Kentucky has one of the largest, most dynamic 4-H summer camping programs in America with more than 13,000 attending in 2023. Each week of camp, youth ages 9-14 participate as campers with adult counselors (AC) 18 and over attending as chaperones. But perhaps the group who benefits the most consists of the 15-18-year-old senior 4-Hers who serve as Junior Counselors (JC).

Boyle, Lincoln, and Powell counties have camped together for nearly 20 years and have developed a unique leadership pipeline that identifies campers with leadership potential, trains and builds a leadership cohort in a counselor-in-training (CIT) year (14-year-olds), fully involves 15-18-year-old Junior Counselors in a youth-adult partnership that plans and conducts camp, and finally targets JC alumni as adult counselors and county volunteer leaders.  

In 2023, Boyle County took 143 campers, 5 CITs, 18 JCs, and 23 ACs to summer camp. That total is more than double the 90 required and our camping group filled more than 100% of the beds on camp. Of the 5 CITs, 4 had attended camp in the past as campers. Of the 18 JCs, all 18 completed the CIT year of training in the past. Of the 23 ACs, 13 are past 4-H Camp Junior Counselors and 10 of those were campers, CITs, and JCs in Boyle County 4-H specifically. That means 68% of the volunteer leaders at 4-H Camp for Boyle County in 2023 had completed the Boyle County 4-H camp leadership pipeline of camper to CIT to JC and/or AC. 

Beyond camp leadership, 50% of the 4-H representatives on the District Board, 44% of the 4-H Council members on the County Extension Council, and 74% of the 4-H Council members have completed the 4-H Camp leadership program and are now serving in additional leadership roles.

The Boyle/Lincoln/Powell 4-H Camp Leadership model has been shared and recognized statewide and nationally. It is a living example of 4-H programming resulting in long-term outcomes of leadership and citizenship among its participants.