A look at Summers County 4-H Camp 2022

For the first time since 2019, Summers County 4-H held its annual camp on June 12-17, 2022 at Camp Summers in Forest Hill, WV. With a crowd of enthusiastic campers and mostly beautiful weather, it was a great week. This year’s theme was Summers County 4-H Flashback. On Tuesday, Cloverbuds came to 4-H Camp for the day. Cloverbuds are 5-8-year-olds who are interested in seeing what 4-H camp is all about! While there, they made crafts, toured the camp, sang songs, and enjoyed a pizza party.

This year, tribes were full of 4-H spirit. They were enthusiastic and hard-working throughout the whole week. The Delaware tribe won the Spirit Stick for the week for their outstanding energy, teamwork, tribal duty performance, and enthusiasm. During the week, the tribes compete for points based on cleaning, sports, swimming, sportsmanship, bed checks, songs, skits, and teamwork. All of the tribes did a great job!

The chiefs and sags for the 2022 4-H Camp were: Cherokee: Anthony Buckland, Chief and Marissa Ruff, Sagamore; Delaware: Megan Richmond, Chief and Chloe Lester, Sagamore; Mingo: Laci Sears, Chief and River Hatcher, Sagamore. Seneca: Catey Short, Chief and Madison Rollyson, Sagamore. The chiefs and sags are responsible for leading their tribe and setting a good example. All of the chiefs and sags worked hard and did a great job during camp.

Each H of 4-H stands for something important. The Head H is for clearer thinking and making good decisions. The Heart H is for loyalty and caring. The Hand H stands for helping others while the Health H is for better living.

Many well-deserved awards were given during camp. The winners were: Health H: Megan Richmond and Brandon Helms, Hands H: Alana Harrison, Heart H: Rhyan Eerenberg, and Head H: Paige Graham. The Mary Grace Surbaugh Return Scholarship was awarded to Gracie Lester and the Bob Baber Return Scholarship went to Greyson Gumm. The Outstanding First Year Male Camper was Jon Cottle and Outstanding First Year Female Camper was Bella Helms. The Camper of Character Scholarship was awarded to Dylan Galloway. Finally, for embodying head, heart, hands and health, the Spirit of Camp was awarded to Anthony Buckland.

A new scholarship was created in 2022 and it was the Trey Bennett Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship was given in memory of Trey Bennett, former Cherokee Chief, who embodied every aspect of what it means to be a true 4-H’er. Trey passed away in 2020 and is truly missed. It was an honor to be able to start this scholarship in Trey’s memory and it was awarded to Chloe Lester.

Thank you to all of the campers, counselors, chiefs and sags who made 2022 4-H camp such a big success. 4-H wishes to thank the following businesses, individuals, and organizations for contributions to camp: Big 4, City National Bank, First Community Bank, Fox Photographics, Hinton Area Foundation, Hinton Hope Foundation, Jarrell’s Exxon, Pivont Funeral Home, R.T. Rogers Oil Co., Inc, Safe and Sound, Sears Septic Systems, Service Club, Summers County 4-H Leaders Association, United Way of Southern West Virginia, and various individuals.

Summers County 4-H also received some very exciting news for camp 2023. Due to a very generous donation from the Petrarca family, all campers who attended this year for the duration of the week (that means until Friday night council circle was over) will receive a full scholarship to Summers County 4-H Camp in 2023. Summers County 4-H is truly grateful for this gift and we look forward to welcoming everyone back in 2023 as well as new campers!