Washington County June 2-6, 2008

4-H Camp is awesome because every body has fun because its there favorite camp and you have lots of camp activities. --4-H Camper

The best thing that happened at 4-H Camp is the candle service where you put candles on a plate and put them on the pond. It is so beautiful at night. --4-H Camper

4-H Camp is cool. We have the swim olympics in the pool. You can do the noodle race, diving, and dancing in the water. It was awesome and wet! --Sydney

My favorite thing about 4-H Camp is the dancing. At the dances they play all kinds of music. You can dance with your friends or the counselors. I hae a lot of fun at 4-H Camp! --Noelle

The best thing at 4-H Camp is the classes to me. They have quite a few, like archery, swimming, cnn, lego robotics, and interntional pizzazz. They are so fun! --4-H Camper

My favorite thing about camp is all the fun you can have with your friends! 4-H Campo is awesome. --Tori

I think the dances were awesome. I liked the swim olympics. --4-H Camper

I love the dances. You can go to the store at snack. --4-H Camper

I like everything! --4-H Camper

The dances are awesome! They even have slow dances. Everyone goes crazy. At the end of camp we have a candle lighting ceremony. --Sydney

In beginning horsemanship you get to ride really nice and pretty horses and everything is so cool. --4-H Camper

My favorite part of camp was riding the zipline. It wws scary and really fun at the same time. I love it! --Sarah

4-H rocks. There was a wild animal that came. Its name was the wookalar. It lives in the north pole. --Reed

My favorite part of camp is the candle lighting ceremony. I always cry. I usually cry for a long time because I'm leaving all my new friends and I always have so much fun. --4-H Camper

My favorite thing about camp was the classes. They were fun we got to eat yummy food. --4-H Camper

The candle lighting ceremony is my favorite part of famp. We put candles in the pond and sing songs. It's really fun! --4-H Camper

Hi, I'm Kelsey. My favorite part of camp is dances. You get to dance, meet new friends, and have a good time. You dance with guys you like, and some you don't. But it's still fun! --Kelsey

Hi, I'm Jessica! My favorite thing at camp would be the dances. You get to dress up on the different theme nights. I love Thursday Night Popstar Night. I'll be dressing up as Taylor Swift! I thnk dances rock! --Jessica

4-H Camp is very fun and I don't want it to end. --William

4-H Camp is great. My favorite part is the dances because I danced with the girl I like. --Andy

4-H is awesome! The worst thing I have even had to do here is take a shower. CNN is really fun, you should try it. So is backcountry adventures and model rocketry. Plus, dances are really fun, but if you don't want to do that go watch a movie at Ratliff Hall Cinema. So have a good time at 4-H! P.S. play gau-gau and 4-square! --Austin

4-H Camp has been a fun experience for me and everyone else at the wonderful camp. From dancing all night, to swimming during the day. 4-H Camp is awesome, so come and learn new stuff at 4-H Camp. 4-H Camp goodbye? Head, heart, hands, health! --Audriana

4-H Camp has been fun. I think everyone is having a great time. There is a lot of activities in 4-H Camp. --Kierston

4-H Camp has been really fun. All of those who haven't gone I think they should go. --Lydia

4-H Camp is really exciting and fun! If you ever think about going, you've made a great choice. It has plenty of classes you can take, and there's a lot of activities and sports you can participate in. --Annika

4-H Camp is really exciting and I've made a lot of new friends. The activities are fun and so are the dances. I'm going to miss 4-H Camp. --Rachel

I had a really good time at 4-H Camp this year! The dances are pretty cool. I love hanging out with my friends. I really like my counselors too! 4-H Camp is awesome! --Abigail

4-H Camp is really fun. The dances are fun and in Ratliff Hall. They have movies and games. --4-H Camper

Camp Leadership Development Weekend

On March 14 & 15, over 100 teen and adult volunteers from Southwest Virginia came to the 4-H Center for an intensive camp training experience. On Friday night, there were games and pizza, and a long line to play Guitar Hero!

On Saturday, the real work began. The volunteers attended four hour-long sessions, including "Camp Safety" presented by Daniel Collins, "Positive Role Modeling" presented by Sam Fisher and Heather Littrell, "Diversity at Camp" presented by Shelia Belcher, and "Experiential Education Methods" presented by Nick Fuhrman from the state 4-H office. In addition to these sessions, there were round-table discussions, a head-to-head team Jeopardy battle, and a series of quick round-robin activities.

A good time was had by all, and more importantly, these volunteers learned a lot about what it takes to volunteer at camp. Special thanks to them for all their hard work! Check out the pictures below of the weekend's activities.

Dulcimer Discoveries

There is an exciting opportunity for adults coming up at the 4-H Center. On April 14-18, we will once again host the "Dulcimer Discoveries" program. This is a great chance for adults to learn to play the dulcimer, either beginner or intermediate players are welcome.

Instruction will be offered on both the hammered and lap dulcimers, but you'll need to bring your own instrument. If you want to register, download the registration form here, or call us for more info. Hurry, space is limited!

February 16 Southwest District BB Shoot Results

On Saturday, Feb. 16 the 4-H Center hosted the Annual District BB Shoot. A total of 30 shooters participated in this competition (16 Jrs. and 14 Srs.) In the Junior division, teams from Lee County, Patrick County, and Floyd County shot 10 minute rounds in prone, sitting, kneeling, and standing. Here are the top three individuals and team winners:

Individuals:

1st Place Isaiah Puckett, Patrick County
2nd Place Jason Pendleton, Patrick County
3rd Place David Parsons, Patrick County
Team:
1st Place Patrick County
2nd Place Floyd County
3rd Place Lee County

Attending their first shooting competition, both Lee and Floyd counties had exceptional shooters. With a little more time and experience these young shooters are going to raise the bar on this competition.

On the Senior level the following counties competed: Bland, Patrick, Lee, and Tazewell. Seniors shot 10 minute rounds in prone, sitting and standing. Here are the top individual shooters:

1st Place Jessica Ingle, Lee County
2nd Place Jonathan Gillespie, Tazewell County
3rd Place Mandy Pendleton, Patrick County

(There were no teams in the Senior Division)

Here are a few pictures from the shoot, compliments of Melissa Harber in Lee County.

Austin Eldridge, Lee County, Bronze medal, Junior level, Could his smile have been any bigger if it had been a gold medal? I don't think so!

Amanda Harber, Lee County, Gold Medal, Junior level, Happy, happy, happy!

Jessica Ingle, Lee County, 1st Place Gold medal, Senior Division WOW! First time out and she brought home first place! Way to go Jessica!

A New Way To Support Us

You may have noticed a new item on the sidebar of the blog...a link to iGive. This is an exciting new way to support the 4-H Center. iGive partners with many popular retailers that many of you probably already use. When you sign up with iGive, every time you shop online you have the opportunity for a portion of your purchase to be donated to the 4-H Center.

To sign up, just follow this link, or click the image on the sidebar.

Calling All Camp Staff Alumni!

What's been happening in your life since your 4-H Camp experience? We would love to hear from some of the alumni out there. If you would like to share what's been happening in your life (marriage, kids, school, jobs, etc....) send us a note and we will post it on this site. Thanks, and we hope to see you on the 14th of June this summer. More details on the event will be coming soon.

SAVE THE DATE JUNE 14, 2008

Camp Staff Reunion
June 14, 2008
at the Southwest Virginia 4-H Educational Center
Activities will begin at 10:00 am.

A reunion for all camp staff that have worked here at the 4-H Center from 1960 till today is scheduled for this summer. Plans are currently underway for a fun day at the Center that would include reminicing and renewing old friendships. Tours of the Center, a barbeque lunch, displays of memorbilia, and lots of opportunities to catch up are part of the plans for the day. The swimming pool will also be open. We hope if you are one of over 600 individuals that spent a summer of employment here that you will come and join us for the day.

We need help finding these former staff members as well. Our mailing list are out of date for many of these individuals and we have lost touch. We know that many of you have kept in touch over the years, so if you know of former staff members please pass the word. We would really like to reach as many as possible so they may share in this great opportunity.