Posts Tagged ‘Brian On Scouting’

This is what you call mixing things up. At the 2017 National Jamboree, the Jamboree Food Team puts the power back in Scouts’ and Venturers’ hands, introducing a completely new approach to meal planning. Previous Jamborees used a fixed menu with preselected ingredients that troops picked up before each meal. For 2017, the Jamboree moves…

Is the Blackhawk Area Council’s 2017 National Jamboree patch set absolutely terrific? Aye, matey. Inspired by the Johnny Depp-led Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the Northern Illinois-based council’s patches have a pun-worthy theme: Pirates of the Carabiner. True to their name, the smaller patches connect to the large center patch using — you guessed it…

Over the past few days, anyone at the Jamboree who even resembles a staff member is getting asked the same question from Scouts they don’t know. “Do you know anything about the 101st card?” To the first two groups of Scouts that asked me, I simply said, “Sorry, no clue.” By the third group, I…

They call themselves the Snapboyz. It’s their mission to cover the 2017 National Jamboree in a uniquely 2017 way: on Snapchat. Like all the members of JamboLink, the Snapboyz keep participants and staffers in the loop using whatever online channels the Scouts and Venturers prefer. That means separate teams for Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, email,…

Mike Surbaugh, BSA Chief Scout Executive, praised Secretary Tillerson’s leadership. Rex Tillerson, secretary of state, Distinguished Eagle Scout and past BSA national president, visited the 2017 National Jamboree on Friday for a statue unveiling in his honor. BSA Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh told a large crowd of Scouts and Scouters that the statue recognizes…

No, your ears are not deceiving you. That’s really “Uptown Funk,” the chart-topping Bruno Mars pop hit, being performed by an 80-member marching band. Safe to say the 2017 Jamboree Band is not your grandfather’s Jamboree Band. Tristan Grammar, 16, is a trumpet and French horn player from the Black Warrior Council in Alabama. “It’s…

No scrambling or shouting or stressing. At the 2017 National Jamboree, troops that use the patrol method are setting up their camps like a well-oiled machine. No matter that many of these Scouts and Venturers come from a range of troops and crews back home and are still learning each other’s names. For exhibit A,…

Visits from the president are a Jamboree tradition. Seven of 11 sitting U.S. presidents who were in office at the time of a National Jamboree showed up in person to address giant crowds of Scouts. It’s a tradition that dates back to the very first Jamboree. President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the 1937 National Jamboree…

Consider it the holy grail of Jamboree trading: a patch with a recognizable brand name. Add a dash of Monty Python or Halo to your patch set, for example, and you increase its desirability and therefore its theoretical trade value. Of course, it’s not as easy as picking a favorite movie, game or logo and…

The 2017 National Jamboree will be the most-shared Jamboree in history. Scouts, Venturers, staffers and visitors will write blog updates, stream live video and post to a number of social networks, including some that were relatively unknown four years ago at the 2013 National Jamboree. Those lucky enough to experience the Jamboree in person are…