“Everybody I ever talked to

“Everybody I ever talked to about Camp Fantastic said it was a really, really wonderful experience. Other junior leaders at the 4-H camps told me that. Sally Miller, who served food at the camp, told me that.”

So Alex Smith decided he wanted to go. The Rappahannock County youngster, a junior at Wakefield School, had been a 4-H’er since he went to 4-H summer camp as a nineyear-old. “At my first camp, I got an award for being the beat all-around camper. That’s what really got me Into 4-H.”

John Dooley, the director of the Northern Virginia 4-H Education Center, la always assessing his 4-H campers for the qualities he wants in his 4-H leaders. “I want kids who aren’t afraid to let their hair down, who aren’t afraid to experience emotions they’ve never felt before,” Mr, Doolev said.

“1 look for sensitivity. I look for a kid who is creative In relationships and creative in communications. Someone who can contribute to the campfire experience. I like someone who has special skills, who could teach a class in, say, archery. And, as with all our camping programs, 1 need kids who can be role models, because the children at camp are going to want to grow up to’ be like their junior leaders,”

In seven summers of being first a camper and then a junior counselor at 4-H camp, Alex demonstrated those qualities.

One of the 10 4-H’ers picked as teen leaders for the 1988 session of Camp Fantastic, Alex was apprehensive when he arrived for the start of orientation on Friday night. “1 was absolutely the most nervous I’ve ever been for camp. It scared me—a lot. I didn’t know how I would act, and I was hoping the kids would like me.”

At orientation, the young man listened as Dave Smith, the president of Special Love, told of the single junior leader among 60 in six years for whom Camp Fantastic was not a positive experience. “That counselor’s bed got peed on because the kids could tell his smiles weren’t honest. I didn’t want that to be me!”

Alex didn’t need to worry. His