AMES, Iowa--Besides providing a summer getaway and fun for youth, the Iowa 4-H Center offers leadership experience opportunities
through counselor-in-training camps and a new Leadership Camp for 15-year-olds.
Leadership Camp is a weeklong camp that provides hands-on training, observation and practice. The camp is designed for 15-year-
olds to gain leadership skills, learn about safety and youth development strategies and camp traditions and operations. Visit the Iowa
4-H Center website to download a brochure and registration form.
The CIT Training Camp, for ages 16-18, is required for teens wanting to participate in counselor-in-training fieldwork. Full-time
professional staff and college-age summer staff lead this program to help participants learn how to supervise, handle behavior and
homesickness and how to lead activities and work as a team.
"I think that the CIT program is a great opportunity for high school students to gain quality leadership skills and have more
responsibilities," said Annie McGuire,a senior at Iowa State University and an Iowa 4-H Center camp counselor. "The program
allows them to lead activities and songs while learning what it is like to be a counselor."
All counselors-in-training must attend one of the following $35 training camp sessions:
May 14 from 1 p.m. to May 15 at 11 a.m.
May 21 from 1 p.m. to May 22 at 11 a.m.
June 9 from 4 p.m. to June 10 at 2 p.m.
The weeklong Counselor-In-Training Fieldwork camps are divided into two levels. CIT 1: Level 1 Fieldwork provides experience
working with 6- to 10-year-old campers. CIT 2: Level 2 Fieldwork provides experience working with 7- to 13-year-olds.
CIT 1: Level 1 Fieldwork participants are required to be 16 years old by June 1, 2011 and must attend a CIT Training Camp session in
2011.
CIT 2: Level 2 Fieldwork participants are required to be 17 years old by June 1, 2011 and also must attend a CIT Training Camp
session in 2011.
"My experience working with the CITs has been great because they are so eager to learn and are great role models for the campers, as
well as great help," McGuire said. "They typically have been coming to camp for years and are excited to have a different experience
at camp by seeing more of what it would be like to be a counselor."
To view which weeks offer the Leadership Camp and the CIT 1 and CIT 2 camps, visit the Iowa 4-H Center website to download
the Camp Registration Form. More information about the leadership program and the other summer camps at the Iowa 4-H Center is
available in the 2011 Camp Brochure.
The Iowa 4-H Center is an outdoor learning environment of 1,100 acres located in Boone County just 45 minutes north of Des
Moines. An American Camp Association accredited camp since 1954, the Iowa 4-H Center staff follows the 4-H model of "learning
by doing" and draws on the knowledge base of Iowa State University.
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