Your first visit to West Virginia University may have been for college, long after putting away the things of childhood. But for years the children of West Virginia and beyond have started their Mountaineer education a little earlier, at summer camp.
That camp can look like we typically picture camp: with cabins, songs and a fire circle like the one shown here at the Monongalia County Younger 4-H Camp at Camp Muffly through the WVU Extension Service. But there’s also a lot that’s new at the dozens of camps offered at WVU throughout the summer. Here, we give you just a taste of summer back home.
4-H CAMP: We know how to do 4-H camp right. After all, the nation’s first statewide 4-H camp began at Jackson’s Mill in 1921. With zest and fervor, the kids at the Monongalia County Younger 4-H Camp pass on tradition through cheers at Camp Muffly.
JR. FIREFIGHTER CAMP: Every year, teenagers go to Jackson’s Mill in Weston, W.Va., don their miniature uniforms and follow their commanders out to a blaze. Most of us got to play with fire trucks. These kids at Junior Firefighter Camp, held by WVU Extension Service, get to be firefighters.
GYMNASTICS CAMP: We wanted to be like our gymnast hero, from Nadia Comaneci to Simone Biles to West Virginia’s own Mary Lou Retton. Now kids can train like them. This year, we caught up with kids 7-11 who trained with WVU gymnasts and coaches.
FEMALES IN THE FIELD ENGINEERING CHALLENGE CAMP: Some camps are focused on the future, like the Females in the Field Engineering Challenge Camp at the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. There, young women in high school saw engineering at work from observing smart manufacturing to creating an artificial knee to networking with women at NASA.