Summer Camp Planning

Looks like we have 39 scouts going to summer camp in July. We're trying something new this year. We have adjacent camp sites and will have 4 patrols in one camp and 3 patrols in the other. The hope is to have some friendly competition for camp cleanliness, good campfire programs, and stuff like that. With some incentive, we might wind up with campsites kept in a little better order than the last couple years.
Plus, the scouts receive twice as many program slots throughout the week - last year, we had a lot of scouts in each program session with a lot of sitting and waiting for their turn.

So, I spent yesterday preparing planning documents for each patrol to start working on at the troop meeting tonight. Each patrol picks the top 10 things they want to do during the week from the camp's program topics. They also decide which merit badges to work on. Scouts going into 8th grade and above also get to choose a few more activities from an additional advanced program. Once all the patrols complete their planning, the SPL and ASPL will figure out the week's program and merit badges.

It's great to pass on as much of the planning to the scouts as possible. I still have the fun of making sure we have enough drivers, how many adult meals are needed each day, tent arrangements for adults, and a hundred other little bits. And, its still two months away! :-)

Scout On