ArizonaRealCountry.com 39 July 2017 By Robin Etnyre, 4-H Program Coordinator Let me take you on a journey… You’re 15 years old, itching for a new adventure. You hear that the County 4-H Team is searching for teens ages 15 to19 to serve as Camp Counselors for a new camp. You think to yourself, this may be just the adventure you’ve been seeking. You submit your application and cross your fingers. The call finally comes. You’ve been selected to serve Maricopa County as one of 17 Camp Counselors. You’re ecstatic, but you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. The door of adventure opens. You soon find yourself attending monthly meetings where you’re immersed in topics like “Building Kids Up”, “Making the Cabin Feel Like Home”, “Managing Risk”, “Who are These Kids?”, and much more. You discover yourself reflecting back on how your greatest role model did exactly what you’re learning to do. You get even more excited about your role and the impact you could have on a camper. You take a personality quiz and discover that like many of your peers you have a special ability that brings balance to the team. You discover your peer’s strengths, weaknesses, and needs, and speak openly and honestly about how you can work better together, while understanding the other person’s needs. You go to camp and discover a new world! A world where strangers become family. Where the nature surrounding you has unknowingly unplugged you from your everyday social life. A world where the goal is to make everyone feel a sense of belonging. Your adventure has just begun. With camp songs still running through your mind, you wait for July to come. The journey you have just taken is a composition of comments made by several of our 2017 Maricopa County 4-H Camp G.R.I.T. (Growing. Reaching. Impacting. Tomorrow.) Counselors. With a team made up of 4-H community club members and non 4-H’ers, it has been remarkable to watch this team grow and work together to accomplish any task assigned to them. The goal of this program is to build the teens self- esteem; develop their awareness and confidence to recognize and address risk management; develop positive communication; develop team players who recognize and appreciate the differences in their teammates; and ultimately develop the leaders of today who will help shape our younger members. The 4-H Camp G.R.I.T. Counselor Training is a great example of a diverse delivery method in 4-H. Many times we associate the completion of a 4-H project with the carefully written comments of a knowledgeable judge, and the presentation of ribbons or awards. This leadership project will only be judged by the counselor themselves. The success of this project is based off the safety of the campers, the fun they have, and the intense sense of “giving back” that the counselors walk away from camp with. The 4-H Team would like to thank the 17 teen counselors who have committed to this program, and we wish them the best of luck as they prepare for 4-H Camp G.R.I.T. July 13-16, 2017. For more information on the Maricopa County 4-H Program visit http://extension.arizona.edu/4h/ maricopa or call us at 602-827-8228, and make sure to like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ MaricopaCounty4HYouthDevelopment. TAKING THE LEAP Becoming a Camp Counselor Above: The Camp G.R.I.T Counselor Team and 4-H Team just conquered the wall! Inset: “Acid River” The Counselors had to swing across the “acid river” and stand on and “island” to complete the challenge.