Extension programs required a major paradigm shift in the 2021 program year to reach the needs of our youngest clientele.  The health guidelines ran the gamut of almost complete isolation in the early days to various levels of social distancing and mask-wearing requirements near the end.  As health is a major curriculum focus of 4-H youth programs and the fear of putting our youth in potentially dangerous situations, 4-H modified our long-held camping protocols to allow successful overnight camping to return to our youth.  

In consultation with University of Kentucky COVID response teams, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Kentucky 4-H, and 120 camping programs across the state, a unified risk assessment approach was conducted to provide a safe environment for youth to return to the four 4-H camping centers in the state.  While these requirements may have differed from what local communities and school districts, Extension tackled this unified approach with local youth, volunteers, and Extension staff. Methods of increasing the importance of maintaining positive health habits were

• Camper orientation, leader training, and online reinforcement options, where participants learned how to be safe while engaging in overnight events
• Inclusion of a 14-day pre-camp screening process to ensure healthy participants on camp departure day,
• Fun, child-appropriate posters and marketing items were posted in cabins, dining halls, around bathrooms, etc as a constant reminder of the habits that lead to a healthy lifestyle,
• Modifications to the camping program like swapping the traditional 4-H shirt for a multiple 4-H branded mask and providing mask lanyards keep health practices at hand and readily available through the daily events,
• Increased frequency of sanitation in cabins, common areas and with class instruction materials, and
• Rearranging the schedule to focus on smaller groups of youth where cross-contamination could be controlled more easily with the reduced number of campers on site.  

With these efforts, 4-H increased the number of youth maintaining positive health habits.  Through pre-test comparison with post-test about participants, twenty-two individuals shared their perceptions and plans for maintaining positive healthy habits in their life.  98% of the participants felt 4-H is a place where they feel safe, and 83% said 4-H is a place where they are encouraged to plan for their future.  92% of the participants stated they felt equipped with the skills to live healthy and safe in today’s changing health requirements and would include many of these camp measures as they return home to maintain positive health habits.  

When the social distance was not practical, participants wore masks according to CDC requirements.