We camped on the field across from the Spanish Fork Airport and spent Friday night and Saturday at the airport completing the aviation merit badge. We heard from a couple Air Force pilots and learned a lot about aviation. In fact, I learned why the new jet engines are more efficient and more powerful while being much larger.
I'm grateful to the district for providing something we couldn't do on a unit basis; or even at a stake level.
I would love to hear what you all thought of this camp. Some of my thoughts:
- It was very well run
- Something we couldn't do at a unit level
- The boys all earned a merit badge
- Provided an overnight camp with very little planning for the committee and Scoutmaster
- Good opportunity to invite father participation
- I didn't love camping in the middle of a city
- Are we just churning out merit badges without a focus on the journey? Same question I have for merit badge pow wows.
Again, please let me know what you think.
Our scouts loved the Fall Camporee, and I did too! I agree with everything you said. I have two additional comments:
ReplyDelete- It really didn't seem much like a campout because of where we camped, and because the tight schedule didn't allow enough time for real camp cooking. But I do like the scouts to experience a lot of variety in our camping, and this was definitely different.
- I guess Diamond Fork district has been doing this event annually for a few years and plan to continue doing it annually. I wouldn't attend again next year because it would be the exact same event with the same boys. But I would definitely do it again in 2 years if it is offered. Ideally, I would like the Fall Camporee to alternate between 2 different events so the scouts would get a different experience each year. I would be very happy with alternating between this and the event that has been held at Camp Jeremiah Johnson (with campfire cooking, GPS course, map and compass course, backpacking and fire building training).