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Updated: June 27, 2024 @ 3:03 pm
Micah McGinnis rides a horse around the pen at Still Meadows.
Micah McGinniis leads a horse out to the pen with help from Still Meadows volunteer Katie Armentrout.
Micah McGinnis, left, gets ready to ride with help from Still Meadows volunteer Tom Hutchinson.
Camp Still Meadows features an ADA-accessible treehouse for campers.
Camp Still Meadows features an ADA-accessible treehouse for campers.
Micah McGinnis rides a horse around the pen at Still Meadows.
Micah McGinniis leads a horse out to the pen with help from Still Meadows volunteer Katie Armentrout.
Micah McGinnis, left, gets ready to ride with help from Still Meadows volunteer Tom Hutchinson.
Camp Still Meadows features an ADA-accessible treehouse for campers.
Camp Still Meadows features an ADA-accessible treehouse for campers.
Still Meadows Enrichment Center and Camp expanded scholarships to local school divisions, bringing a resource for developmentally and physically disabled adults and children closer to home.
While Camp Still Meadows always offers scholarships, Ashley Burgoyne, a Rockingham County School Board member, suggested expanding the offer to local schools. Burgoyne runs the camp’s office and said that after COVID-19 decreased the number of campers, she wanted to see the camp full.
“One day, I said, ‘What if we do scholarships for every high school and middle school in Rockingham County?’ ” Burgoyne said. “Jodi [Haas, president of the camp’s board of directors] said, ‘Well, why don’t we try to incorporate all the schools in the surrounding counties?’ And I was like, ‘This is great.’ ”
Haas said Still Meadows sent out scholarship offers to high schools in Harrisonburg, Shenandoah County, Page County, Rockingham County and Augusta County.
“I thought it was a wonderful idea,” Haas said. “Why just limit to Harrisonburg and Rockingham? Let’s just open it up to everyone and see what we get?”
Haas said that because they were close to the end of the school year, not all of the schools were able to take advantage of the offer. But next year, they’ll continue the effort and get the ball rolling sooner.
Initially, the scholarships were just for the Still Meadows day camp, but after some students interested in the scholarship couldn’t attend the camp weeks, they expanded them to therapeutic horse riding.
Day camp happens during three weeks of the summer and includes everything from barn activities to games. Cathy Fisher, a volunteer in charge of barn activities for the camps, said they feed and brush horses, harvest eggs, play games and do crafts. They’ve even had birthday parties for horses. They also bring in guests like the sheriffs and fire department.
“It’s for socialization; they can get out with other people and have fun but just let loose,” Fisher said.
The camp doesn’t have an age limit for who can attend, providing resources for adults that aren’t always available.
Riding instructor Emma Rexrode said therapeutic horse riding can improve balance and confidence, and they focus on individual goals between riders, their parents and any areas of improvement she notices. Rexrode is also a special education teacher in Augusta County.
“It empowers our riders, and I think that’s the coolest part,” Rexrode said.
On Tuesday night, Micah McGinnis, 25, from Harrisonburg, participated in therapeutic horseback riding. McGinnis worked on balance, posture and the ability to advocate for himself. Although McGinnis isn’t a current student in local schools, he’s been attending Still Meadows since fourth grade and recently added riding last fall.
His mom, Holly McGinnis, has seen firsthand how the camp has helped him.
“He enjoyed the summer camps so much. [There’s always] a feeling of welcomeness and encouragement and diversity in activities. … It just was a highlight of a summer,” Holly said. “With the therapeutic horse riding he has, I’ve seen his confidence grow tremendously.”
For Micah, the best part of camp is actually getting to ride the horses.
“With Micah, one of the first riding sessions I had, I pointed out to him, ‘You just made a 1,000-pound animal do something you asked it to do,’” Rexrode said. “You see it on Micah’s face. He got so excited.”
As much as the camp helps attendees, Rexrode and fellow volunteers said it’s just as enriching and empowering for them.
“It’s impossible to have a bad day here,” volunteer Katie Armentrout said. “We get so much joy, and it impacts us as much as it impacts the riders.”
Holly said they’ve taken advantage of scholarships in the past and appreciated that the camp enriches the lives of people with special needs, while not being cost-prohibitive.
Haas said they’ll continue expanding, offering day camp scholarships and riding for more local middle and elementary schools next academic year. Haas said they often offer scholarships, so the idea isn’t new. It’s a different way of offering scholarships to get more students involved.
“A lot of folks with disabilities have such limited resources, including income, it’s hard to afford some of these things,” Haas said. “We always use a lot of our funding for scholarships.”
Rexrode said the newly offered school scholarships to schools also help raise awareness that the camp exists and is available for community members with developmental or physical disabilities.
“Then there’s not a financial barrier for kids; they can come, and parents don’t have to worry,” Rexrode said. “It does provide such an awesome opportunity right in their backyard — I think it’s important for people to know about that.”
Contact Ashlyn Campbell at 540-574-6278 or acampbell@dnronline.com | Follow Ashlyn on Twitter: @A__Campbell
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