When I applied for the position of Agriculture and Natural Resources/4-H Youth Development Agent in Robertson County, I made a list of things/goals I want to accomplish within five years of working. One of those goals was to double the number of cabins we take to 4-H Camp. When looking at the bed county from 1999 to 2019, the number of beds filled by Robertson County has not went over the 40 people mark. As a matter of fact, the highest number as of 2018 was 36 people in 2013. This means that we would only have to occupy one cabin per gender or even be split among the other counties we camped with. 

I started working June 1^st, 2018, which meant the majority of camp recruitment was done for the year. It was also the first time we had camped with Bracken, Mason, and Lewis Counties. In 2018, our bed count was 28 people. While I was at camp that year, I talked to come of the older kids to try and come up with some ideas for recruiting for the 2019 year. It was like a mission for me to get our camp numbers up. Starting very early in the school year, I started promoting camp, sending out save the dates, posting on Facebook, etc. I was getting the kids excited for it and talking to parents every chance I got. And it turns out that all my hard work was worth it. Our final bed count for 2019 was 59 people! That is double what it was when I started in 2018. That is even after some kids backed out at the last minute. 

When looking at my camp recruiting experience, I want to point out some highlights that made it such a success. First was the fundraiser which allowed kids to get so much taken off their camp fees. The fundraiser was lollipops that were sold for $1.00 and with each one sold, the child got $0.50 off their amount. We had several kids who paid for their entire camp fee just by selling lollipops. I think in total we sold about 6,000 lollipops just from March to May. The second thing we did was calculate how much money there was that would allow us to offer scholarships for some underprivileged youth. The way we worked the scholarships was that we received recommendations from their teachers and then we had a meeting with all the kids. Once the kids showed interest, we contacted their parents and went on with the whole camp paperwork process. We had over 10 kids who were able to go to camp because of those scholarships, which would not have been able to any other way. We had community members wanting to pay for kids to go to camp and it was amazing to see the community support behind the whole process. 

It was a lot of work getting our numbers up that much, but it was well worth it! 4-H Camp 2019 is one for the books and one that I will always remember throughout my career. I look forward to keeping our numbers up and trying to find new ways to recruit for 2020.