BSA Troop 153
West Chester, PA
2023 Jarvis Cabin Campout
1/20-1/22
Camp Jarvis Scribe Notes:
Friday, January 20th: The scouts and leaders of Troop 153 arrived at Camp Jarvis. Once
we arrived, we started exploring the cabin where we would be sleeping for the night. The cabin is
managed by Troop 50 and it was a cool place to stay. There were 18 scouts and a few guests sleeping on
the cabin floor. After grabbing all personal belongings from the troop trailer, us scouts started settling
in. Activities such as chess, reading and starting the fire in the wood stove were performed throughout
the rest of the night. We finally settled in around 9:40 and went to sleep, concluding our first night.
Saturday, January 21st: We awoke and started preparing the breakfast for that morning. The delicious
menu was pancakes, sausage and eggs. After breakfast we found out that we would be doing wilderness
survival (building a shelter outside and sleeping in it for that night). Even though the temperature was to
be around 30 degrees we were excited to give it a try. Some other scouts worked on getting their
firemen and toting chip. Scouts slowly started building their shelters out of resources in that area.
Objects such as bamboo, logs and tree branches were key to building these shelters. After about 3-4
hours of work (depending on the scout) we went in for lunch. After some very needed sandwiches,
scouts went back out to add the finishing touches on our shelters. Shortly after this some AOL’s (Arrow
of Light cub scouts) showed up. We played gaga ball and football with these AWL’s. We then started
making dinner around 6:30-7:00. After dinner we played manhunt, which is like infection tag. Then some
of us headed back to our shelters while others headed back to the cabin to go to sleep.
Sunday, January 22nd: Those of us who slept in our shelters woke up to find that we had survived the
night. All 13 scouts who attempted the wilderness survival sleepout succeeded! We then took down our
shelters and had some breakfast. We gathered all personal belongings and troop gear and cleaned out
the cabin. We loaded up the troop trailer and did a police line across the campsite. We were all ready to
leave so we hopped in our cars and drove back to the Kmart parking lot, concluding our amazing
weekend!
Spring Family Picnic
BSA Troop 153 Meetings
Meetings are held on most Sunday evenings during the school year from 5:00-6:30 pm. We meet at Hoopes Park when the weather permits, or at St. Agnes school cafeteria when it's too cold/dark/stormy.
Please check the calendar or meetings section as we do not have meetings during holidays or when we have trips.
You can enter the St. Agnes cafeteria from the church/school parking lot in the northeast corner of the St. Agnes block. (211 W. Gay st., West Chester PA 19380 is the address of the school).
You'll be entering from the parking lot behind the school(Prescott Alley), which is accessible from New St (Southbound) or Darlington St (Northbound), between Gay St (Westbound) and Chestnut st (Westbound).
If you're interested in checking us out, just stop by a meeting or contact Michelle Blake at mfblake@verizon.net for more info!