Troop 1523 Ockanickon Summer Camp 2019

Friends:

Many thanks to all who made summer camp at Ockanickon a wonderful success.

We had a fantastic group of Boy Scouts led by SPL Connor Campion and ASPL Walker Smith. Connor and Walker, and their patrol leaders (Jack Connell, Daniel DeGregory, Duncan Sanders, Trevor Gay and Chance Jones), were phenomenal guides and mentors. They have set a high bar for how an effective patrol system should work.

Special thanks:

Andy Gay – his months of pre-camp work was critical to a smooth check in, and a successful week. Perfectly registering 36 scouts and some 15 adults is a marvel of organization. My first email from Andy about Ockanickon was from January 15! His spreadsheets, charts and binders guided us perfectly all week long. The camp administrators complemented us on this work.

Chip Becker – second year taking complete charge of meds and mail call. And with Rusty and David getting the ingredients for our ice cream social.

Jim Buch – level-headed leadership, including administering boards of review

Friends:

Many thanks to all who made summer camp at Ockanickon a wonderful success.

Special thanks:

Chip Becker – second year taking complete charge of meds and mail call. And with Rusty and David getting the ingredients for our ice cream social.

Jim Buch – level-headed leadership, including administering boards of review

John Connell – all-around leadership, including support with patrols and daily logistics, and always being up for hiking

Rusty Dunn – all-around leadership, including scout skills, outdoorsmanship and an extraordinary connection with the boys

Jason Zumwalt – excellent assistance in organizing blue cards as they came in Friday, as well as making sure we all got back on the bus!

Jae Kim, Alfanso Davila, Tom Cray (looking forward to seeing the pictures), Pete Shogren, Jim Platt, David Gregory, Keith DeGregory, all were critical leaders, pitching in wherever necessary, as well as great companions, some for a few days, some all week.

Andy Phalan – for leading the pre-camp orientation after swim test, the shakedown, checking in on us and teaching us how this is all supposed to work

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

As you can tell from the blog, the adults at camp have fun, despite the wild animals and the rain. In this divided country, it goes to show that adults from different backgrounds, professions and political beliefs can join together, and share many laughs and meals, with a common goal of developing our boys to learn valuable skills, be good people, environmentally conscious and physically strong.

I also have to mention that the hard-working Ockanickan staff were top-notch and deserve our collective thanks. From the cafeteria workers to the programming staff to the administrators, with very few caveats, we had a great experience. The level of dedication to be so collegial and high quality for seven weeks is impressive. While there, as a testament to our Troop’s values, we were vocal in our thanks for their hard work.

As a bit of an aside, this was the first year that girl troops shared summer camp. They were in many of the boys’ merit badge classes. I, for one, am thrilled that girls will be able to experience such a great program.

Keep checking out the blog. We will be posting more pictures and linking to a Google Pictures album.

And, finally, thank you to the parents who trusted their children to our collective leadership. We understand it is a serious honor and privilege.

Best,

Mark

PS – stay tuned for more about merit badges. It might take a couple weeks.

We woke up to a gorgeous sunshine this morning. The site is muddy and slippery, but we are thankful that we aren’t cleaning up and packing in yesterday’s rain.

Some of the boys have a bit of work to finish up their merit badges, and are in their classes.

We coerced the rest of the boys to take a hike to the Cedar Overlook at High Rocks State Park. We had twelve kids and about six adults who were rewarded with gorgeous views of Tohickon River from some serious cliffs. We even saw some Boy Scouts in the climbing merit badge class repelling down the mountain. As always, the boys remarked how happy they were to have been forced to hike the three miles round trip.

Overheard on the hike were boys talking about the merit badges they would take next summer and how they want a hammock for hammock city next summer. One of those boys was previously considering dropping out. This boys change of tune, after an exciting week of camp, warmed our hearts.

We are planning to host our ice cream social after lunch with the troop from the Poconos we are sharing our site with.

The goal is for the bus to depart at 7:30 pm.

Will post more pics later.