During the week of June 18, members of the Urbana FFA chapters attended the second session of Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum in Carrollton. There were over 150 campers in attendance, with additional State FFA Officers, FFA Camp staff, and dozens of FFA advisers from across the state. FFA Camp Muskingum is located on Leesville Lake and is owned and operated by the Ohio FFA Association.
Members Ashlyn Dunn, Jessica Salyers and Peyton Tener attended camp with their advisor, Mr. Steve Wilhelm.
The 2018 theme was “Survivor – Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.” At camp, members are randomly separated into camp chapters, this year they were called tribes due to the theme of Survivor. The chapters compete all week long to try to get to the top. To earn points for their chapters, members participated in various sports tournaments involving softball, sand volleyball, basketball, ping-pong, and corn hole. Additional competitions included a camp scavenger hunt, reciting of the FFA Camp Creed, rifle, shotgun, and archery. Each morning, before breakfast, campers had the opportunity to plunge into the lake or take a sunrise walk. Each chapter also designed and hid flags. If you found a flag, you earned points, and if yours was not found you also earned points.
During the first day, members were introduced to their camp chapters, learned camp rules, and participated in a dance. The day ended with a campfire reflecting on the opportunities at camp.
The second day included team building activities, high ropes for senior members, a team building workshop by the state FFA officers, and night hikes. Members listened to guest speaker and former National FFA officer, Dr. Dan Schroer. The day ended with a campfire challenging campers to work together as a team.
On the third day, members rotated through various nature and environmentally-related workshops including bird watching, tree identification, recycling, and more. Senior members built boats out of cardboard as a team and then tested them to see whose would go the farthest, the fastest. During lunch, campers had the opportunity to attend a workshop from the Ohio FFA Agricultural Education interns to gain more knowledge on the Agriculture Education pathway. Campers played night games in an immunity-style format. The day ended with a campfire challenging campers to take advantage of every opportunity at camp.
During the fourth day, campers had the opportunity to attend workshops on canoeing and kayaking or line dancing. Some chose to attend workshops hosted by the Ohio FFA state officers. The seniors met and interacted with people from The Farm. They also played water-related games and participated in a talent show and dance. At the final campfire of the week, members were given a life-challenge.
The week ended with a morning cleaning of camp, a slideshow of the week, and a send-off by the state FFA officers. The staff also announced the winners of the challenge. Chapter 6, Jess Salyers chapter, placed 2nd. Chapter 5, Ashlyn Dunn’s chapter, placed 3rd.
Jessica said her favorite part of camp was “playing cards with new people.” Peyton’s favorite part was “the unity. Though we all came from different places all over the state, for those five days we were a family.” And Ashlyn’s favorite part was “trying all of the crazy slushee flavors that were being sold in the Canteen.”
