Andrew Becker, Matt Becker, John Campbell, John Clawson, Ben Ernst, Alan Franks, Larry Grantham, Steven Rosenak, Andy Trout, Rob Walling
The Pony Express Council’s National Jamboree Committee met for the first time on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 to begin discussion of plans for the upcoming 2013 National Scout Jamboree. Scheduled to be held from July 15th-July 24th, 2013 in West Virginia, the Boys Scouts of America (BSA) are hard at work preparing the site for not only the National Jamboree but for it to become the BSA’s Fourth High Adventure Base as well. The site is named: The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve or just “The Summit” for short, and it is located a little over 250 miles west of Fort A.P. Hill (Site of the previous 8 National Jamboree’s).
With less than 2 ½ years away from 2013 National Jamboree, the group is getting a jump on the process of putting together a Jamboree Contingent and planning all the details that are involved in taking a group of young men across the country. Some of the topics that were discussed touched on Recaps of Previous Jamboree’s, Troop Leadership, Event Promotion, and Trip Details.
The committee decided that the next meeting they would begin forming a list of names for possible Adult Leadership to be contacted for the Scoutmaster roles. Based off previous Jamboree’s the Troop has consisted of 4 Adult Leaders, with one of the leaders between the ages of 18 – 21 at the time of the event. Assuming that the troop structure hasn’t changed and the committee has begun the nomination process with the intentions of filling 4 currently open slots. Leader recommendations should be sent to John Clawson or Matt Becker to be added to the current list of names.
Promotion of the event was another big topic of discussion as the group began brainstorming of various tools and resources that the council has to use to promote the new high adventure base. The consensus was that past promotions haven’t been good enough to fill up a full contingent and drastic steps need to be taken to boost awareness of the event. Promotions ideas for Summer Camp at Camp Geiger, Cub Resident Camps/Webelos Weekend, Arrow Path, Website, Blogs, Facebook, Mic-O-Say Events, Troop Meetings, Pack Meeting, Roundtables, and many more were all discussed to spread the word as much as possible. Larry Grantham and Steven Rosenak volunteered to help take charge of leading this sub-committee and plan to use other council committees such as Marketing & Promotions to increase event awareness. Anyone interested in helping in this area should contact John Clawson or Matt Becker to get their contact information.
With the Jamboree being located at a new place the troop has the option of drastically changing their travel plans. In previous years the contingent has gone to Washington D.C. and toured for a few days because it was close and convenient. The new site is no longer as close to the nation’s capitol, so possibilities have become vaster as the group decides on new plans. Ben Ernst and Andy Trout volunteered to provide their guidance and expertise as the troop begins making plans as part of the Trip Details sub-committee. They will be working with Matt Becker and Larry Grantham in decisions on transportation methods and costs. Although trip costs were brought up, no decision or price structure has been determined yet. The committee is currently waiting on Jamboree costs from the National Office to be released before they begin formulating a budget. The National Jamboree event cost should be available at the next committee meeting for further discussion. If you are interested in getting involved with this sub-committee please let John Clawson or Matt Becker know.
The next meeting has been set for Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 at 7 PM. The group will be meeting again in the Herzog Lodge to discuss progress and any new information. The agenda will be emailed out at a later date and posted on the Jamboree Blog. The tentative plan is for the committee to meet the first Tuesday of every month; this date can change, but for now the committee has decided on this meeting schedule.
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