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Journal 9: Week of July 30 - August 4, Final Journal!!

This week felt like the shortest yet. Starting Sunday, we finally had some 4-H Agents back in camp to help out. The best part about this week was that I knew and grew up around many of the Agents we had this week, and I treat them like an extended family. These past few weeks has been very hot and dry, not very much rain. We saw a sudden downpour on Monday, and rain all day on Thursday into Friday, and the whole week was nice and cool. This week was quite similar to last week, with only a few small differences of people and temperature. The rain wasn't all that kind to me though, as I now have a cold, and also injured myself because of it. Although I had a few bumps in the road this week, I can finally say we made it! I am done, and I'm also back home and trying to recover. Friday morning, after all the campers left, we finally began the majority of our camp wide clean up. Although we some smaller tasks throughout the week, there were some larger tasks that could only be handled after campers left the site, as they were still in active use. Although it was time for us to clean up, there were many things we could not put away due to the rain. My targets and tarp that catches the arrows behind that target are an example, since they we still very wet. We definitely should not put away anything wet into the shed down at Archery, not unless they want them to mold and rot until they eventually dry in there. We were under the expectations that we would not be done cleaning the property until at least 6 pm, when we planned to have dinner and do a staff awards and slideshow presentation. I ended up heading home around dinner time last night instead, so I could rest and recovery in comfort. I was able to see some fun pictures of us from the summer, and received my staff award just before leaving. My award is titled: "Lean on Me" and I was told thank you for how reliable and helpful I was this summer. I was sent home with tears of joy, sad to leave my new friends and family. I also came home with a new outlook on what I want to accomplish after my Journey at Berea and further down the road. I had an amazing experience, and I'm glad to have given myself another great summer at Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Educational Center.

As I gather more pictures, I will post them.

Dani :)

[danielle-summer-internship]

On a fun note, I've been trying to grow my nails out these past few weeks. Being here, I have tried to do some self improvement projects, starting small, and hoping to path a road for myself down the line. I recently ordered gel nail polish. Here are some of the fun summer designs I have tried from inspiration or suggestions from of the kids in my cabin. 😄😄

The pink ones are from when I first started this small project, and the others are my most recent ones that I painted just before doing my latest post! Even though it's only a couple images, I seem to have already made good progress for myself, as well as started to build a good habit to help take away the older, not so great ones.

*You might be thinking, "She only wanted to show off her nails," and if you are, you're totally correct. 😂😂 Listen, these nails take time, the latest ones took me almost 3 to 4 hours because of how small the design was. I need someone to validate them, lol.

This is all 😆😄

[danielle-summer-internship]

Journal 8: (July 23rd - 28th)

We have reached the point of the summer now where the time goes by incredibly quick but also quite slow. It feels like the past week lasted for two weeks, but if you blinked, you'd missed it all. Like I expected, this week proved itself to be challenging in its own ways. First and foremost, we had no agents or volunteers on camp to assist in tending to the kids. We as a camp had to come together to look out for each other, and help where we could. This often meant we needed to do tasks we otherwise wouldn't do very often. For me and a few other staff, we were pulled to work in our camp store, which is where the kids will come and get their afternoon snacks and such. It's also the place that the kids can pick up various camp souvenirs, like stuffed animals, shirts, hats and more. We had different jobs as part of store time, which involved marking off the campers money cards, grabbing the items they wanted, or even restocking. The majority of us who helped with this part also had classes to return to after working one, like I did on Monday. I also had the chance this week to work a different night activity than I normally do. Typically, I run camp fires on Monday and Tuesday nights for smores, but this past week, I did something different on Tuesday night. On Tuesday night, I ran the slip and slide for our older groups. We have a few basic rules for our slip and slide, mostly being no feet on the tarp (as in their flat feet), and only starting on their front. What they did after was up to them. It was fun for me to do something different, but it was also really enjoyable to see how much the kids loved having the ability to let out some steam. While the rest of the week stayed relatively similar to previous, it was more an more obvious this week that we were struggling to hold our barrings at all times. We now only have a small handful of days before I'm able to go home and rest before coming back up to school this fall. In all my time out here, I've had plenty of fun, but the friends I have made this summer will last me the longest. I have met many people this summer, and I've managed to find the ones that really look out for everyone, and not just themselves. We are able to seek shelter in one another, and celebrate each other. I'm sad to see the summer come to a close, but also excited to see where this last week will take us. This coming week will be about the same size as this past week; however, we will have agents this week to help support us. This week, we will also be doing a great deal of clean up, and tear down all the parts of the camp that are not used after the summer is over. That means Archery, the horse barn, canoes, a d more will all need to be cleaned up this Friday after the campers leave. I'm looking forward to seeing the summer out with my face towards the sun, and sad to see the shadows I'm leaving behind.

On the bright side though, since I have been taking weekly journals, I have been able to document different things that have happened here at camp, and not have all my memories lump together like they have before. I'm proud of how far I've come this summer, and excited to share my progress and process with others too.

And these are all some photos I've collected either this week, or previous weeks, of some of the various activities I do here. 😄😄

[danielle-summer-internship]

Journal 7: July 22nd

This past week is my favorite so far this summer. In comparison to previous weeks, this week, we had children whose parents were members of the national guard. As such, they showed great behavior and got along really well since they all had at least one thing in common. This week also felt like a new experience to me since I moved downstairs to the front room of the cabin since one of the cabin counselors moved to another cabin. Since this counselor moved to another cabin, we needed more supervision downstairs in the front room, and so that's what I'll be living for the remainder of the summer. Now that I live downstairs, I am also better able to connect with the kids. The children this week were especially full of love for each other, but also towards the staff. Since we had one counselor leave for the remainder of the summer, we will also be down a group the rest of the summer. We will have smaller groups these next few weeks, but that doesn't mean our jobs will be getting any easier. This past week filled my heart with so much joy because these kids showed such a strong sense of love and respect that I can only hope I returned to them. I've always adored these kids, but something was much different after seeing them depart this year, and maybe that's because I know I won't be seeing them again for quite a while. Regardless of my personal feelings about how the week went and how much I love these kids, it doesn't compare to the happy soldiers who get to hear how their precious child shot their first arrow this week, or rode their first horse. This week especially, I hope we sent these kids home always knowing that someone else out there understands their hardships and that no matter where they are, someone loves them. Along with the children, there were four adults who ran the program that brought these kids to us in the first place. Perhaps it was their connections within the National Guard, but they worked so hard to make sure that not only the kids were taken care of, but also us as staff. I didn't realize just how much I would love this week until I started writing all of this out, and it broke my heart to see them go. Now, realizing just how much time we have left this summer, I hope to make the most of my time before coming back this fall. This coming week will likely be a large challenge for us to tackle since we won't have any agents or volunteers to assist in watching over the kids. This coming week is only open enrollment children, all of which eager to be here. Like we have in previous weeks, We will do our best to come up with solutions to any and all problems when they arrive. While it might feel like looking up at Everest, we will be fine once we make it to the Peak.

The time is going by incredibly fast now, and I only hope to make the most of it these next two weeks while I can.

[danielle-summer-internship]

Journal 6: July 15th

This week felt much longer than previous ones, but had far less hiccups than in previous weeks. This week was hot, and quite packed, but otherwise our group was amazing. I've seen the majority of the kids from this week, and they know my expectations from previous summers,so that also helped the week go a little smoother. As usual, I definitely had some groups come late and I did my best to work around this problem. Especially when the groups are late to their second Archery session, it makes it more difficult for me to get the group through the activity. Typically, for a groups second time coming to Archery, we play a game together simply called the balloon game. With the objective to pop at least one balloon, the children are usually given up to three arrows to attempt to pop theirs, and perhaps also their partners balloon. Usually I pair the kids into groups of two or three, and that also determines how many balloons are on the target, all of which are fair game to try and pop. This week; however, I played a slightly different and quicker game with the groups. Since a good handful of people this week had latex allergies, I avoided the balloons and played a game called points round up. I put the kids into similar groups of three, and the groups overall objective was to earn as many points as they could. Bullseyes being with 10 points, and the points getting smaller as they left the center. I had one group this week earn nearly 60 points playing this game. All else aside, this week went by fairly well for everyone. I even had one group that the counselors were worried wouldn't shoot very much because they were rowdy all week, and they ended up being one of my best groups of the week. Overall, everything felt very successful for me this week.

Pictures are of a Campfire I built for smores on Tuesday night, and of the freshly sprayed boxes for the kids to shoot from.

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Some images from the past week, including a couple different groups I taught this week, and our friend Kyle here styling his Fourth of July glasses!

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Journal 5: (July 8th, 2023)

 While this week still had its fair share of chaos, it became much more manageable than last week for me. This week, we had just over a hundred campers; following the same schedule as last week, I still taught classes during the day and led night activities after dinner. Due to the number of campers, we were down one group this week, which moved my schedule slightly. Being down one group reduced my class load for Tuesday and Thursday this week, although Thursday was rather eventful and more tiresome than before. When campers come down to the Archery range for the first time, I have them put down their stuff and sit at the picnic tables in my area. Once seated, I have them help me review the rules, ensuring they all read them so I know they understand them. My rules include No running, waiting for instructions, only aiming the bow downrange at your target, keeping a low volume, entering the range when cold (inactive), and not dry firing the bow. After each rule is read out, I briefly explain what they mean so they know my expectations for them from the start. After explaining my practices, I put a piece of equipment on all the children who wanted to shoot, called Armguard. Like a shin guard for Soccer, they protect the inside of an individual’s arm so they don’t get bruised by the bowstring. Each of my bows has anywhere from 15 to 20 pounds of draw weight, so if something with that type of force smacks a child’s arm, it could leave an ugly mark. They even leave marks on my arm, and I am a much larger individual than them. For our purposes, the armguards go on the children’s non-dominant hands, so we can get through our classes faster. After everyone has their armguards on, I show them how to shoot. I show them how to stand, hold the bow, put the arrow into it, and so on. I ensure that each individual understands this more fully when it’s their turn to shoot. After showing them how to shoot, I show them how to retrieve arrows, and we start our rotations. Each group is a little different, but I can typically get each camper to shoot multiple times before they need to leave my activity area. With this week also having the Fourth of July in it, during our evening activities on Monday and Tuesday, I gave all the campers sparklers to celebrate, bringing many smiles. Thursday was the only day this week with snags for me. While I was teaching one of our groups that afternoon, an older gentleman approached the activity area. Not knowing his intentions of being on the property, I had to send away my group to attempt to take care of the situation. The gentleman came to us from a nearby walking trail, not knowing where he was, so we got emergency services to take him somewhere safe and get him the help he needed. Since I teach archery out in the woods, getting assistance took a moment, but he is being treated and getting the care he needs. After he left the area, I moved my remaining classes of the day around so that the group I had to send away could still shoot, and the remaining courses could as well. Other than the snag of an unexpected guest on the property, I felt the week was relatively successful. I cannot speak for everyone here as there were more significant snags for other staff; we made it through the week and are ready for another one. After this week, we will be at the halfway point for the actual camp activity. Everything is going by super quickly now. 

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These are images of the targets I have painted for the summer. The targets themselves are made of foam layers wrapped in a metal casing, and cling wrap. After they were wrapped, I spray painted them with the colors I had available to me, and this is how they turned out. Other than the central bullseye, I added many smaller dots so that even if you were to miss the middle, there was a bigger chance of success by hitting a smaller or more difficult in theory spot. These targets will be seeing a good deal of wear and tear, but hopefully they will last me the whole summer.

[danielle-summer-internship]

Journal 4:

This week nearly felt like two with how chaotic it has been. Campers arrived on Sunday afternoon, and they brought plenty of challenges for us to tackle. Standard schedule for the most part on Sunday, we began checking in campers around 2 pm. Around 4:30, a few staff members and I went around to the cabins and began health checks. We are basically looking to see if the campers have any cuts, scrapes, or bruises that are alarming, as well as lice, so they don't pass it around to every other camper while they stay here. After all this, I went to the camps infirmary to help our health coordinator sort medicine and paperwork. I alphabetized all the paperwork so that she had an easier time during the week to keep track of which camper was which, as well as keep tabs on specific campers. The next few days passed by rather similar to one another. Monday through Thursday, I taught anywhere from four to six classes each day, making sure to fully go over rules and precautions so that campers had a full experience while they were with me. Each day had their own hiccups, as groups were late, or random woodland creatures making their ways to places I wish they wouldn't. This week alone, I have already had my fair share of Snakes, spiders, and more to be satisfied for a lifetime. The evenings also had a full schedule, with campfires and smoremaking on Monday and Tuesday for different groups, as well as our water sports, where the kids would swim and play water related games such as a duck duck goose style game. Wednesday was the talent show, although that was also my night off, so I didn't see very many acts before I left for the evening. Thursday was the dance and final Campfire, which was plenty fun and tiring. The campers packed that same evening, and just like that Friday morning came around. There was a slideshow and awards presentation Friday morning, just before the campers packed and left for home, and once again the camp was empty. After all the campers had left, we had a quick meeting to discuss the week, and left to clean up our cabins for the coming week. While we had a few bumps in the road this week, I believe that many of our staff have a better idea of what is expected of them now, and hopefully all will be smooth sailing this week, since we will have nearly 30% less campers as we did this week, which was about 150 total children. I hope to soon also discuss some of the smaller details of my work, and I believe this simple overview of the first week will give a good starting point to help me further break down what we do here as we continue on the same schedule for the remaining weeks.

[danielle-summer-internship]

Journal 3:

This week was rather short in comparison to the past two weeks of staff training. This week was our first group of campers, although they were nontraditional campers. In the sense, the group supplied their own counselors, and we supplied the activities. Work would typically begin on Sunday for us. However, I didn't begin work until Monday morning. Monday morning went great, as I was able to interact with some 30 or so people and helped them learn to shoot a bow. Unfortunately, after lunch, a sudden rain storm passed through, in which myself and a few other staff members rushed to make sure all areas with area tents were grounded. Others took the time to clear any loose objects and hazards so that the campers would remain safe. The storm left us with a mess of puddles and mud, so much so that I wasn't able to teach any classes on Tuesday. Monday afternoon, we continued some lessons that we weren't able to cover during staff training. We covered our yoga class, as well as some rainy day activities to use in the exact scenario we found ourselves. This week has been back and forth rain, so we did our best to get various tasks that could be completed out of the way. Tuesday morning, since I was unable to lead my activity area due to hazards, I stocked our camp store with various drinks, like Sprite, so that they are ready for next week's group of campers. Once the fridge was fully stocked in the store, I was left to organize the remaining drinks in the storage area for later. After this, we had lunch and then continued with our afternoon classes. That afternoon, we went through a class we call ages and stages. This activity allows us to connect different behaviors to various age groups, some applying to two or more age groups. Wednesday morning, I went back down to Archery as the area was safe enough to use. There was an overwhelming number of people wanting to shoot since they hadn't gotten to go the day prior. I did my best to get through instructions and worked one by one with the campers to get them through. After campers got to shoot, they would normally leave to go to other activities, and eventually, the area calmed down with only a handful of people towards the end. I'm very thankful to have had many people helping me with my activity area, as they are the ones who make the entire thing go as smoothly as it did during this specific week. The afternoon was similar to the others, and we covered more games, while some went to get large vehicle driving certifications for our 15 passenger vans. Once everyone joined us again, we wrote down who we wanted to live with in the cabins for the remainder of the summer. On Thursday, the campers and their event staff began to leave. While they were cleaning up their areas, the majority of staff went to our high ropes course so that our staff could be familiar with it, and other staff could get some practice in. I stayed behind to begin the cleaning process, such as our makeshift staff lounge and our arts and crafts shelter. Once the rec hall was cleared enough, I went behind the group and started the deep clean of that area. I swept, disinfected, and resupplied anything that needed it. Other buildings on camp got similar treatment once the rest of the staff made it up. Then we're given our cabin assignments, and off we went to help clean our new cabins, as well as move out of and clean the ones we have been staying in the past few weeks. After moving and cleaning up, we had dinner together, a quick staff meeting, and were let go for the remainder of the weekend. I'm excited for the coming days and our first week with traditional campers starting on Sunday.

Short week, but a lot happened!

[danielle-summer-internship]

Journal 2:

I'm finally done with staff training!! This week has dragged on for so long, with all the classes needed to complete training. On Sunday, the remainder of the counselors arrived for staff training, and we went through a good amount of name and team building games to get to know everyone. On Monday, we spent the day completing first aid and cpr training with our instructor, Jess. After talking through the various ailments campers and people alike might face, we tested, and everyone passed their certification! The class itself always feels a bit long, but all the information is so important, and we always manage to have a good time while doing it. Between Tuesday and Thursday, we began group instruction about various tough topics, along the lines of abuse or a child attempting to run away. We went over emergency procedures and some of the changes to them for the current year. One notable change is the emergency evacuation trail that was trimmed out towards a neighborhood in case of a very dangerous situation at the center of camp. We have also had some guests from NC State visit us for a large group instruction that occurs amongst all of the 4H camps, covering general information that all state employees with access to minors take on. This session would normally happen in Raleigh; however, it didn't work out amongst all three of the 4H camps here in NC. These last few days of training also included a great deal of cleaning up the camp for our first group of campers. This year, the first group of campers is a nontraditional group of special needs kids, where we provide programming, and they rent out the camp to appreciate nature and religion. It's an amazing few days for these campers who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend camp. The first few people for this coming week arrive on Saturday, and their campers will be arriving mid afternoon on Sunday. We will be providing their programming during the day, which include: Archery (which is my area), horses, and canoes, as well as pool time in the afternoon. I've been very emotionally drained from these past few days, although I'm so happy to be done with training and finally start working one on one with campers down at my Archery range. I'm ready to relax a bit this weekend, as well as so excited for campers to arrive and enjoy the summer. I can't believe I've already completed my second full week!!

Hopefully, this is detailed enough for now. It's hard to give a play by play as there is so much that goes on during the day. I am also adding pictures as I go forward, and I really want to personalize my blog to the fullest.

[danielle-summer-internship]

Photos from staff training where I instructed cabin counselors how to help Mr and their campers with Archery. I showed them how to shoot, and instructed them on how to keep the area safe.

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Staff Campfire! Training is done, and we are getting ready for these campers to arrive with a mini celebratory campfire!!

[danielle-summer-internship]

Journal 1:

This first week of work has been a lot more than I expected from prior experiences, although nothing I feel I couldn’t handle. After the initial paper signing process, we picked up speed very quickly to prepare the camp for campers and move forward with our staff training. Although my primary job here is to be the archery instructor, these past few days have been ongoing work to clean up and make the environment safe for us and our campers. I cleaned out horse stalls for a clean environment for horses and people alike, set up the archery range to my liking, and worked around the camp doing necessary tasks. Although it has felt like a large amount of work, I already feel proud and accomplished with the tasks I have completed. The work felt demanding at times, but it went by quickly, and all of the work aimed to prepare for a “fun, safe, and appropriate” summer here at Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Educational Center. While I might complain now, saying my body hurts or complaining about a minor inconvenience, I feel this summer will be great and go by before I know it.