The Response of 4-H Campers to the Camp at the 1959 Middle Tennessee 4-H Club Camp

In Tennessee there are five district summer 4-H Club Camps which correspond to the five Agricultural Extension Districts. District II includes 22 counties of the Middle Tennessee area, and the other four districts are located in East Tennessee and West Tennessee.

Practically all of the 22 counties of Middle Tennessee have assistant county agents and assistant home agents who serve as 4-H Club agents. While school is in session, the assistant agents spend considerable time meeting with 4-H Clubs and working with various other activities. But when school turns out for the summer vacations, one of the primary duties of the agents is attending 4-H Club Camps with 4-H members from his or her county.

The 4-H Club Camp for District II is very similar to other camps of the state and is held at Columbia, Tennessee. Facilities available to the campers include a swimming pool, dormitories, ball field, barracks, dining room, etc. The camp starts the third week of June each year. Each camp starts on Monday and extends through Saturday. The first five weeks are held for Junior 4-H Club members and the last week for Senior 4-H members. On an average, 450 members attend during each of the Junior weeks and about 350 4-H'ers attend during Senior week. Each week has a new group of campers attending, with a new set of agents and leaders for the Junior weeks; at Senior Camp all assistant agents of the district attend with their county members.

The present camp program, which contains recreational as well as educational features, was arrived at over a period of years through trial and error. A copy of the daily camp schedule is found in Appendix I. The district agents and co-directors of the various camps down through the years have tried to give the camper a program that would meet their needs and desires, but they have not attempted to determine their needs and desires systematically. There has been substantial criticism from various members of the Extension Service concerning the camping phase of 4-H Club work. These criticisms appear to be based on individual opinion concerning the successes of the camp programs in meeting the needs and desires of the campers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which these needs and desires of campers were met. The method of achieving this purpose was to obtain the reactions, through a questionnaire, of the campers attending the 1959 Middle Tennessee 4-H Club Camp to various aspects of the camp program, It is assumed that favorable responses reflect the satisfaction of campers' needs and desires. Information collected included: (1) certain characteristics of respondents and (2) the reaction of campers to camp activities.