It’s going to be a busy summer for Sherburne County 4-H’ers, and summer intern Mandy Putz is making sure everything runs smoothly.
Tuesday evening, Mandy held a training session for new 4-H camp counselors at the Sherburne County Fairgrounds. With three summer day camps coming up in June and two more in August, the county needs youth counselors to guide the younger kids at each event.
“I wrote a new camp counselor handbook, and we’re going over all the policies and procedures,” says Mandy. “And we’re going to get to know each other a little.”
The counselors-in-training all have to be at least seventh-graders. Some may have past counseling experience, but Mandy, who is from Wright County and studying agricultural education at SDSU, says since she is meeting them for the first time, she’ll work with them like they’re new to counseling.
Part of Tuesday’s training was talking about the importance of being a counselor and the responsibility of what goes along with the position.
“They’ll sign a youth contract about the standards they’ll be held to,” says Mandy. “Youth are looking up to them. They are older 4-H’ers.”
Another topic was “what ifs”, scenarios that might happen during a day camp.
“Let’s say a camper is not getting along with another camper, or one of them refuses to participate in activities,” says Mandy. “We’ll go over those types of situations.”
But since most day camps are loaded with fun activities, it’s likely the campers will all gladly participate. So a lot of Tuesday’s training focused on the activities and events that will take place during the day camps.
Each camp has a different theme. The first camp, taking place Tuesday (June 14) is all about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Youth will be experimenting with robotics, drones, simple machines/Rube Goldberg gadgets, aerospace and more. It will be a full day of innovative thinking, problem solving and fun.
“We’ll be talking about some of the experiments and activities I have planned,” says Mandy. “And we’ll see if any of the counselors have any new ideas for any activities.”
The second youth day camp is June 21 and focuses on safety. Youth will get to learn firsthand about bike safety, alcohol and tobacco safety, water safety and much more. Youth grades 4-6 will have the opportunity to tour the Sherburne County Government Center and see what happens in a courtroom, video visiting and much more.
The third day camp (June 28) is a Charlotte’s Web Mini Fair, where youth will experience what happens to prepare for the county fair. They will explore different project areas such as Animal Science, Arts and Crafts and Exploring the Environment. At the end of the day participants will show off what they made, just like the 4-H’ers do at county fair.
The Aug. 2 camp is all about the science of nature. It’s for youth looking to expand their knowledge in chemistry and wildlife biology. Kids will have the opportunity to discover how nature and chemistry work together while also exploring the great outdoors.
The Aug. 9 day camp is all about agriculture. Kids will have the opportunity to learn about the basics of modern agriculture and explore exactly how food goes from the farm to the grocery store.
Registration for the August day camps runs through June 26. To learn more, call Tammy Putz at 763-765-3078.
