Gray clouds filled the air as rain sprinkled down. Although the weather was gloomy, the exuberance emanating from the faces of 4G convinced me that archery class would be anything but droll.

The campers huddled on benches under military-style tents, their green shirts barely visible under their sweaters. Archery instructors James Brandon and Justin Wainwright started the class with “Story time with Billy Joe,” where campers pass around a fake deer head, state their name, and answer the question of the day: What’s the coolest thing you have killed? Brianna, 16, said she had killed a black widow. “Targets!” responded 14-year-old Rachel.

Brandon, assisted by Wainwright, explained the rules of the archery range. Then, using the five points “ground, draw, set, aim and release,” Brandon went on to explain the proper stance and technique to fire a bow (including the differences for the dorm’s one left-hander, Macy) while Wainwright demonstrated the steps.

Now it was time to take a shot! 4G’s counselor, Sarah Culpepper, split the dorm into pairs, with one person taking the bow and the other grabbing six arrows. We walked through the drizzling rain up to the 10-yard firing line. Our first target: balloons pinned to the bull’s eye. Brandon instructed the girls to focus on consistency for the first, non-scoring round; he would award tickets to girls who popped the balloon.

After a sharp whistle blow, the partners passed an arrow to the shooters.

“It’s really rewarding when then they do things on their own without instruction,” Culpepper said, as I passed her an arrow. “It’s all fantastic,” assistant counselor Anya Trietsch said as she joined us at the firing line. “The greatest joy is seeing them improve.”

As Trietsch took her turn, she struggled with the first few shots. “Miss Trietsch needs encouragement!” shouted Culpepper, to which the 12 campers promptly responded with a chorus of loud and energized, “Go Miss Trietsch!” Her shooting immediately improved.

Seventeen-year-old Katie and 16-year-old Laura each popped a balloon; Wainwright easily demonstrated his ability by popping the balloon on his first try. With the rain was still gently falling, the wet arrows proved troublesome for some girls to remove from the targets.

As Brandon and Wainwright scored the round, Culpepper related how much she loves the positive energy the girls have, living up to their dorm name: Esther’s Joyful Pillars. She recounted that the girls had done an impromptu version of a pyc line dance at water polo class the day before simply because the song “Celebration” had come on water polo instructor Kyle Cocomise’s music playlist.

The dorm cheered when Brandon announced that Laura almost tied the girls’ camper record, just one point shy of 54. Then she and 16-year-old Krystal shot for tickets from the 30-yard line, hitting the target, but not scoring high enough to receive tickets. Afterward, the campers eagerly helped in an “archery hunting party” to find stray arrows.

Brandon awarded tickets to Laura and 14-year-old Olivia, one of my former campers who I noticed was shooting better than she had the year before.

The girls did a departing cheer before skipping off to lunch. I think “enthusiastic” might be an understatement.