From our Camping System

August 29, 2025 Greetings from NC 4-H Camps! You are receiving this newsletter as a friend, parent, member, alumni, or interested person of our NC 4-H Camps. This is our second edition of our new quarterly newsletter where we share highlights, upcoming events, helpful resources, and stories from our community. Whether you're looking for the latest news or your next camp adventure, we hope this will bring value to your inbox. Thanks for being a part of our journey! 2025 Summer Camp Word Cloud If you could summarize summer camp 2025 in 3 words, what would they be? Responses from Parents/Guardians  Summer 2025 was a success! We had over 2,800 youth join us from all across the state and beyond. We will forever cherish the memories and friendships made this year. Thank you to all the staff, families and youth who made 2025 one of the best summers ever!  View the 2025 NC 4-H Camps Slideshow Take our parent/guardian survey to give us feedback on your child's experience You're invited! Pickin in the Pines Oct. 18, 2025 at Millstone 4-H Camp Join us for fun, celebration and fundraising at Millstone 4-H Camp on October 18 from 3-8pm. This event features 2 live Bluegrass bands, a BBQ dinner, beverages and a silent auction for $50/ticket. Check out all the details here. All proceeds go to provide camp scholarships to youth in need.  Buy Tickets or Become a Sponsor SAVE the DATE! May 2, 2026 On the Dock of the Bay  Join us at the Eastern 4-H Center for the 25-year anniversary celebration and fundraiser On the Dock of the Bay! We're bringing this event back and better than ever to celebrate 25 years of impact on Bulls Bay.  LEARN MORE SAVE the DATE!  May 16, 2026 Betsy's Bash Join us at the Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Center for our biennial celebration and fundraiser Betsy's Bash! Featuring live music, a silent auction, and dinner + dessert, you don't want to miss this great event.  LEARN MORE Did you know that we offer virtual field trips?  Are you an educator looking for engaging virtual content to help your students learn about environmental science? Then take a virtual field trip to our 3 camps to explore coastal ecology, fossils, amphibians, and more! EXPLORE VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS Featured Story 2025 Camp Scholarship Program Listen first-hand from campers, 4-H Agents, and staff about the impact summer camp has on our young people. Thank you to our sponsors and donors who make this program possible, including the NC 4-H Development Board, the Duke Energy Foundation, National 4-H Council, Regulator Marine, and more! NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. NC 4-H, 2601 Stinson Dr., Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, United States Click here to unsubscribe By clicking unsubscribe above, you will unsubscribe from ALL electronic newsletters from this department. If you would like to unsubscribe from specific mailings, please reply to this email and let us know what program you are no longer interested in receiving electronic communications from.

ARTASTIC!

 Have you been crafting, cooking, growing, creating?  Artastic is the event for you!  We are very excited to offer our visual arts contest for 4-H members.  Enter as many items as you like (well at least one per category) and bring them into our office by September 12 at 5 pm.  We will judge your items and then enter them in the fair for you.  You can then pick up your entries at the fair on October 5 at 1 pm.  To be part of this contest you must be actively enrolled in 4-H Online.  To register please click this link or check the app under programs.

4-H Thrive in 25; The Volunteer Conference of Southern States

 

Get ready to recharge, connect, and grow!

The 4-H Volunteer Conference of Southern States invites YOU and your 4-H crew to join us onsite or virtually for 4-H: Thrive in 25! happening October 2-6, 2025. This national conference is your chance to gather with passionate 4-H volunteers and staff from across the country for days packed with inspiration, new ideas, and the energy you need to keep making a difference.

 Who should attend? Any adult 4-H volunteer or staff member eager to learn, share, and rejuvenate!

 Where? Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Georgia OR virtually from wherever you are.

Onsite registration includes lodging (Thursday-Sunday), delicious meals (Thursday dinner through Sunday breakfast), and full access to engaging conference activities.

Don’t miss this chance to invest in yourself—and bring your 4-H friends along for the ride!

 Register now and thrive in 2025! Visit www.4hvcoss.com and follow us on social media @4hvcoss for the latest updates.

We can’t wait to see you this fall and THRIVE together!

The 4-H Volunteer Conference of Southern States.

Pickin' In The Pines

 

You're invited to the 2025 fundraiser and celebration Pickin in the Pines at Millstone   4-H Camp on October 18 from 3 to 8 pm!  Don't miss all the fun, BBQ and Bluegrass at this year's Pickin in the Pines event at Millstone 4-H Camp. We are proud to say that, with your help, we have raised funding to send 150+ youth in need to camp since this fundraiser started in 2018 and we want to keep the momentum going.  Join us for a magical evening of food, music, drinks, dance, and friendly gathering in the Pines!  Headlining the event are the fun, North Carolina-based traditional Bluegrass band The Asheville Mountain Boys, with local entertainment from Bluegrass group The Axe Handlers.  Your $50 event ticket includes a BBQ meal, beer/wine for the evening and entertainment from these two first-class Bluegrass acts. You'll find many unique pieces donated by craftsmen and foundations all across North Carolina on sale at our silent auction. Don't miss out on all the fun, food and Bluegrass!  Can't make the event? You can still support Millstone with a donation or by becoming a sponsor here.

Buy Your Tickets

Remembering Larry Russ

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of 4-H Volunteer Larry Russ.  Larry passed away at his home, surrounded by family, on Sunday, August 24th.  

  Larry has been a volunteer with Robeson County 4-H for more than 20 years.  In that time he has been the leader of the Dirty Dozen Shooting Sports 4-H Club, a co-leader of the Dirty Rascals JMG Club, and Hunter Safety Education volunteer with NC Wildlife commission, which allowed him to teach Hunter Safety classses at our office, a requirement for folks getting their huting license.  What he may be most remembered for are his talents behind the grill.  He could often be found at summer camps, volunteer trainings, and other events cooking up delectable treats from hamburgers and hot dogs to chicken and even the occasional turkey.  One of his favorite events to cook for was the Farmer's Market Summer Extravaganza where he would work with the Cooperative Extension staff to create wonderful samplings of locally grown foods for folks to try and buy.

Larry was the 2017 Robeson County 4-H Volunteer of the Year.  Over his career he won a variety of district and state awards.  He would be the first to tell you the awards are nice but he was most proud of the shooting sports club that he started and all that our youth had the opportunity to accomplish as part of it.  He enjoyed rebuilding the town of Fairmont's Firing Range so that the youth would have a place to shoot and put great thought into expanding the ranges capabilities to include an Archery range.  Working with one of his club members who was also a Boy Scout, Larry was able to draw up plans and have shelters built as part of his Eagle Scout Project making the range  more weather friendly for all the folks who use it.  He also worked with another parent to bury phone poles in the ground to create a safe area for shooting and parking.  All the improvements, mowing, and storage, were taken care of out of his pocket for the entire time the club existed.  He never told anyone and didn't want parents or youth having to foot that bill to have a safe place to learn the responsibility of firearms.

   Larry became a volunteer to spend a little more time with our 4-H Agent, Shea Ann DeJarnette, and understand what she does a little better.  They started a friendship that grew into a 20 year romance getting engaged in 2006.  He was by her side helping her create and build a variety of projects and keeping her upright during the fair.  He even became a Friend of the Fair to make sure he could be by her side during the busiest of times.  Larry and Shea Ann were each other's support system through the day to day adventures of their jobs and through the toughest of times.

  Larry is also survived by his mother, 4-H volunteer Joyce Russ.  Joyce has served as a judge for a variety of events, her favorite is County Activity Day, and she has enjoyed attending a variety of 4-H volunteer trainings.  She has also volunteered at our Extension office answering phones when our staff was scheduled out of the office.  

Larry's straight forward attitude, ability to help in any situation, and being an unknowing male role model will be just part of his legacy.  He and his contributions will be greatly missed.  Please click this link to see his full obituary and the schedule for services.  We ask that you keep his family in your prayers during this difficult time.  

Technology Tuesday

                                        

What?!?  You say 5-8 year olds understand technology?  Technology Tuesday is a chance for them to explore all sorts of technology from old school tech toys that use magnetism to work to coding and even engineering.

  We started our day like always do with time to wake up and get to play all sorts of games by ourselves or in small groups making friends and starting the day right.  After a brief meeting on the carpet to check in on reminders, checks of behaviors from the day before, and upcoming events for the day, it was time to get started on the fun.

  Today we started with a lesson on magnetism and gravity.  We used an old fashioned (don't mean to offend any 70's children) toy to show the importance of connection.  When the connection was made through magnets on each side of the wheel with the rals the wheel would light up.   Our youth tried to tell us that it didn't work and they couldn't figure out how to make the wheel moved but with a little encouragement they all had them moving and rolling at a fast rate.  As a matter of fact they kept asking for time on their rails so even though they got extra rail time today we thought they should take these technology marvels home with them to practice and remember us with.  

  After a little snack it was time to hit the tables.  We split into three groups of three and they got a chance to do some neat stuff.  At our first table youth were working on using blocks to make tracks to allow a bulldozer to go from the starting point to the dump point and drop off a marble.  There were more than 100 ways to make it work and it could get more complex as they went offering everyone challenges.  

  At the second table our youth were learning about snap circuits and learning to read a diagram and follow directions.  If they did it right they could make the rover move and drive it around the auditorium.  This had enough parts that everyone had a chance to get their hands on it and have a part in the slow moving fun.

  Table three was a version of the snap circuits that allows for alarms, helicopter launchings, fans, and more.  Our youth picked the project and arranged everything they needed to make it all work. They had fun completing multiple projects today.

  That wasn't all.  We increased our groups to 4 and 5 youth and then had two more opportunities for fun.  One is the coding mouse where the youth create a maze and code a mouse to get to the cheese.  They also had a chance to enjoy our deuling robots to see if they could create a quick strategy to win against their opponent.

  Lunch gave them a moment to kick back and relax while processing the day.  We had our famous grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and chips.  Dessert involved cookies (mini oreos which are a fan favorite).  After lunch, which was delicious (thank you to Mrrs. Wendy and Ms JoJo) it was time to kick back and enjoy some cars action!

  After the movie we did a little engineering with a Lego building challenge.  Our youth drew cards and started building all sorts of things.  Franklin even made a Lego version of our 4-H Mascot, Trifolium who is a 3-D printed baby lucky dragon.  How cute is that?  

  A little time with Ms JoJo and EFNEP (what a spread, right?) and some time at Z's Gym our youth were tuckered out by the time parents came to pick up our youngest day campers.  To see all the fun from the day please click this link.  Check back tomorrow on all the fun about our Wacky Science Wednesday as we jumpr into more 4-H fun as part of our Cloverbud Day Camp!

   

Announcing the 4-H Lego Brick Blitz

 

Get ready to build and battle your way through the 4-H Lego Brick Blitz, where creativity meets competition in a fun-filled environment!

We are so excited about this new competition and partnership at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair. 4-H and Lumberton Parks and Rec are joining together for our first ever 4-H Lego Brick Blitz.

What is that? It is a timed free build competition for youth ages 5-18. Each youth will get a base and a bag of legos and have one hour to build anything they like.

How does it work? Parents will sign their children up via eventbrite with the Robeson County 4-H Program prior to the competition. Youth will compete in one of four age categories: 5-7 year olds, 8-10 year olds, 11-13 years, and 14-18. Youth will arrive with an adult at the Al Parnell Home Exhibits building prior to the compeitition starting at 6 pm. It is children's night and youth will be able to enter for free. When they arrive they will check in at the home exhibits building and check in the 4-H and Parks and Rec Staff and be assigned a spot. At each spot will be a lego board and a bag with the same number of lego peices and sizes for each contestant. Every youth will have one hour to create something from their imagination.

How is it judged? Our independent judges will talk with each contestant about their designs and determine the top three winners in each age division. All youth in the 5-7 age division will be non competitive and recieve participation ribbons. Youth in other age divisions will recieve ribbons.

Will they get to keep the Legos? We're sorry but we won't be able to let them keep the Legos becuase we will need them year to year. However their work will be on display in the home exhibits building for the rest of the fair.

Other things to know:

-This competition is open to the first 30 youth who register regardless of age. After that there will be a waitlist. If you can not attend we will ask that you contact Shea Ann DeJarnette or Jade McNeill at (910) 671-3276.

-The decision of the judges is final and they will determine if youth should be disqualified for unsportsman like behavior. We want this to be a fun competition that celebrates our youth and their creativitiy.

-Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made when you register your child, by calling the 4-H office at (910)-671-3276 with any questions.

To register please click this link:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/4-h-lego-brick-blitz-tickets-1338657593899?aff=oddtdtcreator

It's All in the Story

  

Day one for our Cloverbud 4-H Day Camp and I believe it was a stunning run to the famous closing fairy tale line of, "and they all lived happily ever after".  For those of you not familiar with cloverbuds or Cloverbud day camp let us explain.  The 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp  is a summer program designed for young children (ages 5-8) to help them transition back to school schedules in a fun way. . The camp typically includes themed days with activities like arts and crafts, science experiments, and cooking. It's a hands-on experience where youth can learn while having fun.

  Today our theme was storytelling.  We started off with some get to know you games and ice breakers and then launched into the fun.  We used story cards and each randomly pulled a card with a picture out of a deck and told a story about what we saw in the picture.  After we got done with that Ms. Shea Ann shuffled the card and split them in half.  We split our group of cloverbuds in half and used the cards we had to tell a story.  Although our cards were different we had some really cool similarities in our stories that both involved treasures.  It was really kind of fun.

  After snack we had another game and had to learn about things like adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc.  We played MadLibs and had some of the funniest stories you could ever imagine.  We had one about bowling one of our campers down a lane to hit more than 396.45 pins.  Another story was about bull fighting and we rolled at our word choices for the stories.

  It didn't take long (and a couple of games of Simon Says and the Quiet Game) for us to get to lunch.  Ms. Wendy made us some yummy spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad.  It was sooooooo good!

  After lunch we dropped on the floor and kicked back to digest and rest.  We got a chance to draw our own story and talking about our favorite holiday, food, hobby, and more.  When we got done we each stood up and presented what we drew.  It was a lot of fun and we didn't know that public speaking is supposed to be scary so we have a head start knowing when the time comes we can do it.  It was so much fun that we all took turns getting up and reading a Dr. Seuss book to the group.

   Then it was time for Ms. JoJo and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).  We learn about healthy eating choices, and physical activity (which we love).  We also made our own afternoon snack which involved M&M's, Pudding cups, and Mini Oreos.  It was sooooo good.

  To see all the fun from today, click this link.  Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see what we are up to on Technology Tuesday!