New scouts and how the boy scout summer camp experience makes the boys better for it.
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Transcript:
One of the best things that I think the program does is take young people and put them in situations where they can grow exponentially, and the best example of this is summer camp.
Boy scout summer camp is like no other summer camp experience. The boys that go to boy scout camp need to really start to think for themselves.
For most it’s the first time they have been away from mom and dad for an extended period of time, for some who have been to more traditional sleep away camps there is a still a dramatic difference when the boys come home.
At summer camp the boys need to get themselves from point A to point B. They are responsible for themselves. They need to make sure they can get to the meals during the right time, they need to get to merit badge classes, and they need to schedule their time to meet all their responsibilities.
This is a big thing.
Kids today have their time scheduled and monitored down to the last minutes, so allowing the boys a general schedule and letting them meet the challenge forces the boys to figure it out.
And, you know what. They all meet the challenge.
At the end of the week you can tell there is a difference to the boys, there is a sense of confidence that is hard to define, but you can definitely tell there is a difference.
It’s not only the leaders that see it. The parents see it as well. The boys that come home from summer camp come back more mature. They come back more responsible, more willing and able to take on the challenges in their young lives, because they met the challenges of the week without mom and dad, teachers and leaders jumping in where things might seem to get difficult. But this is what works for us.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was summer camp for new scouts.
