Summer Camp Results:
With no scouts standing behind me to time my Scoutmaster
Minute *wink, wink*, I am free to take as much time to say what a fabulous week
that I had at Boy Scout camp. This was
only made possible by the support of my family while I was away and by the excellent
and AMAZING leaders that I brought to camp.
Tom Adams (Eagle Scout), Michelle Engel, Zach Zelkowski (Eagle Scout), and Patrick
Arndt (Eagle Scout) were the heart and soul of camp this summer. It felt as if we read each other’s minds at
times, everything went very smoothly and we had fun! I hope they enjoyed it as
much as I did. Their contributions were immeasurable. Each leader took a turn
supervising camp, attending merit badges with your scout, or participating in
camp wide events.
Our Senior Patrol Leader Austin S. should be commended not
only being a friend, a big brother and a leader to all of the scouts in camp,
but for his accomplishment of earning Honor Troop. He and his Assistant Senior
Patrol Leaders, Andrew L. and Ben B. worked together on preparations before
camp on the Beast Feast menu, as well as camp rosters and organization skills that
made camp run smoothly for all scouts. Austin was a great example of scouting
in action.
This was our second year at Cole Canoe base and we enjoyed
it so much that I have reserved the same week for camp next year. The camp sites are first come first serve, so
we had to act quickly. The scouts look forward to swimming in the Rifle River
right next to camp each day. It seemed that hammocks were the popular
investment this summer. Make sure to
bring one next year! Board games and Magic cards were a great way for scouts to
spend time together. We did make a few
trips to the medical officer for blisters, a couple fevers and other
miscellaneous things. She took excellent
care of our scouts. It was cool that
many of our scouts and leaders participated in the camp wide competitions. It
is great to be a part of something larger than just our troop. The staff at
Cole Canoe Base worked hard to be accommodating and provide a fun week for
all. Many counselors went out of their
way to make sure that scouts had adequate time and practice to complete merit
badges. I feel that our scouts had every opportunity to succeed. We did have an
exciting thunder and lightning storm one evening.
Our First Year Campers worked very hard on completing their
rank requirements and they sure got along great together! I was impressed with all of the scouts who attended
their merit badge classes without being reminded and who happily helped out each
day in camp with the cooking and the cleanup.
I don't want to forget to give a big thank you to parents,
who helped to make sure that their scouts packed appropriately and were prepared
with paperwork and merit badge prerequisites. Preparation is the key to a
successful camp week. A few parents joined us on Friday for the parents evening
and it was nice to have them with us at the bonfire.
Camp Results:
This year the troop earned the Honor Unit award by successfully completing 14 requirements, including but not limited to building a Gateway for the campsite, a Service Project, a Camp Inspection, and participation in the Leave no Trace program. Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) Austin S. is to be credited for the Honor Unit Award for his diligence and excellent leadership.
In addition our scouts participated in camp wide contest and earned these awards:
Trevor C., Jordon M., SPL Austin S. and ASPL Andrew L. took 1st Place in the Lumberjack Relay with an impressive time of 2:06. Andrew (Fiji) threw a tomahawk at target to start the relay then he ran to Jordon who did the log roll with a cant hook who then tagged Austin who pushed a log through the water with a pole who then sprinted half way across the lake to Trevor and Andrew who used a 2 man saw to cut a slice off a log to win the contest. It was commented that they were the most interesting 4 man team that had ever placed because of their strategy.
Jordon M.: 2nd Place Scout in Archery
Tom Adams: 2nd Place Leader Root beer Chug Contest
Trevor C.: 2nd Place Older Scout Flapjack Eating contest
Jacob Q.: 3rd Place Younger Scout in Flapjack Eating contest
Patrick Arndt: 3rd Place Leader in Shotgun Shoot
Christian E.and Nathan S. earned arrows from success in Archery
All together the scouts earned 51 merit badges, and 9 partial merit badges and 6 new scouts participated in the First Year Camper program designed to help them get a head start on rank requirements.
Great Job, everyone! All in all, I think it was a successful week. I hope to see you all back again next year. I will submit these results and an article and photos to the newspaper. Hopefully they will choose to print it.
Yours in Scouting,
Julia Bushong, Scoutmaster
