Jambo100 at Kutztown University PA

[OldGreyEagle 5]

I tried posting the link to ths article, but it keeps failing. This is the complete text

 

 

Scout festival blends old, new Jambo100, held at Kutztown University, celebrates a century of Scouting with activities including

Marshmallow-shooting crossbows and tomahawk hurling

 

The marshmallows were flying over the weekend in Kutztown, as hundreds of eager Cub Scouts lined up to take their turns firing off plastic, confection-launching toy crossbows at the Jambo100 Boy Scout festival and campout.

 

The marshmallow firing range was one of the most popular attractions for younger attendees at the event, which drew 6,600 Scouts and adult Scout leaders from throughout the Lehigh Valley and eastern Pennsylvania. But the plastic crossbows didn't hold much interest for Cub Scout Draven Serafini, 9, of Lycoming County.

 

A few feet away, he and his friends from Pack 116 had found something they thought was way more interesting: a few 2-foot lengths of rope from a knot-tying booth. Draven already had a marshmallow gun at home, he explained Saturday. And besides, he was having more fun ''trying to tie it around my hand.''

 

Knot-tying and other generations-old Scout activities mingled with more trendy attractions such as rock-climbing walls and giant inflatable slides at the Jambo100, which took over Kutztown University's campus Friday through Sunday to celebrate the Boy Scouts of America's 100th anniversary.

 

''This will probably be the single largest event that most of these kids attend in their lives,'' said Craig Poland, Scout executive and chief executive officer of the Minsi Trails Council, which includes the Lehigh Valley. Minsi Trails teamed up with the Bucks County and Susquehanna councils for the bi-annual jamboree, hosting Scouts ages 6 through 21.

 

Most Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are used to seeing only a few dozen people at their Troop and Pack meetings. ''When you see 6,600, it lets you know you're part of a much larger organization,'' Poland said.

 

A display of historic Scouting memorabilia at the heart of the event underscored that point, showing off badges, patches and handbooks used by Scouts over a century. The Boy Scouts of America was chartered in February 1910 and based on the British Scouting program, which launched in 1908.

 

Though the Minsi Trails Council's numbers have held steady or grown for most of the past 25 years, Poland said, Boy Scouts' national numbers have been declining. It's forced the organization to adapt.

 

''It's just understanding that kids are changing and their interests are different,'' he said. Gone are the days when all Scouts learned to use semaphore flags and Morse code. Instead, Poland said, Scouts are learning to use SCUBA and global positioning systems -- and the occasional marshmallow crossbow.

 

But at its heart, Scouting is still focused on character-building, Poland said. ''It's what we're about.''

 

A century ago, teenage girls wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near a Boy Scout camp. But on Saturday, Kristi Munson, 19, of lower Bucks County was in the middle of Jambo100 and scaling a tall wooden pole, using spikes strapped to her shoes. She got at least as high as any of the boys.

 

''I'm climbin' me a telephone pole!'' she declared from roughly 20 feet in the air. ''Whew -- this is a workout and a half.''

 

Munson is part of a crew in the Venture program, which is co-ed and aimed at teens. The Boy Scout organization could do more to make girls feel welcome in its co-ed programs, she said, but she's grateful for the chance to do things like camp and climb telephone poles.

 

''I think in the long run [those activities] build character so much,'' she said.

 

Many of the Scouts and Scout leaders stayed on campus in tents Friday and Saturday nights and filled the weekend by whacking together wooden birdhouse kits, firing paintballs at targets or navigating snub-nosed kayaks around Kutztown University's indoor pool.

 

Some of the more traditional activities were also popular, judging by the long line of young Scouts waiting to hurl tomahawks at wooden targets.

 

''It's fun,'' said a grinning 10-year-old Walter Price, a Webelos Scout in Stroudsburg's Pack 84, after thwacking tomahawks into the wood. In Scouting, ''basically everything that you do is fun,'' he added.

 

Asked how long he thinks Scouting might stick around, Walter answered: ''I'm thinking, about 500 years

 

 

over 6,500 scouts and scouters in one place. It was great, the camping sites were fantastic, the facilities top rate and the program spectacular.

 

Anybody else attend?(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)