What a great week at Rock Eagle 4-H Center! Last week, we camped over 60 4th-6th graders during a week of Cloverleaf Camp. We had 4-H’ers from every elementary school in the county and city and both county middle schools, and these youth had the chance to stay in cabins and participate in activities with people from across the county and state; building relationships and making memories that will last a lifetime!
Rock Eagle 4-H Center is the largest 4-H center in the world, with 1,500 acres of forested land and a 110-acre lake. The Center can house up to 1,000 campers and adults. Gordon County was one of 19 counties that camped at Rock Eagle 4-H Center last week and brought one of the largest delegations to the camp. The camp has a Native American theme based on its historic origins with the Rock Eagle effigy mound. The Rock Eagle nation is made up of three tribes: Cherokee, Muskogee, and Shawnee. Each county is assigned to a tribe and all week long the tribes participate in a friendly competition to determine who will win the tribal shield as having the best week of camp. Tribal shield points are awarded based on spirit and enthusiasm of campers, pageant games, wet games, cleanliness of cabins and areas, and adherence to lights out.
Those that were first time campers followed a schedule that included a workshop each day on a topic like wildlife, forestry, archery, canoeing, herpetology, entomology, conservation, lake ecology, and healthy living, as well as organized recreation, crafts, nature hikes, Native American history, swimming and free time. These campers also get to participate in wet games, a variety of activities played on a huge slip and slide area. Returning campers and those in the 6th grade followed a different schedule, had four workshops each day, and had opportunities to do high ropes course elements including the climbing wall, zip line, and swing shot, as well as STEM activities like robotics and rocketry.
Night activities included a night swim and night hike for returning campers, and a camp dance and camp games for first-time campers. All campers participated in a Monday night skit and tribal campfire and learned about the Native American origins of Rock Eagle. Everyone also enjoyed the counselor variety show, where the Rock Eagle 4-H Center counselors put on a show for the campers. On Thursday night, the campers participated in pageant games like archery, crab crawl, rope pull, sore-toe relay, foot races, and others. Following the pageant games, the campers watched the Rock Eagle counselors put on a pageant that provides the thrill of a native legend about how Rock Eagle came to be. On Friday morning, all the campers gathered together on the side of a hill for the presenting of the tribal shield, and Gordon County 4-H, along with four other counties, brought home the Tribal Shield as a member of the Muskogee tribe. Check out the video of the tribal shield presentation!
Trained teen leaders attending camp included Brandon Bagley, Chelsea Clayton, Breana Manning, Hannah McElrath, and Bryson Smith. I want to take a minute to brag on these young people, because they truly stepped up and showed out at camp this week. They each assisted adult leaders with cabin management throughout the week, and also had assignments to assist counselors and adult leaders with classes and activities, free time, and pool time. Not only were our youth on time and ready for their assignments, but they also voluntarily sought out extra assignments and went above and beyond in the completion of their duties, looking out for campers’ needs, talking them through homesickness, and encouraging them to try new things. Throughout the week, I was asked often by other agents if they could ask one of our teen leaders to handle a task, because they knew our teen leaders would get the job done. The work ethic, enthusiasm, and compassion of these teen leaders made me so incredibly proud of them, and I am so happy to call them ours!
Another group I want to recognize is the United Way of Gordon County. The United Way of Gordon County does so much to support 4-H programs, especially our camping program. The United Way Young Leaders Society hosted an ice cream social for our Cloverleaf Camp orientation and also provided a water bottle for every youth attending camp. As part of 4-H’s annual allocation, United Way of Gordon County provided scholarships for over thirty youth to attend camp for free or for a reduced price, allowing all youth a chance to have a summer camp experience.
A huge thank you to all the campers, parents, teen leaders, adult leaders, counselors, and Rock Eagle 4-H Center staff for a fantastic week of camp!
You can check out nearly 200 pictures of the week here at our Facebook photo album.
