It was intense, wet, and fun filled for the 1st Westminsiter Scouts group as they took in the 2017 Canadian Scout Jamboree from July 8-15 at Camp Nedooae, Elderbank, N.S.
Scout Leader and Jamboree Chair, Aaron Behiel, says 13 young scouts and five adults, including one offer of service member, went to the Jamboree.
Since they were considerably close to Halifax, the group had plenty of opportunity to go site see around the city, including harbour tours, tours of the Halifax Citadel, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and deep sea fishing.
When they were back at the Jamboree camp, the group did get to participate in Highland Games, different classes, mud pits, nature hikes, and visiting with other groups from across Canada and the world, says Behiel.
“There was about 6,000 kids so they got to meet all kinds of people.”
Behiel says there were around 40 scouts from Taiwan, including groups from Scotland, the United States, and other countries.
Even though the scouts varied on what they enjoyed the most, Behiel says that a lot of them enjoyed having the chance to meet 6,000 other scouts.
While there were workshops and learning experiences to do with different scout skills, the focus was on giving scouts this new experience, says Behiel.
For 1st Westminister Scout Nikko Po, it was an amazing experience with experiencing Nova Scotia and meeting new people. For scout Dezere Mycock-Sinnett, meeting new people was a highlight for her as she got to meet people from Ontario and other places.
The experience was very focused on the east coast experience. Po says they got to do a cooking class where the focus was on east coast ingredients. A lot of what they did experience was special just because it was not stuff they got to do on a daily or even weekly basis, he says.
Included with the week of activities was challenging weather, says Behiel, with rain and heat making for an interesting week.
Through all that, the scouts had to work hard, says Behiel.
“They had to cook, they had to set up tents, they had to haul water, so I think most of them came home with a real sense of ‘we did that.’”
Behiel says his scouts can embrace that feeling of accomplishment since they went through the whole week camping and yet kept trucking through and did not complain.
“They all grew leaps and bounds and I think they gained a sense that they can do whatever they set their minds to.”
