History of Virginia's 4-H Camping Program: A Case Study on Events Leading to the Development of the 4-H Educational Centers
Residential camping has long been used as a tool to reach and teach educational concepts to youth. Since the founding of the first organized residential camp in 1823 at Round Hill School's Summer Camp in Massachusetts, private and public organizations have used...
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| Format: | Others |
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Virginia Tech
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/30597 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-5437192339731121/ |
| Summary: | Residential camping has long been used as a
tool to reach and teach educational concepts
to youth. Since the founding of the first
organized residential camp in 1823 at Round
Hill School's Summer Camp in Massachusetts,
private and public organizations have used
camping as a means to teach youth their
respective missions and goals. Although a
relative newcomer in the camping business
when compared to other agencies and groups,
4-H has been involved in camping since the
first county camp was conducted in 1915.
Virginia has long been in the business of 4-H
camping, reaching thousands of youth
throughout the years on an annual basis. Now,
ranked third nationally in total numbers of
youth attending 4-H camping on an annual
basis, the 4-H mission "...assisting youth, and
adults working with those youth, to gain
additional knowledge, life skills, and attitudes
that further their development as self-directing,
contributing, and productive members of
society" continues to be carried out through the
residential camping program. The purpose of
this dissertation is to describe, record and
analyze the concept that provided the
foundation for the Virginia 4-H camping
program becoming a reality of the 4-H
educational centers. It includes the early history
of the camping movement in the United States,
the beginnings of the 4-H club program in the
United States and Virginia, and 4-H
involvement in reaching and involving youth
audiences through camping programs. The
population for this study consisted of early
pioneers in the 4-H camping program
representing Virginia Cooperative Extension
administrators and extension agents, camp
staffs, and campers from both white and
African-American camping programs, as
separate 4-H camping programs were
conducted. A systematic document research
and structured interviews of the early pioneers
was conducted to reach defensible conclusions
about the establishment, operation, and
purpose of the 4- H camping movement in
Virginia. The outcomes of this study are
fourfold. First, the study serves to document
the organized camping movement in the United
States and the beginnings of 4-H. Second, the
study explores the early beginnings of the 4-H
camping movement in the country with the
national 4-H camping movement. Third, the
study examined the persons, events, founding
and early development of the 4-H camping
program in Virginia, including the separate
white and African-American camping
programs for Whites and African-Americans.
Fourth, the study documented the history of
Virginia's six 4-H educational centers. The
study endeavors to contribute to the body of
knowledge concerning the history of the 4-H
movement in Virginia. === Ph. D. |
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