Summer Troop-Camp (not council camp)

[shortridge]

Beavah,

 

Alas, no, no concrete or written examples.

 

From my time on camp staff, I do recall a few troops that set aside part of the day - usually the afternoons - as patrol time or free time, and purposely made their boys not go gung-ho after as many merit badges as they could carry home.

 

Speaking from my own experience, I was rather disappointed with the small numbers of troops that availed themselves of the outpost camping and trail hiking programs we offered. I could count on one hand over five years the number of troops or patrols that did an overnight on the undeveloped part of our reservation.

 

I would hope that most camp staffs would welcome the opportunity to support a troop or patrol's program instead of just pushing the merit badge pathway.

[GKlose]

"On the other hand, does anyone think that having them choose activites/MBs by patrol is a good idea? (and I am not suggesting it is not...)"

 

I wouldn't have known if I hadn't seen it myself...

 

For those who haven't seen the other thread on the summer camp we just got back from, it is a patrol-oriented camp in mid-NH, called Camp Bell. Patrol cooking and patrol program.

 

You can easily find the camp leader's guide online, and it briefly describes the program at the camp. Some eight or so major program areas, and within each area, maybe several different activities. The idea is that an entire patrol sign up for a specific activity or program area, one for each day. As an example, I think our guys (first-timers at camp) chose an interesting mix of activities that gave them a nice survey of camp: blacksmithing, sailing, "extreme" obstacle course (more like a junior COPE activity, with lots of patrol-building games, prior to running the course), "Mountain Man" (blackpowder rifles, action archery and tomahawk-throwing) and search & rescue. Every program seemed to be nicely thought out.

 

There were a few program areas they didn't get to: kayaking, raft-building, water skiing/tubing, horseback riding, "logging camp" (pioneering and Paul Bunyan), wilderness survival, climbing, COPE, and a few others.

 

Only two problems during the week -- one was that one scout didn't pass the swim test, therefore he couldn't go out on the water. The camp seemed to handle it well, because other non-swimmers were gathered together in a day-long instructional swim. The Mountain Man area was kind of a bust. After a morning of tomahawk throwing, our guys sat through watching blackpowder rifles fizzling due to the ultra-high humidity, and then when they got to the archery range, there wasn't a staff member present. So half a day was spent sitting around.

 

The least of our worries: having the patrol stick together in the same activity all day. This is with guys that are used to a regularly-programmed scout camp where they are off doing whatever they want during the day.

 

We still had some afternoon and evening free time where they could go off in buddy pairs (to open swim, for example).

 

Guy

[Eagledad]

>>I would hope that most camp staffs would welcome the opportunity to support a troop or patrol's program instead of just pushing the merit badge pathway.

[Eagledad]

>>It would provide an opportunity for other adults (and perhaps the appropriate dad/mom/uncle) to involve themselves in program. It would get the patrol mostly working on cooking, rather than dining hall style service. It would reinforce scouts skills of camping, which is a plus. Based upon my family experiences it would simply be fun for the scouts! Since we dont have enough older scouts to do a high adventure trek (Philmont, Northern Tier, etc), it would be a less expensive way to have a more adventurous experience for all our scouts. None of these reasons alone are sufficient motivation to do a camp like this, but when you put everything together, it just makes sense.

 

Also the bonus (which I would certainly hope for) is the bonding and camaraderie which might result from this type of experience. BP said that advancement is like a suntan, it is something which naturally occurs when being in the out of doors. I think the analogy would apply to the growth experience of this type of adventure as well: the camaraderie is not the goal, but it will happen naturally in this environment.

[Buffalo Skipper]

Barry, thank you for the kind words. I am honored and touched that you would want to call me a "dreamer." It is a title which is some people view as less than complimentary. I have been extremely fortunate in my life to have experienced some unusual and memorable adventures. I would like to see that some of the scouts in our troop have similar opportunities, that they may one day be able to pass on to their children and others, perhaps even future scouts.

 

But I am neither trying to relive my own childhood nor impose my youthful experiences upon the members of my troop. My real goal is to inspire them seek their own adventures and to mentor them through the process of reaching beyond their little boxes. In my opinion, society today (to include Scouting) is comfortable living in its own very compact comfort zone. Though this may be another motivation to put on this kind of camp, it is a discussion for another threadnot this one.

 

The issue of merit badges is a very important one, and though I dont want to take this in a radically different direction, I do want to make it relevant to this topic. Last year, we went to Camp Woodruff. I do not want to claim Woodruff is a MB mill, but it is a Cadillac of camps. Everything is new and shiny; the counselors are fabulous, and realistically, every scout who attended truly EARNED the merit badges they earned. In spite of some logistical issues, we all had a great time. But it was all too neatly boxed up and it was not the experience we were seeking (or at least, not the one I was hoping the scouts would have). Then this past December, we attended out councils inaugural Winter Camp, where a very small group of scouts had a great time and earned a few more badges. We went back to our councils camp 2 weeks ago, where we had terrific bonding experience and quite a lot of fun. The troop matured, like we have not seen in several years. In another week, we are off to Daniel Boone (with half the number of scouts we took last months camp). That is averaging 3 organized camps (merit badge camp mills, if you subscribe to that philosophy, which I am on the fence about) per year. I really want the scouts to experience something different. And I dont mean going to a different summer camp. I mean a truly different type of experience.

 

Sure, working on MBs like Camping, Cooking and even Nature or Forestry would be fun, but do we really need to formalize it into classes? Why cant we break into different groups (patrols?) and pursue different adventures each day? Maybe do a hike, maybe go to a gem mine, maybe go to a remote old growth virgin forest. It would be neat to get my woodcarving friend to show up and maybe do a class and tell some stories. Maybe we could even have some smaller groups break off and do an overnight survival excursion or short backpack trek on the AT.

 

Hum. You all are making me think too much.

 

[DancesWithSpreadsheets]

Skipper, I think you've got a great idea, and a wonderful vision.

 

My only suggestion (and it's only a suggestion) is rather than split off the older boys to go on a backpacking trek, keep the patrols together with an eye towards getting everyone to the point where they would be confident enough to tackle a multi-day outing on the AT (and you would have enough confidence to take them!).

 

I understand you have some great adult resources who can serve as instructors, but IMO that opportunity should first be offered to your older boys.

 

Give them all a taste of "high adventure", give them the tools to pursue it and see what they make of the opportunity. And if at all possible, make them think it was their idea.

 

My opinion, for what it's worth. Best of luck to you however you decide to approach it.

 

Regards,

 

DWS

[GKlose]

In this thread, and in the "just got back" thread, I've been fawning over Camp Bell in NH. They told us up front that they have a high number of repeat customers, and after having been there, I understand why.

 

What I forgot to mention is that they have at least four kinds of outposts, and they made it very clear that if we wanted to arrange a custom outpost they would love to work with us (for example, last year a patrol arranged a "horse camp" outpost, combining the trail ride program along with an outpost overnight). The standard outposts include: wilderness survival, "Lewis & Clark" (they take scouts out to an unknown location and they find their way back, mapping as they go), "Castaway" (a patrol in an adjacent campsite did this: they spend the day program building a raft, and then they paddle out to an island outpost, for dinner and an overnight) and a backpacking outpost. The reservation has over 3000 acres, so they have some room to move around a bit.

 

Guy