Do You Know Anything About Boy Scouts?

Did you know that Tommy Adams is a Boy Scout? He has been doing Boy Scouts for two years. Anyone can learn anything about Boy Scouts. You can learn more about Boy Scouts from their trips, fundraisers, and even what they do and what they stand for.

One of Tommy's favorite trips is Camp Meriwether, which is a week-long camp and trip. His other favorite camp is Smith Rocks, which is a two-day camp it is also just north of Redmond.

“We went there and we went rock climbing on the mountains and it was very fun,” Tommy said.

Most Boy Scout troops go to sports games to fundraise and earn money. The troop that Tommy is in fundraises during Oregon Duck games. Most of the time, the troop sells parking tickets. Sometimes they also guide cars to park. They want to keep everyone safe during a big event. Some troops do things like car washes. If they need extra money, some might even sell candy bars or Christmas wreaths.

Boy Scout trips are around 2-3 days, usually on the weekend and during summer break. There are usually 1-2 trips a month. At times when there isn’t school for a period of time, like spring break, they will take longer trips. Sometimes trips can even last 2-3 weeks. Most of the time, the longer trips are usually to summer camps. They do community service there, which includes multiple things, one for instance is keeping hiking trails free of brush. Another thing they do is clean the bathrooms.

If Tommy could go to one place with his troop, he would want to go to Canada or Philmont Scout Ranch.” Philmont Scout Ranch is a ranch in New Mexico, and it has really beautiful trails that extend for hundreds of miles. You could also get to ride horses and do fun things like community service projects, which are like helping people. I would also like to go somewhere in Canada, because I just think that Canada is very beautiful, it  would be fun, and I just like Canada .”

I asked Tommy if they play any board games while on trips. Tommy says, " We don’t bring a lot of games, so we usually bring cards and play games with them. The game we play the most is poker. We usually play Texas hold 'em out of all poker. We use candy instead of chips.” He also added that they use Mamba as their candy.

One trip that was fun for Tommy was the NYLT trip. He has only been one time, even though he said it was not his favorite, he still really liked it. NYLT stands for National Youth Leadership Training. This is a 6-day camp in Rochester, Minnesota. There, Tommy’s troop worked on their leadership and teamwork skills. It is also fascinating that around 15,000 Boy Scouts go to NYLT each year.  

All Boy Scouts at the beginning of each meeting have to say the oath.”On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” After that they say their Scout Law,“A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Finally they say their outdoor code,“As an American I will do my best to be clean in my outdoor manners, Be careful with fire,Be considerate in the outdoors, and be conservation-minded.” After this they start their meeting and talk about plans.