A few weeks ago I visited the beautiful Keystone Park to participate in its annual 4H camp. The camp lasted for a full week of fun activities. The week started on a Monday with the arrival to camp. After registration you were given a schedule and you were then suppose to find your "tribe", as they called it. (Your tribe is the group of people that you will be spending most of your week with doing activities and other special things.) When the tribe was formed you went to your cabin and found out who your bunk buddies were. After that it's down to the pool for your swimming test to let the lifeguard know who can or can not go to the deep end of the pool.  Then comes the tribal meeting. The tribal meetings were held right before dinner and this was when the tribe gets to know each other and do activities.
The basic schedule for the week was almost the same every day. Rise and shine was at 7:00 am, breakfast at 8:00 am, flag raising at 9:00 am, and then there was cabin area cleanup with quiet time when the camp store was open from 9:15 to 11:00 am. From 11 to 12:30pm we had the tribal activities, which consisted of the rope course, shooting sports, arts and crafts, and nature activities.  Lunch showed up at 12:30, and after that at 1:30 there were more tribal activities which lasted until 3pm. At 4 pm there was another tribal meeting and dinner was at 5:30. After 7 pm was when the schedule gets different.
At night, we enjoyed such activities as a dance, a guest speaker and campfires. The last day was Friday, which was the saddest day of the week. In the morning we ran through the regular schedule until after flag raising. Once flag raising was over everyone went back to their cabin areas to clean up. Then they packed up their luggage and got ready to leave. After that we had lunch and everyone went to their cabin areas to get their luggage. We formed a circle called the "hugging circle" (a very well known tradition at the 4-h camp) It started as one person hugs the person next to him and then moves around the circle. When everyone has hugged everyone in the camp. (Except for the guys, they sometimes like to shake hands with the guys instead). Good-byes were kept short because the busses were about to leave.
In my opinion, the best part of the week was our hike to the lake. You got to roam about freely and spend all day with your friends. I also liked the last campfire. You got to actually soak the adult staff with water and have plenty of fun. Over all I had a great time and I am planning on going back next year.
If you would like to attend or get a little more information on this exciting camp you should be able to find a 4-H group near you. Here is some information on the camp that is important. The price range in Pennsylvania is any where from $80 to $100 for members and for non-members it could be anywhere from $90 to $120. It is located in Pennsylvania's beautiful Keystone National Park. The camp usually runs through counties. Each week about 5 counties go to camp. This happens all summer long and every county goes once. It is usually best to apply in the middle of spring to the end of spring. After that it is usually a little harder to get in.

A few weeks ago I visited the beautiful Keystone Park to participate in its annual 4H camp. The camp lasted for a full week of fun activities. The week started on a Monday with the arrival to camp. After registration you were given a schedule and you were then suppose to find your "tribe", as they called it. (Your tribe is the group of people that you will be spending most of your week with doing activities and other special things.) When the tribe was formed you went to your cabin and found out who your bunk buddies were. After that it's down to the pool for your swimming test to let the lifeguard know who can or can not go to the deep end of the pool.  Then comes the tribal meeting. The tribal meetings were held right before dinner and this was when the tribe gets to know each other and do activities.
The basic schedule for the week was almost the same every day. Rise and shine was at 7:00 am, breakfast at 8:00 am, flag raising at 9:00 am, and then there was cabin area cleanup with quiet time when the camp store was open from 9:15 to 11:00 am. From 11 to 12:30pm we had the tribal activities, which consisted of the rope course, shooting sports, arts and crafts, and nature activities.  Lunch showed up at 12:30, and after that at 1:30 there were more tribal activities which lasted until 3pm. At 4 pm there was another tribal meeting and dinner was at 5:30. After 7 pm was when the schedule gets different.
At night, we enjoyed such activities as a dance, a guest speaker and campfires. The last day was Friday, which was the saddest day of the week. In the morning we ran through the regular schedule until after flag raising. Once flag raising was over everyone went back to their cabin areas to clean up. Then they packed up their luggage and got ready to leave. After that we had lunch and everyone went to their cabin areas to get their luggage. We formed a circle called the "hugging circle" (a very well known tradition at the 4-h camp) It started as one person hugs the person next to him and then moves around the circle. When everyone has hugged everyone in the camp. (Except for the guys, they sometimes like to shake hands with the guys instead). Good-byes were kept short because the busses were about to leave.
In my opinion, the best part of the week was our hike to the lake. You got to roam about freely and spend all day with your friends. I also liked the last campfire. You got to actually soak the adult staff with water and have plenty of fun. Over all I had a great time and I am planning on going back next year.
If you would like to attend or get a little more information on this exciting camp you should be able to find a 4-H group near you. Here is some information on the camp that is important. The price range in Pennsylvania is any where from $80 to $100 for members and for non-members it could be anywhere from $90 to $120. It is located in Pennsylvania's beautiful Keystone National Park. The camp usually runs through counties. Each week about 5 counties go to camp. This happens all summer long and every county goes once. It is usually best to apply in the middle of spring to the end of spring. After that it is usually a little harder to get in.

A few weeks ago I visited the beautiful Keystone Park to participate in its annual 4H camp. The camp lasted for a full week of fun activities. The week started on a Monday with the arrival to camp. After registration you were given a schedule and you were then suppose to find your "tribe", as they called it. (Your tribe is the group of people that you will be spending most of your week with doing activities and other special things.) When the tribe was formed you went to your cabin and found out who your bunk buddies were. After that it's down to the pool for your swimming test to let the lifeguard know who can or can not go to the deep end of the pool.  Then comes the tribal meeting. The tribal meetings were held right before dinner and this was when the tribe gets to know each other and do activities.
The basic schedule for the week was almost the same every day. Rise and shine was at 7:00 am, breakfast at 8:00 am, flag raising at 9:00 am, and then there was cabin area cleanup with quiet time when the camp store was open from 9:15 to 11:00 am. From 11 to 12:30pm we had the tribal activities, which consisted of the rope course, shooting sports, arts and crafts, and nature activities.  Lunch showed up at 12:30, and after that at 1:30 there were more tribal activities which lasted until 3pm. At 4 pm there was another tribal meeting and dinner was at 5:30. After 7 pm was when the schedule gets different.
At night, we enjoyed such activities as a dance, a guest speaker and campfires. The last day was Friday, which was the saddest day of the week. In the morning we ran through the regular schedule until after flag raising. Once flag raising was over everyone went back to their cabin areas to clean up. Then they packed up their luggage and got ready to leave. After that we had lunch and everyone went to their cabin areas to get their luggage. We formed a circle called the "hugging circle" (a very well known tradition at the 4-h camp) It started as one person hugs the person next to him and then moves around the circle. When everyone has hugged everyone in the camp. (Except for the guys, they sometimes like to shake hands with the guys instead). Good-byes were kept short because the busses were about to leave.
In my opinion, the best part of the week was our hike to the lake. You got to roam about freely and spend all day with your friends. I also liked the last campfire. You got to actually soak the adult staff with water and have plenty of fun. Over all I had a great time and I am planning on going back next year.
If you would like to attend or get a little more information on this exciting camp you should be able to find a 4-H group near you. Here is some information on the camp that is important. The price range in Pennsylvania is any where from $80 to $100 for members and for non-members it could be anywhere from $90 to $120. It is located in Pennsylvania's beautiful Keystone National Park. The camp usually runs through counties. Each week about 5 counties go to camp. This happens all summer long and every county goes once. It is usually best to apply in the middle of spring to the end of spring. After that it is usually a little harder to get in.