I will do my best

Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting share the same general themes — team-building, honor, self-reliance, loyalty, friendship, honesty, courage, learning new skills, shared experiences, citizenship, testing personal limits, leadership and service. Both groups use community service, badge work and camping to achieve these goals. Recent camping experiences by local troops highlight how these organizations continue to engage boys and girls.

Click here for the Girl Scout story

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With a little adult guidance, Boy Scouts learn and grow
By Jane Palmer
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

CEDAR BLUFFS, Neb. — Two boys stood still in a roped-off circle and looked down at their hands.

Both were holding the handle of the same ax.

"Thank you, I have it," one said.

The other boy loosened his grip on the ax and slowly backed away.

A moment later, the boy with the ax was swinging the ax at a log, aiming to split it for firewood.

It was a scene repeated every three to five minutes, as six members of Boy Scout Troop 412 wielded the ax. Each boy had several opportunities to chop logs into firewood.

Scoutmaster John Lyster and Chris Wurtele, an assistant scoutmaster, stood on a hillside, about 20 feet away from the circle for about an hour. They were ready to intervene if they saw a safety issue, but the boy leaders were in charge.

Senior patrol leader T.J. Lyster, 13, led by example. He and Aaron Wurtele, 13 and the assistant patrol leader, allowed troop members who had been trained on knife and ax safety into the ring.

Six visiting Cub Scouts who were camping with the troop for the weekend watched intently.

Chopping wood for an evening campfire was one of many activities that the boys of Troop 412 led at a weekend campout at Camp Cedars.

The Mid-America Council of Boy Scouts owns the camp near Fremont, Neb.

Troop 412 is based at Zion Lutheran Church in northwest Omaha.

Troop members, adult volunteers and visiting Cub Scouts arrived at the camp on a recent Friday night and stayed until Sunday noon.

The boys, working by themselves, set up their tents near a fire ring in one area of the camp. The adults set up their tents about 50 yards away, near another fire ring.

T.J. said the boys were awake about 6 a.m. Saturday to cook a breakfast of French toast and bacon on camp stoves. He didn't know what the adults had for breakfast because the boys of the troop were responsible for planning their weekend menus, buying their groceries, cooking their meals and cleaning up.

On Saturday the boy-led activities included practicing how to set up and take down tents of various styles and a game of "capture the flag." They cooked hot dogs over a fire for lunch and looked forward to using their split logs in an evening campfire.

T.J. said he's always known he wanted to be in Scouting because he grew up watching what his older brother was doing in Boy Scouts. He joined as a 5-year-old Tiger Scout and progressed through Cub Scouts. He now holds the rank of Star and aims to be an Eagle Scout someday.

"I really like the camping, the fire building and cooking," he said. "And I've met a lot of people."

Sam Planck, 13, said learning new things through camping, merit badge activities and summer camp have been fun. He's happy he has been able to work on merit badges related to shotguns, archery, rifles and wilderness survival.

"I like being here with friends," said Garrett Marshal, 12. "I enjoy it."

"Except for those mosquitoes," Aaron Kass, 11, said. "It's all fun."

Arden Gerlt, 12, added that he really enjoyed the troop's wilderness survival training and summer camp experience.

When six troop members and visiting Cub Scouts ran up a hill to play capture the flag, the adults took a moment to reflect on what it meant to lead a group of boys.

"We only have a chance to get to these kids once," Chris Wurtele said. "Soon they're off to college and we lose our chance to influence. Seeing the growth is a lot of fun. It just takes proper guidance."

Contact the writer:

402-444-1052, jane.palmer@owh.com

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Learning confidence, maturity and teamwork in Girl Scouts
By Sue Story Truax
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Gunshots from daybreak duck hunters woke the Girl Scouts too early after an evening snipe hunt and a late night of giggling and talking.

The nine fourth-graders, members of Junior Troop 43438 from Walnut Creek Elementary School in Papillion, slipped on shoes and bundled against the crisp October air. They emerged from their platform tents and walked across the clearing to a modern bathroom building at Camp Maha in Papillion.

Breakfast time. The girls used a refrigerator but cooked over a wood-fueled fire.

With leader Melissa Weatherwax's guidance, menus were prepared in advance. This morning's meal was pancakes, which cooked well once the griddle was hot enough.

At cleanup time, each girl washed and rinsed her own dishes, tableware and glass and hung them in mesh bags to dry for the next meal.

Weatherwax's schedule showed it was time for a nature hike.

Clusters of girls walked the sun-dappled path, telling the things they saw: the Platte River, turkeys, a squirrel, deer and a tadpole. The girls also picked up items they used later for a craft project.

Hannah Frost found a rock she painted flat green and sparkly green to create a frog.

Trinity Weatherwax picked up rocks, a catalpa leaf and pieces of another plant, which she crafted into a collage.

Scouting's top draw is the opportunity for new experiences, said Weatherwax. New opportunities were what her campers got.

Mark Dietz, camp properties director for Spirit of Nebraska Girl Scouts, showed the girls flint. Prehistoric people quarried flint near where the girls camped, he said.

Later, the girls wrote in their Journey books, a requirement for badges, had an awards ceremony and made pita pizzas for supper.

Brownie Troop 43128 camped the same weekend.

Shari Ellison leads these third-graders, who are second-year Brownies from Standing Bear Elementary School in Omaha. She planned enough activities that everyone enjoyed something during the girls' first overnight stay at Camp Maha.

Bailey Kaisershot liked hiking in the woods and seeing deer tracks. Maddi Lehman enjoyed making a tie-dyed T-shirt.

Regan Peake's favorite was making an autograph bandanna. Lauryn Mussel rated the nature scavenger hunt the most fun. Ella Waddington liked watching a movie.

The troop stayed in a climate-controlled, equipped-like-a-house, modern lodge during its October visit. The girls planned the snacks, helped prepare meals and did cleanup.

Ellison said she has seen maturity take place because of Girl Scouting.

Friendships have grown, she said, increasing the troop from its original 14 members to 24.

Scouting also has boosted the girls' confidence, Ellison said: 14 of the girls ran for the school's student council.

Tori Conley's first-year Brownies also spent an October night at the camp. Troop 44404, second-graders that meet at Patriot Elementary School in Papillion, stayed in a lodge with all the comforts of home.

Although most of the girls had camped last year, this year's stay included something new: the low ropes course.

"It builds confidence and teamwork," Conley said.

The girls planned the snacks and helped prepare the meals, including boil-in-the-bag omelets. The Brownies also made nature candles, sang songs, told campfire stories, watched a movie and bobbed for apples.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1165, sue.truax@owh.com

The Girl Scout Promise On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law

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