Local 4H Youth Spend Saturday Serving at Douthat State Park

4H youth from Bath, Highland, and Alleghany Counties participated in a teen volunteer service day on Saturday, April 20 at Douthat State Park. The work included trail maintenance, planting flowers, and spreading mulch to beautify the state park for the busy spring/summer season.

Here’s a little taste and what these students were up to:

“My name is Levi Warner and I’m raking mulch out under a playground.”

“My name is Kolson Morris and I’m Fallon Tucker. Right now we’re just working on Douthat. We’re putting mulch in the park and we had to test out the swings.”

“I’m Christine Hodges, I’m the 4H agent in Alleghany County. What we’re doing here today is a service project with Douthat State Park. We’ve had a partnership with them for many years. Part of 4H is learning by doing, and one of our H’s is ‘hands’ or giving back to our community and do service work. And also these are our 4H camp counselors, so they are also getting to know each other and learning to work with each other because at camp they have a big job to do, so we need them to be able to work as a team as best they can.”

On top of service opportunities and summer camp, Highland and Bath 4H, often in collaboration with Alleghany county, provide a plethora of ways for youth to get involved. These include Clover Bud day camps, poultry chain projects, collaborations with FFA, culinary club, sharp shooters, and contest day. Older youth from Highland County 4H are also currently serving on state-level board positions for Healthy Living and Equity and Inclusion. Youth representatives from all three counties will again travel to the Dominican Republic this summer for additional service opportunities. For more information, search VCE – Bath & Highland County VA 4-H on Facebook.