor more, she said, “Both are fun. It’s fun making camp fun for the campers. I’ll be back as a counselor next year.” Britton McCoy, 14, is attending camp for the last time, but is planning to be a counselor next year. “I like making new friends.”
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