Campers participate in a team-building game to build camaraderie and communication skills.
Photo courtesy of Catherine Shelley
Richmond County 4-H has spent the past month at Millstone 4-H Camp enjoying the outdoors and fun activities that camp offers including but not limited to shooting sports, ropes course, canoeing, swimming, field games, arts & crafts, outdoor living skills, nature classes, and more.
Two weeks made up traditional 4-H camp where youth carry out the 4-H motto of “learn by doing.” At camp, youth learn many new skills ranging from setting a table and making up a bed on their own to kayaking, archery, and even managing fear. Residential camps operate from Sunday to Friday and give many youths their first taste of independence, responsibility, and identity. Five-, six-, and seven-year-olds that may not be ready to spend an entire week away from home enjoy a 3-day, 2-night camp experience known as Cloverbud Camp. Youth that attend this camp participate in the same activities as a week-long camper and also gain many of the same life skills.
Another camp that Richmond County youth have taken advantage of this summer is a specialty camp called Fur, Fish, and Game Rendezvous. This camp offers the opportunity for youth to work with outstanding instructors from NC State University, The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Wake County Wildlife Club, NC 4-H, and the North Carolina Forestry Service. Campers participate in the NC Hunter Safety course and may earn their Hunter Safety Certification. In addition to a regular 4-H camping week, these campers learn skills specific to hunting, trapping, and fishing such as snake identification, gun safety, wildlife management and more.
Parents that invest in the camping experience for their child reap the benefits of choosing Millstone 4-H camp. North Carolina has three 4-H camps and one of them happens to be right here in Richmond County! Only an estimated 25 percent of camps in the United States are accredited by the American Camp Association. Millstone 4-H Camp is one of three North Carolina 4-H camps which operate through the Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family & Consumer Sciences with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension service that hold this special accreditation.
Millstone 4-H Camp opened in 1939 and, minus a year during WWII and Covid-19, the camp has been open for summer camp ever since. During its long tradition of offering high-quality camping experiences, the program builds on the 4-H motto of “making the best better” and also commits to meeting the quality camping practices recognized by the American Camp Association.
These standards and practices include site criteria, health care, programming, personnel, and administration. ACA standards also exist for specific programs such as aquatics and horseback riding. If you were to send your child to a non-accredited camp, you would need to ask many questions about program quality, safety, health care, facilities, food service and staffing. With an accredited camp, ACA professionals do process for you. Yet they do not stop with performing one in-depth study; every five years they return to review each ACA-accredited camp to ensure standards are maintained.
Richmond County 4-H sent 32 youth to traditional 4-H camp, 7 youth to Cloverbud Camp, and 15 to Fur, Fish and Game Rendezvous. In addition to these residential campers, 39 youth from Richmond County got a taste of camp at a day-camp experience. As the camping numbers in Richmond County continue to grow and more and more youth benefit from our local 4-H camp, I see a summer in our near future where over 100 kids experience camp. If you missed out on camp this summer, camping information for 2024 will be released in October.
Now that you know all about Millstone 4-H Camp, is it right for your child? Summer camp is important because it offers a structured opportunity for children to learn and grow. Kids go from home to school to extracurricular activities, each with a different environment contributing to their development. Summer camp is another unique venue for growth, allowing youth to become independent and self-confident, while socializing, making new friends, and learning new skills.
If you have any questions about 4-H camp or any other 4-H programs, contact 4-H Youth Development agent, Catherine Shelley at 910-417-0258 or visit our website at Richmond.ces.ncsu.edu. Further reading on this topic may be found at Fun & Safety: ACA-Accredited Camps Set the Standard – https://www.acacamps.org/campers-families/planning-camp/preparing-camp/fun-safety-aca-accredited-camps-set-standard
The Value of Camp – https://www.acacamps.org/campers-families/because-camp/benefits-camp/value-camp Remember: summer isn’t summer without 4-H Camp!