On Friday, April 30, right after school, about thirty Scouts and ten dads packed up their gear in the Reformed Church parking lot and headed out to West Point.

West Point is in upstate New York, along the Hudson River, about an hour away from Bronxville.  We arrived at 4:30 because we got lost trying to find the campsite.  There were about 6,000 Scouts attending this Camporee.  We took a lot of time to set up camp because we were using our new two man tents that looked sharp!

We went to bed fairly early because we had PT (physical training) in the morning which was led by a West Point cadet who took us for a mile run and made us do lots of push-ups and sit-ups.  After PT the cooks made breakfast and then we split up into two teams of about fifteen people for the troop competition.

There were sixteen challenges, consisting of such things as pistol shooting, memory games, wilderness survival, and First Aid.  For all of the challenges, we needed leadership, memory, and strength.  At about 3:00 p.m. we were finished with our challenges and handed in our scorecards to see which Scout troops won.  At 5:00 p.m. we all had dinner and then around 8:00 p.m, we went to a big bonfire/party.  The party had a DJ and did not end until around midnight.

We got up on Sunday morning, had breakfast, and then packed for the trek out.  Once we were done packing, we went to the giant parade field dressed in our Class A uniforms and listened to the announcements of the winners of the different challenges.  Troop 5 got first place in one challenge (First Aid) and second place in two challenges (Zodiac boat race and Personal Fitness).  After the winners were announced, all the troops marched with their units around the field.  When that was over, we went back to our campsite, got our gear, and took a three-mile hike back to the cars.

Overall, the camporee was a great trip; everyone had a fun time and many Scouts want to go back next year.

Anthony Crinieri