Since 2011, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension has served over 500 military families through the Military Teen Adventure Camp (MTAC) program. Research has revealed the high levels of stress that many military families face during times of deployment and during reunification post deployment. MTAC served families by providing an opportunity for service members and their teenage child(ren) to connect prior to deployment and reconnect after returning from deployment in the great outdoors. These camps engaged families through experiential learning opportunities that advanced important life skills such as self-responsibility, decision making, resiliency, cooperation, responsible citizenship, and problem-solving.   

The program began in Kentucky through a grant opportunity funded by the Department of Defense between the Office of Military Community and Family Policy and the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture by way of a grant/cooperative agreement with Purdue University. Dependent upon the awarded funds, FCS Extension offered anywhere from 5 to 10 camps per year. Voluntary participant data was collected at each camp from both service member and the teenage child(ren) of the service member. The data focused on participant resiliency and self-efficacy. Every year the data showed positive results indicating that the participants, both service members and their teenage child(ren), were statistically benefiting from the camps.

While Kentucky was not awarded the grant funding this year, we are hopeful the funding will continue to be made available to host such meaningful and life changing camps in the future.