June 22, 2007

Cub Scouts learn skills at camp

       Forget gas and charcoal grills, or even a plain old campfire. Cub Scouts learned to cook hot dogs over burning Pringles potato chips.  Two lighted chips can produce enough heat to cook a hot dog, according to Jim Parton, district director for the Boy Scouts of America.  Campers tested the cooking method this week at the district's Cub Scout day camp in Johnson County Park.  A total of 168 boys in Grades 1 through 5 are participating in this year's camp, which started Monday and ends Saturday morning.  It is the fifth year the camp has been conducted at the park. This year's theme is "Lights, Camera, Action!"

         Most of the Boy Scout troops represented are from the southern half of the county.  The camp serves as an end-of-the-year wrap-up for the Cub Scouts, Parton said. Most troops take a break from activities in the summer, and new members join in the fall, he said.  "Camping is the cornerstone of what we do in Scouts," Parton said.  Each day, campers rotate among different activity stations that include swimming, canoeing, arts and crafts, nature and shooting sports.  Day camp serves as a way to keep Scouts active and away from television and video games, program director Josh Prine said.  The camp gets children outside and gives them opportunities they normally don't get at school or home, Parton said.  He said the most popular activity is shooting sports, which includes archery and BB guns.  Like most of the camp's activities, shooting sports includes instructional sessions that teach Cubs about safety as well as skills, he said.  "There are a lot of fun activities, but the whole camp has an educational theme," Parton said.  Throughout the week, Scouts learn about water safety through swimming and canoeing, patriotism through daily flag ceremonies and team-building through group activities.

         Program directors also bring in several outside specialists who help educate the Scouts.  For example, this year staff members of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources taught the boys about animals using skulls and other bones. White River Smokehouse used a simulation to teach campers how to react to a fire and to get to safety.  A blacksmith showed campers how to make a necklace from nails. And Indiana Live Steamers, an organization that operates a miniature steam train layout in Johnson County Park, taught Scouts the history of steam and diesel engines.  The day camp is run by volunteers, Prine said. This year, about 60 people are helping out, he said.  Mark Appleton, a fourth-grade teacher at Indian Creek Intermediate School in Trafalgar, has volunteered every the camp has been operated in the park.  This year, he's helping with the team-building activities. He monitors a game that requires campers to get several golf balls into an aluminum can without using their hands or stepping over a roped-off area. Among the items campers can use to move the golf balls are sticks, pipes, plates and water bottles.  "It's all about using your resources," Appleton shouted as campers worked to get the golf balls into the can.  Prine said staff members try to make the camp as enjoyable as possible for the boys because they know that some of the children come from backgrounds that don't include many of the opportunities available at camp.  "It's just great to be able to possibly instill some values and responsibilities in kids who may not otherwise have those experiences," Parton said.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

 
   

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