Kentucky has one of the largest, most dynamic 4-H summer camping programs in America with more than 12,000 attending in 2024. 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 2024, Boyle County took 142 campers, 13 CITs, 18 JCs, and 21 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 13 CITs, all had attended camp in the past as campers. Of the 18 JCs, all had completed the CIT year of training in the past. Of the 21 ACs, 11 were past 4-H Camp Junior Counselors and 10 of those were campers, CITs, and JCs in Boyle County 4-H specifically. That means 72% of the volunteer leaders at 4-H Camp for Boyle County in 2024 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.