The first Venturers arrive at the jamboree, don’t miss a beat

Early this morning, I watched history be made.

For the first time ever, Venturers joined the jamboree fun.

As buses streamed in, green-shirted young men and women hauled off their gear and made the uphill hike toward Basecamp Foxtrot. Identifying jamboree shoulder patches as the Venturers rushed past me proved a daunting task, but I spotted crews from councils in South Texas, Baltimore, Denver, Heart of Ohio, South Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Seattle and Louisiana.

Once they reached the top of what I’m calling Foxtrot Hill, a panorama of West Virginia wonderment awaited them. They might have the steepest hike to camp of any jamboree participants, but they’re rewarded with the best view at the Summit.

For Erin Carrigan (pictured above, center), president of Crew F807 out of the Baltimore Area Council, the 2013 jamboree is the culmination of a year of hard work.

She attended last July’s Summit Shakedown as one of just a handful of youth staff members and was immediately hooked on the magic of this place. Her first-hand knowledge of the Summit and the new direction for jamborees was her platform when running for crew president, and she was elected easily.

That’s when the real work began.

“I gave presentations at summer camp to Boy Scouts and Venturers, recruiting them to come,” she says. “We had Boy Scouts who had aged out, and I told them if they join Venturing they can do lots of cool activities, like the jamboree.”

And help make history at the same time.

More photos:

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About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.