Parents of 45 returning Boy Scouts set up banners, flags and balloons to welcome home the youth on July 29 after their journey to the National Jamboree at West Virginia’s Summit Bechtel Reserve.
Historically, presidents who spoke at the gathering focused on the values of scouting. However, President Donald Trump at this year’s jamboree gave a more politically oriented speech that highlighted his triumphs during the campaign season, based on recordings of the speech aired by CNN.
Matt Warner, a local scoutmaster and father of one of the 45 local scouts who attended the event, explained Boy Scouts of America’s goals and intentions of having the President of the United States speak at such an event.
“I know that Boy Scouts [of America] likes to keep it non-political and the president is invited to attend the jamboree [to] give a speech,” Warner said. “They invite the president, but they don’t tell the president what to say, of course, and…the president [may bring] his own remarks.”
Warner said that the parents and leaders who were involved would have preferred the president kept his speech non-political and instead just discuss scouting values and what scouts do for the United States.
However, Albert Guerra, the Jamboree Venture Crew advisor, explained that the president did briefly speak about the successes of the Boy Scouts of America.
“I think [the Boy Scouts] were really motivated by the message at the beginning of his speech and the message at the end of his speech,” Guerra said, “and […] the stuff in the middle sounded very similar to the stuff that he talks about when he is on television or when he’s, you know, campaigning.”
Despite the speech, the scouts continued to adventure and explore the Summit Bechtel Reserve for the rest of the week.
The scouts from the council consisted of 36 Boy Scouts and eight Venture Crew members, along with adult leaders and advisors, according to Warner.
The Venture Crew is different from a Boy Scout Troop in that the crew is a co-ed group with an age range of 14 to 20 years old, as opposed to an all-male troop ranging from 14 to 18.
During a phone interview with the Signal Tribune, Guerra explained his troop’s experience.
“I think for talking to the youth, it was meeting the international scouts and being a part of other people’s cultures,” Guerra said. “We had an [Afghan] troop that camped right across from ours, and we didn’t know that they were going to start doing morning prayers and night prayers. […] It wasn’t long before our youth went over there and talked to them and interacted with them and kind of started to interact with some of the other international units. So, I think that’s where some of the friendships were.”
Dave Damp, the scoutmaster that attended the jamboree with the local youth, explained a way for scouts in different troops to interact.
While at the jamboree, Guerra said the Boy Scout troop and Venture Crew participated in many activities, including whitewater rafting, scuba diving, archery, zip-lining and completing community-service projects.
However, the two groups differed in terms of what each did for the community-service project.
“The day of service was a randomly chosen service project that we had to go do outside of the jamboree,” Guerra said, “and in [the crew’s] case, we went to go work in a fire station.”
On the other hand, Warner said that the troop visited the West Virginia State Fairgrounds and participated in a trash pick-up for the day-of-service project.
After attending the National Jamboree for 10 days, the 45 scouts began to make their way home. Damp explained that the group travelled to Dulles Airport, where the flight home would depart and families would soon celebrate the return of their scouts.
“It was great to see all the families there waiting for us,” he said. “Even though we’d seen many fabulous sights and had many unique experiences, there is no feeling so good as being welcomed home by loved ones.”
