Summer Camp Thoughts for Scoutmasters

Summer camps all over the country opened over the last couple of weeks. The role of the Scoutmaster during a week at summer camp is crucial to a successful stay for his or her Scouts. What is a successful week at camp? That is largely for the troop to decide. Here are some goals to consider; Patrol Building Encourage patrol growth by making Patrol function integral to any activity at camp.

Patrols should sleep, eat, clean, work and play as a team if your camp does not incentivize patrol excellence with an award of some kind initiate one yourself.

Leadership Training Capitalize on a week of on the job training for your youth leaders. The concept of OJT (on the job training) versus JLT (junior leader training) is that Scouts are exercising leadership skills in actual instead of artificial circumstances.

Instead of longish instructional sessions followed by practice OJT is based on briefing (five minutes of here’s the job and how it is done) action and debriefing (five minutes of examining how things went, how they can be improved upon).

These short punctuated asides with your leadership set the tone for a year’s worth of activities.

Advancement Frankly I wish my Scouts were more interested in looking under rocks and climbing trees than sitting through merit badge sessions. None-the-less they like to earn merit badges. Each Scout sets advancement goals for the week with the assistance of their Patrol leader.