Author: troop242nn

I got to go to summer camp for the first time this year and at summer camp I got to do 3 merit badges. The merit badges that I did are Communications, Archery, and Rifle Shooting.

My favorite merit badge that I did there was rifle shooting because I got to shoot rifles which I am good at because I do everything so slowly. I also liked the other merit badges that I did, which are communications merit badge with Mrs.Carpenter and archery merit badge with Mrs.Williams which were both a lot of fun.

-Bryan

This is the last Communications merit badge story for now but I will still be posting every Wednesday so be sure to keep an eye out.

Summer Camp Cooking Experience

By Lois Carpenter

While at summer camp, my patrol members and I had a great time. It was the first
summer camp any of us had been to, and due to COVID we had to cook our own meals. It was a sizable task- we would cook for four days straight over a very sensitive camp stove, and because of dietary restrictions within our patrol, it all had to be vegan. Cooking vegan meals was something none of us had much practice with- we had only been to one other campout where this had been an issue- so cooking vegan proved to be a delightful challenge that pushed us to think through solutions, as scouting intended.

There were several substitutions that had to be made while cooking; instead of butter we
would have to use bananas, and we could not use chicken broth while making soup. I had never substituted items like this before, so the entire campout was very educational. I learned a lot about how to cook, and the deeper principles of cooking beyond just following instructions, just by working to make the recipes fit what I wanted to use them for.

Cooking in camp is always a team exercise, and I think that this summer camp served
really well to bring our patrol together and unite us as a team. Coming out of the campout, I can say with certainty that the food we prepared at summer camp united us unlike anything else. I would recommend summer camp to everyone, it was still a fun and worthwhile experience when following restrictions, and I think we should continue to hold our own long campouts where we cook, because it was a great way to get newer scouts their requirements, and because it inspired creativity within the patrols to cook new and exciting food.

Hi Troop, this is Abel. This post is part of the Communications Merit Badge series, on which you can find more information here. I will be posting a story daily until the series ends. 

Kayaking and Paddle Boarding 

by Samuel Grau

At Camp Cherokee in North Carolina, we worked on some merit badges and one of them I did was kayaking and paddle boarding.  Before doing it I thought it would be hard, but when I did it I had fun!  This is the story of my first time kayaking and paddle boarding.  

It was Saturday and we were all going to do our merit badges.  Some of us worked on robotics, nuclear science, rifle shooting, first aid, emergency preparedness, swimming, and kayaking and paddle boarding.  Before we started in my group, we learned everybody’s name, rank, favorite merit badge and then we went over water safety.  After going over everything we got in the water.  While we were kayaking one of the scouts tipped over 5 times in the kayak! It was funny! Then we had a race and I didn’t win, but a scout  named Jamie won.

I didn’t tip over my kayak, but I did sink it! My second kayak had a hole and kept filling with water!  When we were done kayaking we did paddle boarding, which was a lot easier than I thought.  And it was fun too!

After we finished with the merit badge, we were allowed to swim.  It was the most fun merit badge I have done so far!

-Sam

Hi Troop, this is Abel. This post is part of the Communications Merit Badge series, on which you can find more information here. I will be posting a story daily until the series ends.