September 2010

One hundred years of Scouting in the United States was celebrated July 26 through August 4 during the Boy Scouts Centennial National Jamboree. Held at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, the huge gathering attracted more than 43,000 scouts from all fifty states and several foreign countries.
Among the attendees were sixty-seven Boy Scouts and leaders from across the Upper Peninsula. Wes Matteson, fifteen, of Harvey, who is a member of Troop 372; Andrew Virch, fifteen, of Marquette, who is a member of Troop 309; and Michael Edwards, fifteen, of Harvey, who is a member of Troop 360, were among the local Scouts who made the trip to the National Jamboree.

What was your favorite experience?
Andrew: I’d have to say the closing ceremonies for the Jamboree were pretty awesome because you got to see Mike Rowe (of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs) and see a bunch of different bands show up, and hear how long Scouting has been going. It was just really cool.
Michael: The closing ceremony was the best because it was the biggest thing I’ve ever been to. Seventy-five thousand people in one square mile are a lot of people.
Wes: So many people in that one area. At one point, Miss America was up on stage giving a speech. Whoever wrote that speech must not have liked her or us. She said, “It’s nice to see an organization of all these young ladies, I mean young men.” At that point all the Boy Scouts decided that they hated Miss America.
Andrew: I was going to the bathroom at this point and I turned around to hear what was going on and I looked at the big screen, and I saw her big face smiling saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

8-18: What was your first thought when you got to the Jamboree?
Michael: Very big.
Andrew: I’d have to say that I thought it was going to be a little bit boring. I didn’t think they were going to have as much stuff as they did.
Wes: Thirty-five thousand Scouts are going to fit here? No way!

8-18:  Describe a typical day.
Wes: A lot of running, going from place to place. Very busy; no time to sit down, except at dinner, lunch and breakfast. 
Andrew: We woke up. Somebody would go out and get the bin for the food. I’d normally cook it. Then we’d bring the bin back, sit down and eat breakfast, get everything ready, clean up camp a little bit, and head out for our day and do whatever you felt like walking to.
Michael: As soon as breakfast was over the adult leaders would say, “Leave and don’t come back until 5:00 p.m.,” because they didn’t want to see us around camp. So we’d just go off in any direction and do what we wanted to do for the whole day . . .

—8-18 Media

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted by Jaime Bedard, 16, and Kayley Elmblad, 8.

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