Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Since its inception in 1963, the National Youth Science Camp has taken place at Camp Thornwood, the 4-H camp in the northern part of the county.
The camp has hosted delegates from all over the U. S. and from several countries in the western hemisphere for nearly 60 years, but the science camp has decided to move to a new location.
In 2009, the National Youth Science Academy purchased land in Tucker County with plans to build a facility there. Although the facility has not been built, the camp will be moving this summer to a yet to be determined location.
NYSA executive director Ryan Haupt said the board of directors, staph [what they call the staff] and alumni worked together to make the change.
“We made the decision that now is the time to move,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. We’re going to miss Pocahontas a lot, but we absolutely plan on incorporating Pocahontas County’s amazing recreation opportunities into our outdoor program.”
Haupt said the Academy recently announced that it was recommended by the West Virginia governor’s office for an AMLER –Abandoned Mine Lands Economic Revitalization – Grant, which will go toward building the new facility in Tucker County.
In the meantime, they are searching for a new location to house the three-and-a-half-week camp.
“We’re looking for what we’re calling a bridge facility,” Haupt said.
While the majority of the camp’s time is spent at a central location, the delegates take trips around the state and to Washington, D.C. They may not be staying in Pocahontas County, but they will continue to have opportunities to visit the area and experience nature and science related facilities here.
“I would take them to Devil’s Backbone, which I feel is an unsung gem,” Haupt said. “We take them to Cass. We use a lot of the Mon Forest campgrounds in the area.”
The delegates have also been to Monroe County to see the cave where the state’s official fossil – the Jefferson ground sloth – was discovered.
Haupt said the Academy tries to take advantage of all the state has to offer, not just science and technology wise, but in recreation and natural wonder, as well.
“The program was started back in 1963, and the guys who started it discussed hosting the camp at WVU or Marshall, or one of the other colleges or universities around the state,” he said. “They made the decision – and I think they made the correct one – to say ‘if we’re going to have a science camp in West Virginia, let’s actually have it in West Virginia.’
“I think Pocahontas and Tucker are two great exemplars of what that means – to be truly up in the mountains and enjoying wild, wonderful West Virginia.”
The camp has seen many changes in the past 60-odd years, including expanding the camp to international students who may be experiencing the states for the first time – let alone the state of West Virginia.
It’s interesting to think that back in the 1960s and 1970s, the big draw for the delegates was to experience new and possibly never seen technology and now, with endless amounts of technology available to them, the big draw is the outdoors and all they can experience in the wilderness and night sky.
“I was talking to one of our older alumni recently and he said, ‘the power of the program in the sixties and seventies is you would fly these kids to West Virginia – it might be their first time on a plane and then IBM would bring down a computer that took up the entire room and it was probably their first time seeing a computer,’” Haupt said.
“He added, ‘it’s hard to recreate that today,’” he continued. “That’s a good point, but flip it on its head. Most of these kids have probably been on planes, but they’ve probably never been to West Virginia. Instead of focusing on the room with a couple laptops in it, the experience I’ve seen the kids having in rural West Virginia is when the sky clears at night and they look up and they say, ‘oh my gosh, what’s that?’ and I say ‘that’s the Milky Way.’”
Seeing the delegates in awe of their surroundings – whether it’s the outdoors and nature, or the technology at places like the Green Bank Observatory – is what makes Haupt eager to continue to science camp each year.
“I’m super positive about all of this and I’m just trying to look into the future,” he said. “I’m trying to make this what we’re moving to. We’re not trying to move away from anything. We’re trying to move to something in the future.”
The application portal is now open for the 2025 National Youth Science Camp and will be open until February 29. Students who are juniors or seniors are eligible for the camp and can apply online at www.nysacademy.orgprograms/nyscamp
