SALYERSVILLE – The group locally known as the Dayton Group will be back in town this summer, offering a day camp and teen scene for Magoffin County children and teenagers throughout the summer break.
The University of Dayton has had a Summer Appalachia Program for the past 58 years, sending university students from all different grades and majors to Magoffin County each year to organize and run the camp – which is always free to the children.
Meaghan Crowley, the director of the University of Dayton Summer Appalachia Program, who also helped with the camp as a student, told the Independent, “We’ve been meeting all semester as a class to get ready for the program, to learn how to organize the day camp and teen scene. They have to learn how to organize the budget, and they’re responsible for planning group functions.”
Crowley said students have to apply to be in the program and go through an interview process before being accepted, and then they are brought to Salyersville on breaks and weekends to get acquainted with the area. Each student who completes the course and spends the summer here receives one college credit from the university, as well as a small stipend.
For the last 25 years, the group has stayed in a small farmhouse on Mine Fork, holding the teen scene at the house on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. for 13 to 18-year-olds.
“It’s just a safe, fun place for them to hang out and we play different games, scavenger hunts, minute-to-win-it Olympics, and capture the flag,” Crowley said. “We will go on some college visits and always take a trip to Cave Run.”
All programs the group holds locally are completely free for the children who attend, even providing free transportation.
The day camp is for children ages 5 to 12 years old and there will be a theme each week, Crowley said. They play games, go to the library, have a pool party and will even have free lunch through the schools. The entire Summer Appalachia Program runs from June 3 through July 23, and there will be two groups for the day camp, with one group meeting on Mondays and Wednesday and the second group on Tuesdays and Thursdays, all from 9 a.m. to noon.
“A lot of our campers have come from the same families, with past generations or older siblings having gone in past years, and all spreading by word of mouth, but since COVID-19, our numbers have dwindled, so we’re just trying to get the word out about this great program,” Crowley said.
The Dayton Group will be holding a signup event on June 1 at noon at the Ramey Memorial Park, where they’ll have games and activities, food and will be available for the families to meet the group.
Crowley said she came to Magoffin as a University Dayton student in 2011, “I totally fell in love with being here in the summer and connecting with kids and families.”
While the campers may run through families, the university students in the program also do, as well, with many joining the program because their parents or other relatives doing the program and telling them about it.
“We’ve had kids and teens in the program tell us they felt safe and seen, able to let go and be themselves and just be a kid and teen,” Crowley said. “It’s also transformative for the University of Dayton students, as well as the kids and teens here, and that’s what brings them back each year, feeling safe and connected.”
Katie Brossart, the program mentor who will also be coming to Magoffin this summer, told the Independent, “We’re here to learn and grow and get to know this community. It takes some adjustment on Mine Fork, with no Wi-Fi or cell service, but it creates intentional time with other people. We get to slow down and go swimming at Jellico and hike at the Red River Gorge.”
In addition to the signup event scheduled for June 1, people can contact the Dayton Group by emailing Meaghan Crowley at crowleyml@udayton.edu or call 937-229-2516; or Katie Brossart at brossartkl@udayton.edu. People can also sign up by scanning the QR code in this article.
