Members of the Urbana FFA chapter attended Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum in Carrollton July 8-10. There were a total of 48 campers in attendance, with the addition of 2020-2021 state FFA officers, FFA camp staff, and over 20 FFA advisors from around the state. FFA Camp Muskingum is located on Leesville Lake in Carrollton, Ohio and is owned and operated by the Ohio FFA Association.
Members Kendra Baccus, Ashley Gemienhardt, Marah Kerns, and Phoebie Heatherly attended camp with their advisors, Mr. Steve Wilhelm and Mrs. Mallory Zachrich.
Due to the pandemic (COVID 19) and social distancing FFA members attended camp for three days instead of five. With maintaining social distancing the camp minimize the amount of campers from about 250 to 50 this year. In the past years camp would be separated into 5 sessions and this year they were limited to one session. Normally throughout the week of camp they would separate events for five days of everyday activities, but this year everything was pushed into two days of socially distancing activities. During camp teams would usually compete for points from those everyday activities, due to us not being able to be in the randomly selected teams we didn’t have competitions this camp year. The first morning, before breakfast, campers had the opportunity to plunge into the lake, in which we call the polar bear. This event would usually get you a various amount of points for your team, but this year it was seen as a morning wake up call.
The day of arrival, members settled into their dorms, got introduced to other camp chapter members, learned camp rules, and participated in little activities to become more involved with other campers and the State FFA Officers. The day ended with a campfire challenging campers to step out of their comfort zone and change their daily routine a little bit.
The second day included team building activities, various activities campers signed up for and were interested in. These activities included high ropes, laser tag, hiking, archery, line dancing lessons, shotgun/rifle range, playing cards, playing ping pong, canoeing and kayaking. Later on in the day, campers participated in water games and State Officers workshops. The day once again ended with a campfire challenging campers to use their strengths to an advantage to try new things and meet new people.
The three short days of camp ended with assigned morning cleaning of the camp, appreciation to the FFA Advisors, and State Officer shoutouts to FFA Chapters or campers. State Officer Allison Engle shouted out the Urbana FFA Chapter for stepping out of our comfort zone and embracing ourselves during the three days of camp.
Kendra said her favorite part of camp was “the everyday activities and meeting other fellow campers from different parts of the state.” Ashley’s favorite part was “participating in water games and laser tag.” Marah’s favorite part was “being able to participate in laser tag.” Phoebie’s favorite part was “being able to meet new people and play laser tag, participating in high ropes, and pieing our advisor in the face.”