Camporee: Day 1

I learned something quickly about Boy Scout events that involve camping; everything runs 30 minutes late, because of the troops.  At Webelos events if I’m 15 minutes late to start kids will explode, but I could schedule four hours for a lunch break and it still wouldn’t be enough time.  The opening training was a run-through of how EDGE works, the Scout training method so amazing there are almost no formal publications that list it and whose details are faint.  I taught the EDGE song which involves marching around yelling “Explain Demonstrate Guide Enable” dozens of times and at some points includes arm motions.  This nearly killed me as my song lacks a break between verses and I still had a heck of a cough but I think the kids got the point.  The rest of the morning went well and the activities I cooked up were also well received.

Camp Cherokee provided wonderful facilities which included an evacuation area, a zip line, a rock wall, and more importantly, cell reception.  Schedule changes were transmitted via text message as were dinner invites which proved handy as I could compare my options without offending (cheese steaks won out but I should have gone for the pot roast).

The afternoon consisted of just open activities which I felt was risky but was rewarded with this:

20101016-4776-FallCamporee

This is Norman Rockwell caliber shit.  Kids doing a flag ceremony in uniform with a setup they created as the sunsets.  I didn’t even think this actually happened except in Boys’ Life magazine or in some Panglossian simulacrum of Scouting.  I’m glad it exsists.

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