Growing up today isn't easy, whether you are a boy or a girl.
But for 72 lucky Boy Scouts in the Verdugo Hills Council, the next
year is an unparalleled adventure of anticipation, working toward a goal
and experiencing their dreams come to true. They will stand tall
representing our area at the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P.
Hill, near Fredericksburg, Va.
Jamboree, held once every four years, is a bit like Disneyland for
Scouts. More than 30,300 Boy Scouts and unit leaders, plus more than
6,000 national, regional and subcamp staff members, will congregate at
Fort A.P. Hill from July 23 to Aug. 1, as it swells into a populace as
large as some cities in the United States.
This is a kid's dream city complete with boating, archery, bikathons,
motocross, trap shooting, rappelling, 5K runs, fishing, canoeing and
kayaking. The city will have its own amateur radio station (set up and
manned by Scouts), a re-creation of the first Boy Scout camp conduced by
Baden-Powell in 1907, daily stage shows, a disabilities trail, a Native
American Village and its own press corps sending news releases to the
boys' hometowns.
It will also include the dream of almost every Scout, Merit Badge
Midway, where boys can earn honors learning about everything from
aviation to cooking, orienteering to archeology or dentistry to
oceanography.
Any registered Scout who has completed the sixth grade or is at least
12 years old and attained the rank of First Class by July 1, 2001, is
eligible to go. In Glendale, this meant applying and interviewing for one
of the coveted slots last March.
Boys with sweaty palms and nervous expressions waited outside a closed
door for their interview. They chattered as they looked at displays at
the Verdugo Hills Council office, too jittery to think of sitting quietly
as they waited. Next, they waited while the adult leadership studied the
applicants before mailing out acceptance letters. Whoops of joy were
heard by the lucky group that will make up the two patrols from this
area.
Now the real work begins, on two fronts: 1.)molding the boys into
groups and teaching them the value of teamwork and 2.) helping the boys
find ways to earn some of the money to pay their own way to Jamboree.
Daylong outings and camp-outs designed to instill team management at
Camp Verdugo Oaks make learning fun. Boys become life-size "game pieces"
as they solve puzzles, play games and learn that group decisions can
often be better than ones made by an individual.
