In 2004 we attended summer camp at the Sabattis Scout Reservation in the
Adirondacks. Overall, every aspect of the program was excellent.
We were a small Troop with only two Patrols making it to camp. The Dragon
Patrol had all been recruited in late May, and only three of them could afford
to get to camp on such short notice. The eight Ravens were a blend of young
inner-city Scouts and cynical older Scouts who mostly hate camping except for
summer camp and the two winter sledding campouts.
Everyone was mad at me for requesting a separate campsite and Patrol supplies
for the three Dragons. Both the adults (who should know better) and the Ravens
wanted me to add their younger Ravens and perpetual "Tenderfeet" to
the Dragon Patrol to "even it out." But the Dragons all live near to
each other and hang out during the day (and play wide games at night), so I felt
that it was a perfect Patrol that shouldn't be messed with, even though the
Patrol Leader offered to take the young Ravens in.
The three Dragons cooked for themselves, the four Scouters, and the SPL so
the numbers at mealtimes were even. The adults hauled the water and did most of
the dishes for the Dragons in exchange for meals.
I suggested that the three Dragons take Swimming, Canoeing (a double-period
offering), and Cooking Merit Badges (Sabattis has Patrol-site cooking), and they
all decided to add Pioneering and Rifle. Obviously I don't agree with those who
suggest that Scouts need to have "fun" at their first summer camp and
not take a bunch of Merit Badges. If Scouts love camping, then outdoor Merit
Badges ARE "fun"!
The Assistant Scoutmaster in charge of the older boy program had required the
Ravens to take a minimum of only three Merit Badges. I made sure that they
attended the first day of class, but did not enforce attendance after that.
The three Dragons pushed for ad hoc rank advancement during the evenings and
afternoons, finishing Tenderfoot and most of 2nd & 1st Class about two
months after joining. My guess is that they will finish the remaining
requirements (except for the First Class "ten activities") in the
remaining month of summer and first month of school. The Patrol Leader has also
begun bringing the rest of his large Patrol up to speed. I have given him
permission to sign off on "Scout rank" (minus the SM Conference) and
to instruct any of the Tenderfoot - First Class requirements that he feels
comfortable in presenting (they hang out all day). This will be a trial period
where we co-sign on Advancement until I am satisfied that he is being consistent
beyond what I normally expect from a 12-year-old.
The new Ravens were all non-swimmers, so I enrolled them and a couple of our
perpetual Tenderfoot Scouts in a beginning swimmer course (another excellent
Sabattis program not offered at most summer camps). Most of them took Reptiles,
Wood carving, and Rifle Merit Badges, and the first-year
"Trailblazers" program in the afternoon. Trailblazers takes three
60-minute "periods" and is offered in either the morning or afternoon.
My Scouts were NOT impressed with Trailblazers. They came back from their
first day complaining that they had only learned the Scout Oath & Law and
"a couple knots," during the three hours, and that they had to play
"stupid games like 'Duck, Duck, Goose' " between each requirement.
They asked to be excused from the next day's class because they did not want
to "get all muddy." This didn't make sense because despite the rain,
the ground in the Trailblazer area didn't seem overly muddy to me. I suggested
that they wouldn't want to miss out on a whole day of activities because each
session was the equivalent of three Merit Badge classes. But sure enough what
did I meet on the trail next day, but a long line of exuberant 10 and 11
year-olds covered so perfectly from head to toe in brown mud that it gave them
an eerie look of blue eyed pigmies! This mud had a remarkable clinging
consistency and lent to the scene the appearance of some odd anthropological
film of a native ritual from South America. Following these bouncing, shrieking,
laughing, hyperactive Scouts were my three dignified urban Ravens, solemn in
comparison and immaculately clean. Apparently rolling in the mud did not appeal
to inner-city Scouts :-/
It turned out that the entire second day had been allotted to this exercise,
with the class getting out an hour early to take showers. In the next morning's
Scouter briefing I asked why half-way through the week my Scouts had only
learned the Oath & Law and "Duck, Duck, Goose." The Camp Director
boasted the "proven success" of the Trailblazers program, saying that
Scouting was about having "fun." He also echoed the instructor's
conviction that each requirement had to be alternated with a "fun
game" to keep the Scouts from getting bored. Also, added one of the
seasoned Scoutmasters (who had attended Sabattis since the 1960s), rolling in
the mud was a good "team-building" exercise.
In fact, the Camp Director continued, they had to find mud along one of the
trails that day because the "Challenge Valley Course" had been closed
due to rain, so the usual obstacle course day would now be rescheduled to the
following day. I asked if this meant that an additional complete 3 periods would
be devoted to "fun" and "team building," but he sensed that
I wasn't "on board" with all the self-congratulatory merriment and
didn't answer.
If my new Scouts had been the usual AOL "Crossovers" from our
"feeder" Pack with their consistently ambivalent interest in camping,
I would have probably left them in Trailblazers. But the new Ravens were glad to
be pulled out after what were to them two tedious days. We ran our own
"first year" program for the remainder of the week, minus the mud and
"Duck, Duck, Goose." The Ravens are not as curious and motivated as
the Dragons, but they love camping and were glad to be finally working on
Advancement. The only downside was that despite a week of swimming instruction,
only one of them was able to pass the "Red Swimmer" test, and I
suspect that the others will not advance beyond Tenderfoot for years despite the
fact that we rent a pool every-other month during the school year.
One of the big attractions to Sabattis for my Scouts was the promise of
seeing a bear, and the Sabattis Adirondack bears did not disappoint. While
advancement fun ended at bedtime, the bears taught the Patrol Method at night.
But that is another story....
