Every year, Troop 85 goes to summer camp. Summer camp is a wonderful opportunity to earn merit badges and learn scouting skills, as well as work on ranks. Many options are available, allowing each scout to work on merit badges and skills that they need. This year, we went to Camp Birch again. Camp Birch hosts a variety of activities aside from Merit Badges and scout skills.
Scout Services
A scout is reverant, so on Wednesday night, the scouts went to either a Protestant service or to a Catholic Mass at the chapel.
OA Callout
After the services on Wednesday night, the whole camp went to the OA Callout, a ceremony that recognized the scouts who had been found worthy to be initiated into the Order of the Arrow. This year, everyone who was eligible for OA within our troop was found worthy.
Flag Ceremony
On Friday, our troop, in combination with another troop, conducted the morning flag ceremony.
Camp-Wide Game
On Friday, the afternoon sessions were devoted to a camp-wide game. The object of the game was simple: to get to various locations, complete activities to gain clues for a logic puzzle, finish the puzzle, and turn it in. Two of the patrols playing this game from our troop were the first groups to complete it.
Family Night and campfire
Friday Night, after the camp-wide game, was family night. Families of the scouts at camp showed up to enjoy dinner and a council campfire at camp. This year, the families provided a potluck. At the campfire, various troops performed songs and skits. Our troop preformed three skits and a song this year.
Overview
Overall, we had 24 scouts attend, and 11 of these attended Tecumseh Island. Furthermore, two scouts and one adult from our unit attended Mad River Trace, Camp Birch’s frontiersman program. While we were at camp, two scouts earned rank. In total, our scouts completed 79 Merit Badges, and started 38 more.
Troop 85 