VALDOSTA — Forty-six fifth and sixth graders from Lowndes County recently spent a week at Cloverleaf Camp at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center near Eatonton.

These 4-H’ers joined over 900 other 4-H’ers from Georgia. Melinda Miller, Lowndes County 4-H extension agent; Tammie Glasscock and Lynn Hall, Lowndes County program assistants, and Mike Glasscock and Doug Summerford, 4-H volunteer leaders, chaperoned the 4-H’ers. Ariel Dudley, Ashley Jackson, and Alexia Solis served as teen leaders.

Each county group in attendance was assigned to one of three tribes — Cherokee, Muskogee, and Shawnee. Lowndes County 4-H’ers were members of the Cherokee Tribe. The campers participated in tribal meetings, games and a pageant that told the story of these three Native American tribes and the great Rock Eagle effigy.

Campers also attended educational classes such as Health’s Our Pledge, Natural History Exploration, Entomology, Herpetology, Lake Ecology, Wildlife, Forestry, and Archery, just to name a few. Other activities included wet games, swimming, sailing, dancing, canoeing, attending adventure program activities such as the zip line, sling shot and climbing wall, putt-putt, trivia games and a variety show put on by the camp counselors. The tribes competed during the week with cabin and area clean-up, tribal cheers, class attendance, chants, yells, games, behavior, and sportsmanship to win the coveted Tribal Shield.

The Georgia 4-H summer camping program is ranked among the top in the nation. Zach Hall and Emily Backes, both Lowndes 4-H alumni, were selected and are serving as camp counselors this summer. Hall is a second year counselor teaching major interest classes in the Muscogee Tribe and Backes is a first year waterfront counselor for the Cherokee Tribe.

For more information about this or any other 4-H activity, call the Lowndes County Extension Service at 333-5185 or visit www.ugaextension.com/lowndes.