I recently returned form 4-H camp, where I served as the camp nurse and lifeguard. It was tons of fun but also super exhausting. Through lots of hard work, fundraising, and club contributions the Arizona 4-H youth development program was recently able to purchase the James 4-H camp at Mingus springs. It's a small camp with they typical log bunkhouse and stone cabins. A nurses cabin, cooks cabin, cafeteria, rec room, cabin for the adult staff members and a beautiful mosey green lake. But it's not the structures, landscape, or amazing weather that make this camp amazing, it's what happens during camp and what all the campers get to learn that makes it what it is.
YuPiCopa. What the heck does that mean?!? Yuma, Pima, and (most importantly) Maricopa County 4-H camp. On Friday night Maricopa and Pima county counselors and adult staff arrived at camp after some much unwanted vehicle trouble, (if you want to get somewhere don't rent a chevy, spend the extra money and get a ford). And several boxes of elbow crushed pizza, courtesy of my elbow pizza front seat off-road in the dark front pizza smashing abilities (no one will forget this for as long as I live). The next few days where spent preparing for camp. There wasn't much for me to do since I wasn't a counselor, so I went on lots of long walks, took pictures and helped with the cooking.
On Monday, the campers arrived! Last year I was a counselor so it was great to see lots of faces from camp last year. The campers go settled into their cabins, played icebreaker games, and other get to know everyone type things. The fast pace didn't stop there! The week continued with shooting sports, swimming, boating, arts and crafts, sports, A 4th of July carnival, Color Run, obstacle course, GPS workshop, scat and tracks workshop, dances, hikes, and many other things I'm forgetting. I helped where I was needed. The counselors always needed help with one thing or another and brought to me a steady stream of injured children, sprained ankles, stubbed tows, bloody noses, bee stings, scraped up kids, sprained, bruised and battered children, you name it of things that might happen to a kid at camp, and I probably saw it over the last week. As much as I enjoyed it, remind me never to go to nursing school! I think i'm going to stick to Veterinary Medicine instead. Most importantly I was the lifeguard, my number one job was preventing emergencies from happening, and for my first SOLO lifeguard job, watching up to 60 kids at once, I think I did pretty well. No one drowned, and I only had to blow my whistle about a hundred times before kids started taking me seriously (I worked for my respect!).
Your probably wondering what I did in my free time, or maybe not, I don't really know what your thinking right now. I'll tell you anyway. It was often suggested that when I had a free hour or so that I should go sleep, but who wants to sleep when they already got a good 6 hours of rest the night before and there are plenty of things to do? I finished reading a wonderful book (book review to come soon), went for hikes, explored the stream, and worked on my shooting skills in archery. Archery, I have grown very fond of this sport and really would like to make it a hobby. I love how I can totally zone everything else out, focus on the target, and make a shot. The more I focus, the better I get, and by the end of the week I was turning into a pretty good shooter. This sport is probably going to be addicting once I can afford to get supplies (cabelas gift card for my birthday anyone? hint, hint), much like all the other sports I play are addicting. But this one could really help me to manage my stress instead of increasing it. Lots of pros to trying this, not much to loose!
The best part of camp (besides archery) was watching the kids have fun. In today's age it's horrible to see kids glued to electronic devices. All of that gets put away at camp and they learn to just be kids for a while. Mud fights are often encouraged by counselors, trying new activities, taking risks and learning new things are all things that happen at camp. This year was especially wonderful for me because I was able to step back and watch the counselors work. My brother was a counselor at camp and I get to spend a lot of time talking to him and just being friends, something that we don't get to do very often. We where on a short walk together after lunch, just to get a break from all the hustle and bustle and I asked him, Ross, what do you think makes a good camp counselor? He summed it up perfectly, "You have to have the energy of a camper, but the leadership and authority of a 4-Her". Not to brag about my brother or anything but I remember last year he was the counselor who was always frustrated, letting everyone else do the work, and standing off to the side in major situations. This year he really did have the leadership and authority of a good 4-H teen and the energy of a camper. I never once heard him complain around the campers about being exhausted, homesick, angry, or tired of camp, that's what makes a great camp counselor. There where other counselors who did an amazing job and made huge leaps and bounds from where they started last year. Being able to step back from being the leader for a while and just watch them succeed was wonderful to see. If this is what being a 4-H leader is like, then sign me up!
There are many long lasting memories made at camp and I hope I get to have many more. I may be grown up, but no matter how old you are or where you go in life, If you grew up as a 4-Her you will always be a 4-Her. Being a grown up is hard, not being in 4-H after 13 years is hard, but camp really made me realize that no matter what I do or where I go, I Am a 4-Her. <3
Love,
Lifeguard Kyia, Nurse Kyia, VIT (veterinarian In Training), Certifiable Cripple, Gimpy, Dishwasher, Photographer, Pizza Crusher, LIFEGUARDDDDDDDDDD HELLLLLPPP, and other names.....
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| Swimming! |
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| My Archery Battle Wound. Ouch. |
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| My Brother Ross Playing some Lacrosse |
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| Campers Boating |
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| Leading a campfire song |
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| Shooting Sports |
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| Lifeguarding from the dock |
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