Pendleton County 4-H’ers concluded their week of camp at Thorn Spring Park with council circle on June 11. Sixty 4-H’ers and volunteers were enrolled for this year’s camp. The week’s theme was “Celebrate America 250.”
Camp classes and instructors included archery (Brooke Alt), cross stitch name tag (Janice Heavner), Dollar Tree crafts (Sue Alt), first-year camper (Cassie Hyre, extension camping instructor), LEGO engineering (Heather Waggy), outdoor cooking (Mary and Gary Hess), sport a day (Kelsey Armentrout and Reyenne Colaw), tie dye (Amanda Simmons), air pistol (Wes Puffenbarger), animal investigation (Jeremy Hedrick), charting (Hyre), STEM (Madison Price, WVU STEM ambassador), summer time drinks and snacks (Kelly Marsh, Andrea Demers, and Becky Dempsey), scrapbooking (Chris Simmons) and shotgun (Rick Pownell).
Camp specials included the following:
Monday — Potomac Highlands Guild prevention and safety presentation, STEM activities by the WVU STEM ambassador, proper flag usage and ceremonies by George Armstrong with the VFW Post 9666, stream exploration with Sam Urban from Trout Unlimited, and a service project of painting picnic tables around the park;
Tuesday — a tri-county pool party with Grant and Hardy County 4-H camps at the Petersburg Town Pool;
Wednesday — a visit from Beth Henry-Vance from the WVYDEP program who talked about recycling and Leave No Trace and an afternoon at the pool; and
Thursday — field day games and a total camp clean up.
During the closing council circle on Thursday evening the following awards were given:
Lucky penny certificates to 10 first year campers — Harley Bowers, Bristol Bowers, Macie Mitchell, Grace Faivre, Carson Mitchell, Jonah Seymour, Braylee Propst, Kaci Keller, Payton Demers, and Braxton Barkley;
Lucky nickel certificates to second year campers — Harper Dempsey, Maddie Griffin, Piper Hubbard, Levi Miller, Everett Boner, Dallis Hull, Bethany Teagarden, Abby Cayton, Ariel Martin, and Russell Eckard;
Third-year felt certificates — Addie Miller, Dakota Vandevander, Harper Marsh, Sydney Demers, Stella Halterman, and Brantley Propst;
Fifth-year camper certificates — Abby Judy, Aiden Shirk, Breymann Keesecker, Chevelle Noble, Cody Miller, Easton Boner, Hanah Heavner, Maddie Kirk, Marion Williams, Lexi Hedrick, Vaylee Harper, Reagyn Atkins, Ross Pownell and Tori Heavner;
Seventh-year camper certificates — Callie Judy, Alex Adams and Zander Adams; and
Miss and Mr. Congeniality – Macie Mitchell, Bethany Teagarden and Jax Bennett.
Class awards were presented to the following campers: air pistol – Jax Benett, animal investigation – Marion Williams, archery – Everett Boner, cross stitch name tags – Abby Judy and Stella Halterman, Dollar Tree crafts – Maddie Kirk, Payton Demers, and Braylee Propst, first-year camper – Macie Mitchell, LEGO engineering – Levi Miller, outdoor cooking – Abby Cayton, Grace Faivre, and Cody Miller, scrapbooking – Kaci Keller, shotgun – Brantly Propst, STEM – Sean Waggy and Easton Boner, summer time desserts – Vaylee Harper and Addie Miller, and tie dye – Tori Heavner and Lexi Hedrick.
Phoebe Pownell was chosen to represent the Head H, Ross Pownell the Heart H, Bethany Teagarden the Hands H, and Breymann Keesecker the Health H. Vaylee Harper was selected as spirit of camp and received a $25 scholarship to a 2027 state camp by the Freida Dunkle scholarship.
Grace Faivre was awarded the Outstanding First-Year Camper Girl scholarship, while Carson Mitchell was awarded the Outstanding First-Year Camper Boy scholarship.
Tribal chiefs, Addie Miller, Dakota Vandevander, Abby Judy, and Bella Hoover, received a half scholarship to the 2027 county camp from the Judy Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Andy Guy Memorial Scholarship, a scholarship to 2027 County 4-H camp sponsored by the Upper Tract Producers 4-H Club, was awarded to Addie Miller.
Everett Boner received the Outstanding Second Year Camper award, a full scholarship to the 2027 County Camp funded by the McCoy Family in memory of Bill and in honor of Harriet.
Brantley Propst received the 4-H’s award, which provides a full scholarship to a third-year camper, to the 2027 county camp.
The Dunkle Family Memorial Scholarships, in Memory of Ralph and Sally Dunkle, were awarded to Russell Eckard and Jonah Seymour. Each received a $25 return scholarship for county camp in 2027.
The Zelene Harman Memorial scholarship, which is a full return scholarship to camp in 2026, was awarded to Bethany Teagarden and Alex Adams.
Tori Heavner received the Clover Scholarship with Maddie Kirk earning the Leadership Scholarship; and Breymann Keesecker, the Opportunity Scholarship. Each is a half scholarship to a 2027 state 4-H camp of their choice. Zander Adams was the recipient of the 4-H Shooting Sports Scholarship, sponsored by Jim Dever, which is a full scholarship to the 2027 Ultimate Outdoor weekend at Jackson’s Mill.
Tribal honors were awarded to the Cherokee tribe.
Tribes for the week consisted of the following:
Cherokee — Abby Judy (chief), Reagyn Atkins (first sagamore), Everett Boner, Carson Mitchell, Easton Boner, Russell Eckard, Hannah Heavner, Breymann Keesecker, Ross Pownell, Alex Adams and Callie Judy;
Delaware — Addie Miller (chief), Jax Bennett (first sagamore), Abby Cayton, Dallis Hull, Levi Miller, Sydney Demers, Harper Dempsey, Stella Halterman, Harper Marsh, Sean Waggy, Aiden Shirk, Katie Heavner, and Pheobe Pownell;
Mingo — Dakota Vandevander (chief), Chevelle Nobel (first sagamore), Bethany Teagarden, Madalyn Griffin, Grace Faivre, Ariel Martin, Harley Bowers, Bristol Bowers, Macie Mitchell, Brantly Propst, Cody Miller, Maycee Woods, and Zander Adams;
Seneca — Bella Hoover (chief), Vaylee Harper (first sagamore), Paton Demers, Kaci Keller, Braylee Propst, Jonah Seymour, Braxton Barkley, Piper Hubbard, Chloe Barkley, Tori Heavner, Lexi Hedrick, Maddie Kirk, and Marion Williams; and
Big Foot — Brooke Alt (camp director), Janet Hartman (WVU Extension office administrative assistant), Jessica Hoover (WVU Ag Extension agent), Hyre (WVU Extension camping instructor), Price (WVU STEM ambassador), Amanda Simmons, Lydia Heavner, Colaw, Bobby Keesecker, Justin Barkley, Armentrout, Rick Pownell, Puffenbarger, and Carrie Ruddle.
