On June 24th Boy Scout Troop 55 went to Resica Falls for summer camp. Most of Sunday was spent on a bus watching Lord of the Rings or sleeping while we awaited arrival. When we finally got to camp at Resica Falls (in northern Pennsylvania) we unloaded all of the trunks into our campsite (Cayuga for those who are interested) before we departed for dinner (which was every night at around 6 o’clock). We woke up to The SPLC and the new scouts running around waking everybody up to get us ready for the Polar Bear Swim, a swim which takes place around 6:30 am when the water was freezing. We did that swim for three days straight (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). After that we went and basked in sunlight for around five minutes to get warmed up then got into our A+ uniforms for breakfast. After breakfast and after we were dismissed from cleaning the campsite, we went to our first merit badge (if you were taking one in the first time slot) for a half hour then taking a chain of merit badges for those with a full schedule. The scheduled merit badges were only for the non-new scouts, the newscouts took part in what’s called the Dan Beard program where they learn the basics of scouting (Ex. Orienteering, knots, swimming MB and much more).
I chose electronics, plumbing, wilderness survival and personal fitness. In electronics I fabricated a circuit board that was used as a flashlight (with LEDs). In plumbing I learned the art of soldering so I could bind the pipes together. Then Iwent to wilderness survival, pretty self-explanatory, I learned how to build a tent with no rope and with only sticks and leaves, also we learned how to build fire with only flint and a knife, and lots of safety. Finally, I had personal fitness where I learned what was good and bad for my body and what to do if things went wrong. All in all the merit badges and the camp were just amazingly fun.
After all the merit badges were done the experienced scouts went to lunch and then had free time where we were allowed to go to different merit badges, or have pre-scoutmaster’s conferences, etc. We were trying to keep the camp clean so we could go for the Resica Falls camp award (the Cradle of Liberty Award – which is why we woke up at the crack of dawn for the polar bear swim). This was the daily schedule up to Wednesday where the camp stopped all programs in the afternoon to set up for the World’s Fair. The World’s Fair was an activity where all the troops (or in our case patrols because we are huge) set out to go to different “countries”, or buildings or places, to take part in different cultural activities. And then the days continued to be the same as they were before until the closing campfire where they said good-bye to all the troops and gave out awards to all the troops for their excellence in certain activities.
This is where Troop 55 shined. Sam T. won the Ironman Triathlon and the mile swim (with a time of 21:21 on the mile swim) which earned Troop 55 two awards while we also earned the major camp award. Mr. Phillips also won the 1st Place Ironman award for adult leaders. All this occurred while we were chanting Justin M’s name. Then on the way home there was more sleeping and movie watching (Avatar, Star Wars) until we got back to the church where everyone rejoiced, looking forward to getting back to their electronics (after a week with none), until they realized the entire town was out of power …
By Corey H.
Lead Historian
