Summer Camp Reflection

[NIscouter]

I thought I would reflect a bit on my experience at camp. Sorry for the length, but this is a shorter version of my original :>

 

We kept an adult in the campsite at all times (except for chow and flags) until the end of the week (see my earlier topic). Our "camp-only" SPL and ASPL, the regular PLs really earned thier strips and ran the show after a day or so of intense coaching. We were confident enough of these boys that during the final two days we left camp in the hands of the boy leaders for short periods of time. I expect our camp SPL to be the troop SPL in August, as his quiet leadership was readily accepted by all, allowing our campsite to get perfect scores on the campsite inspections the last two days.

 

The boys had a lot of freedom, made thier own schedule, and most moved forward, both in advancement and in maturity. So did I. I have read and heard mountians of talk on the way one week at camp for a scout is like one year of a regular program - but no one had mentioned that it applies to the leaders as well. I found the week taught me quite a bit about the boys, how to be (and not be!)an effective adult leader,and how to assist, not supplement, the boy leaders. We developed a new adult leader method - the "tent" method. Whenever a boy(s) was doing something that pushed our parent buttons but in reality was OK for a scout and did not appear to be a safety hazard, we moved our seats a bit farther behind the tent to avoid watching them!

 

Except for the afternoon heat in Southern MI it was a great camp experience! This is the type of continuing "training" I have been looking for. The three other leaders and myself found time to discuss many issues in and out of scouts, pulling us closer together as a team, and providing us a better understanding of each other. My SM, whom I am ashamed to say I have not been too kind to in this forum, proved to be quite different than I had thought. Watching some of the other SMs around camp (who bird-dogged thier scouts at all time), our SMs openness to our suggestions, and the way our SM worked through some issues, both his and the boys, left me with confidence in his leadership and his vision for our troop. I realized our troop is actually aimed in the right direction.

[hacimsaalk12]

me and the SPL ran the troop pretty much all week. we got the boys together and marched them to the parade grounds. we made sure they got to bed on time,if a boy needed help on a MB we helped them. and if there were any problems we solved them. except for one time when a ASM over extended his power, there were no problems.

 

we had a great week. no major problems. i pulled out 8 mb's.

 

(i will write more later, mom needs phone)

[orennoah]

I, too, am just back from Summer Camp.

 

Boy. Did I see a whole lot of silver-haired "SPLs" running their troops! There they were, on Friday's Polyathalon, assigning individual Scouts to specific roles and giving detailed instructions.

 

I made it a point to confine myself (and my ASM) to the porch of the lodge near the start/finish. I'd given my SPL all the information from the Camp Staff (why they give the details to the SMs and not to the SPL, I'll never know) and given him the choice of either having winning as our goal or having everyone, including our newest Scouts, involved be our goal.

 

He, and the rest of the Troop, did me proud.

 

- Oren

[hacimsaalk12]

total in the troop, we pulled out 58 mb's (we had 13 kids, so that averages about 4 per person). we won the water polo tournament, and we had lads of fun, which is all that really counts

[Cutter]

I'm going to summer camp for the whole week this year for the first time since I was a scout not including when I was on camp staff while in college. I've gone a few times for part of the week but our troop usually has enough adults for coverage. I'm looking forward to it and going with my middle son for his first year.

 

I just received an email from a buddy that I grew up with and he mentioned the first year we were at camp at Northwoods Reservation in MI. It rained much of the time, which, I did not remember. We were Eagle scouts together, he made it before me and we keep in touch by email now. It reminded me that summer camp is a special place for the scouts. It is a chance for them to grow and learn and for the adults to let them do so. I was on staff at NYLT camp a couple of weeks ago. I think this will be good prepartion to ease back into summer camp. The trick is to let the boy's lead and stand back and watch. It's hard to do but necessary.

[GopherJudy]

That's great! My son is going to his first summer camp on July 17th & he's looking forward to it!

 

Oren - what is a "Polyathalon"? Thanks!

 

 

Judy

[orennoah]

GopherJudy:

 

A "polyathalon" is a relay race where after each leg of the race, a Scout must do a task (e.g., tie a certain knot, shoot an arrow, swim a lap, etc.). This one had at least 17 different tasks, including the runs between each station and could be done by any number of Scouts, between one and 17. At all depended upon how the SPL (real or "silverhaired") wanted to approach the problem.

 

- Oren

[GopherJudy]

Oren,

 

Thanks! I've never heard of it, must be a scouting term! It sounds like a lot of fun for the boys, must tire them out! LOL at real or silverheaded SPL!

 

Judy