Summer 4-H Camp may have ended for the year but the Jamestown 4-H Educational Center continues to operate quietly, tucked into a corner of James City County where some people may not know it exists.
Beyond the summer activities, the 4-H center offers children a place to field trip and a place to camp in the fall. In October, the camp offers a natural resources camp. In November, a science camp. In December, a teen weekend.
But by far, 4-H’s biggest venture is summer camp. Serving 19 cities and counties, each week a different municipality sends its children to camp. A summer week will see up to 180 children, 25 to 30 teen counselors and a number of adult volunteers, reaching a total of 220 people per week.
Quantifying the number of children have who moved through Summer 4-H Camp is hard to do: the camp has been operating since 1928 and caters to children ages 9 through 13, but children can return year after year then go on to serve as teen counselors or staff members. Today, high numbers of staff are former campers. This summer, 14 of 15 staff members went to 4-H Camp.
WYDaily interviewed some of the staff, who said they return year after year because of the experience of being a camper and the families they build.
“It’s like a big family. 4-H is just a place where kids can be themselves … It’s a utopia. It’s my home. It’s amazing,” said Rebecca Schmitz, called “Zooka” while at 4-H Camp.
Peppa, known outside 4-H Camp as Karissa Dobbins, said, “I’ve always been to 4-H and I wanted to give back what I got while I was a camper…family – that’s what you get from 4-H.”
While all agreed that 4-H meant family, some said it went deeper than that, teaching them how to grow into the person they wanted to become.
“I decided what I want to do with my life because of 4-H and what I’ve done here with the kids,” said Jack “Jazzy J” Winthrop, the camp’s marine science instructor who’s leaving the camp for a teaching job 14 years after starting as a camper at age 9.
“This place has meant everything to me for the last four years because it’s made me who I am today,” said former camper and Junior Camp Coordinator Greg Farrell, known as “Twister” at the camp. “… Go to camp. Whether you’re 26, 19 or 9 years old, go to camp.”
Aside from providing a family, 4-H camp provides children with structured education and fun, three meals per day and a snack shack with souvenirs to purchase. Campers choose classes to take before they arrive at camp, including swimming, archery, fishing, Lego robotics, marine science, sailing, performance, basket weaving and leather crafting.
“Camp is fun, camp is safe and secure, but camp is also intentional,” Camp Director Tony Lea said.
The camp’s counselors visibly enjoy what they do. Campers run when the lunch bell rings and line up outside a pavilion before marching off for lunch. As they wait, counselors sing songs and incite the kids to sing louder and louder. While they sing, the counselors and campers laugh and dance along with what they’re singing.
Lea said what’s fascinating about lunch is the way kids interact with one another.
“If you give a kid a place to sit, they’re going to make friends,” Lea said.
At 4-H Camp, lunch is served “family style” and is complemented by a salad bar. As kids pile into the dining hall, teen counselors hold up their fingers at each table to show how many seats are left. Some kids move to sit with people they know and others start talking to whomever is already at the table. Pitchers of drinks are passed around, trays of corn dog nuggets and French fries move from one camper to the next; older campers help the younger campers if they need it.
A first-year camper named Justin said his favorite thing about camp was the food.
When lunch is over, a teen counselor cleans up the table, taking dishes to cafeteria staff for washing. Staff members walk through the dining hall passing out ice cream bars.
Lea said the hardest time of the year is when camp ends for the summer. He moved to the U.S. from Australia in 1996 to work at camp. His children attend the summer 4-H Camp.
“It keeps you confident that we have a future,” Lea said.
Even though summer camp has ended for the year, the other programs offered at the Jamestown 4-H Educational Center — at 3751 4-H Club Road near Mainland Farm — are coming up later this year. Natural Resources and Environmental Education Camp is scheduled for Oct. 11-13 for ages 9-13; Science Camp is scheduled for Nov. 1-3 for ages 9-13; and Teen Weekend is scheduled for Dec. 13-15.
For more information about Summer 4-H Camp and the Jamestown 4-H Educational Center, visit the center’s website.
