4-H Camps Celebrate 80-Plus Years - Share Common Purpose with Kiwanis
by David Rorick
Little did West Point Kiwanis Club member Baylor Nichols know that he would become part of history when he went to camp as a child, seven decades ago, at the recently opened 4-H camp in Jamestown. That camp is still going strong. It's been 82 years since 4-H campers first ventured onto the Jamestown 4-H camp in 1928, and children from West Point are still flocking to this great outdoor education facility today. Pictured: Jamestown 4-H Center Director Tony Lea (left) with West Point Kiwanis Club member Bobby Trible.
At a recent Kiwanis Meeting, Camp Director (and West Point resident) Tony Lea briefed Kiwanis on the camp and other educational programs sponsored by Virginia 4-H, an outreach program of the Virginia Tech Extension Service. Kiwanis is dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time, and that means Kiwanis and 4-H have much in common. That became apparent when Tony asked those in attendance at the meeting who had attended 4-H camp in Jamestown. One of the elementary school K-kids in attendance said she had been there last summer, and that's when Kiwanis member Baylor Nichols announced that he had attended the camp during its first decade, back in 1936!
The Jamestown 4-H Educational Center was the first permanent 4-H camp in the Commonwealth, located within walking distance from America's first successful English settlement in the New World at Jamestown, VA.
Tracing its history back to 1908, the 4-H organization provides programs year-round for children and youth with the mission to assist youth, and adults working with those youth, to gain additional knowledge, life skills, and attitudes that will further their development as self-directing, contributing, and productive members of society. Managed and funded by Virginia's land grant universities (Virginia Tech and Virginia Union), 4-H has a positive influence on the lives of thousands of Virginia children each year. To learn more about 4-H camps, visit http://sites.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/jamestown/.
