Holmes County scouts create memories during camporee
Steve Branan, who is portraying Paul Revere, tells the mesmerizing story of Revere’s daring trek. This was only one of many fun and educational moments that took place during the Fall 2024 Holmes County Camporee Oct. 10-12 at the Holmes County Home.
Part of being a member of the scouting community is learning about ways to be prepared, and getting to do that in a setting designed to educate while having fun was the focal point of a recent event in Holmes County.
The Fall 2024 Holmes County Camporee Oct. 10-12 saw Holmes County scouts gather at the Holmes County Home, where they enjoyed three days and two nights of fun and education.
The event saw Boy Scouts from Killbuck 315, Holmesville 355 and Millersburg 358 connect for a weekend filled with memorable experiences, which was the whole point of the gathering.
Scoutmasters Derwin Clemens and Joseph Ramirez led the event and were honored to be able to create the weekend for the scouts.
“The whole purpose of the campboree is to get scouts together to bond and learn,” Clemens said. “Each troop does its own thing once a month, but the campboree invites all of the local troops to come in and hang out together. It’s a very unique experience that can create some lasting memories for the scouts while providing some learning opportunities.”
Clemens said the weekend is a lot of work but well worth it because of the valuable moments littered throughout the weekend, especially because it helps young scouts develop leadership skills while building worthwhile relationships.
“Every camporee we try to find new and exciting things for the boys to experience,” Clemens said. “There’s life lessons, history and in this one we will have Reece Uhl of the County Home give us a tour of the buildings that are part of the county home.”
Ramirez said while these events are loads of work, the campborees present a singular opportunity to get scouts outside into camping settings where they can explore a variety of interesting and unique hobbies. He said each station they experience and every event they attend serves as a learning tool that they can better understand.
He added that there are many other benefits as well.
“The campborees get the kids out as scouts to engage with the community and learning some fascinating historical information,” Ramirez said. “It’s about touching base with our heritage as a nation and even learning some valuable local history.”
Some of that history included learning some valuable insight into how area Native Americans might have lived many years ago.
“Much of what we try to create are hands-on activities that they can take with them,” Ramirez said. “And if we can do that by helping them learn about our nation’s past, we believe that is important for them to better understand why we as a nation do some of the things we do.”
He added that by creating hands-on learning experiences, the information and lessons being taught are more apt to sink in for the scouts, rather than just reading it or hearing about it on TV.
One of the presenters was Joe Kriss, a member of Speakman’s Company of Rangers, an organization that presents reenactments of French and Indian War events.
He spoke to the scouts about what they do as rangers.
“It’s important to know history and pass it along to our young people because history does repeat itself,” Kriss said.
Another demonstration was provided by Holly Beach who showcased her skills on the spinning wheel.
Perhaps the highlight was a presentation from Steve Branan, a Paul Revere actor from Plain City, who told the scouts the story of Revere’s infamous ride during a campfire evening on Saturday.
“He’s a tremendous storyteller who provides so much detail to the story,” Clemens said. “He’s very authentic, comes dressed up in full primitive outfit with his flintlock rifle, and he is really great at portraying Paul Revere.”
Clemens was busy helping scouts prepare the main meal for Saturday’s events, which included digging a barbecue pit for some delicious pork roasts, making peach cobbler over an open fire and cutting up vegetables that were stewed in a large cast iron pot over an open fire.
The two scoutmasters set up the rustic campsite starting Friday morning, and by that evening the scouts had come in, set up their own tents and were enjoying the movie “The Patriot” before eventually calling it a night.
That was one of the events necessary to earn their American Heritage Badge, which also included watching a Civil War movie at home.
Saturday morning began with the flag raising ceremony of the Betsy Ross flag, followed by a trio of stations that included primitive cooking with Clemens, flint knapping with host Clark Schwenke of Glenmont and blacksmithing/forging station with Ramirez.
Those stations were a prelude to a tasty lunch meal, followed by plenty of other activities designed to educate and challenge the scouts to learn and enjoy part of the nation’s past.
“Many of these stations are kind of fading hobbies, so creating some awareness to these young people to generate an interest in them to carry them on are very important to keeping them alive,” Ramirez said.
He added that creating engaging times that bring scouts from throughout Holmes County together in smaller groups continues to be a big part of what scouting is all about, forging a fun time of building memories.