LSU AgCenter Virtual 4-H Summer Camp To Begin June 8

By Johnny Morgan

LSU AgCenter 

In past years 4-H camp at the LSU AgCenter Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center near Pollock has served more than 3,000 youth. A virtual camp is expected to serve significantly more. 

Adam O'Malley, LSU AgCenter 4-H program coordinator, said the 2020 edition of camp will start June 8 and will debut the Louisiana 4-H Virtual Summer Camp Program. 

“During regular camp, all of our participants are from Louisiana,” he said. “But with the virtual format, we are expecting youth from other states to get involved.”   

The week of June 8 will feature Science, Engineering and Technology (SET), and the week beginning June 15 will focus on photography and videography. June 29 will begin a week of study of animal and food science, and the week of July 13 will feature gardening, O’Malley said. 

Promotion week for the camp will begin the week of June 1, when youth can learn about the camp’s four tracks. 

“Each of these four weeks will provide a series of three lessons posted throughout the week. Most weeks, the lessons will be presented Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” he said. 

Virtual lesson content will be posted to the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center social media platforms on Facebook at https://bit.ly/36yE5rq, on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2ywIDSG and on Instagram at https://bit.ly/2X0W3Qi. 

O’Malley said the content will then be shared from these platforms to the Louisiana 4-H AgCenter social media platforms. 

“All promotional content and background information for lessons will be posted to the Louisiana 4-H platforms and then shared to the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center platforms,” he said. 

Participants will complete a brief online registration form. They then will be able to participate in the various lesson, some of which will be livestreamed while most others will be pre-recorded. 

“A short evaluation will be conducted after they complete each lesson series,” O’Malley said 

Along with the four weeks of premium track content, other assorted individual lessons will be peppered in throughout June and July as well. 

To keep the feel of being at camp, the presentations will include various recorded camp songs, chants and dances performed by previous Louisiana 4-H teen camp counselors.  

Additional information about the Louisiana 4-H Virtual Summer Camp Program is available from O’Malley at aomalley@agcenter.lsu.edu.