2009 Summer Camp Season Ends With Rain
Mississippi College's 2009 summer camp season finished on a soggy note on the Clinton campus in late July.
On most days during the final week of summer camp, raindrops turned into thunderstorms. Fortunately, there were no injuries when storms and powerful winds hit the Clinton campus on July 30.
The campers headed home in buses, vans and cars Friday July 31. The camp season saw about 10,000 campers pour in from 14 Southern states. They ranged from Centri-Kid camps run by Nashville-based Lifeway to the Super Summer camps sponsored by the Mississippi Baptist Convention. There were camps, too, for cheerleaders, basketball players, music enthusiasts and soccer lovers.
At the Baptist Healthplex, thousands of campers played ping pong, shot pool, went swimming, played basketball and burned a few calories along the way. "It kind of ran the gamut," said Keith Montgomery, the marketing director and membership director at the Baptist Healthplex. "All of the kids were very good and well-behaved. We hope to see them back next year," he said Friday as the campers traveled home.
"It was great," said Centri-Kid camp counselor Cory Klassen to sum up his five days at MC. The Georgia resident took time to pose for a photographer along with dozens of youngsters huddled outside Nelson Hall. Then everybody said their goodbyes.
"This was an awesome experience," said Alabama parent Nancy Cobb. "I've been to three camps, and in my personal opinion, this was the deepest spiritually," the chaperone said Friday.
Moments later, Cobb, a member of First Baptist Church in Gardendale, Ala., joined the campers at a lively morning worship service at Swor Auditorium.
Cobb and others at MC count their blessings that all of the campers were safe after a late July thunderstorm hit the Clinton campus and other Central Mississippi communities. Three large oak trees were knocked down and so were a number of power lines on College Street late Thursday afternoon.
On the final week, delegations of children from churches in Mississippi River port cities like Natchez stayed on the Clinton campus for praise and worship, sports, meals in the MC cafeteria, Bible study and overnight lodging in residence halls.
Last summer, MC was home to extra campers . They earlier planned to attend camp at Union University until a tornado heavily damaged the school's dorms more than a year ago. The Union dorms on the Jackson, Tenn. campus built new dorms in about six months.
MC welcomed just over 10,000 campers in 2008, said Ken Gilliam, the director of continuing education who oversees the camps. From Texas to Tennessee, from Louisiana to Florida, and Arkansas to most of Mississippi's 82 counties, many campers say they will return to MC next season. MC's summer camp season stretches from late May until late July.
With the 2009 camp season done, MC leaders prepared for the Christian university's summer commencement Saturday August 1 at the A.E. Wood Coliseum.
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