North American Division Pathfinder area coordinators and honor leaders are working hard to supply new experiences and honors to 47,000 Pathfinders and staff from around the world attending the 2014 Forever Faithful International Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. A steady flow of Pathfinders is scheduled all week to work on honors at booths located in four different hangars in the activities portion of the camporee campus. Here’s a sampling of the honors being taught:
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Electricity Honor – Rocky Mountain Conference Roberto Mira, who is teaching the electricity honor, is a leading electrician and engineer in Denver. Roberto did a similar activity last year at a smaller event and now has the opportunity to do it on a larger scale. He’s excited to share his passion with the Pathfinders. Activities include getting a small electric motor to start up using copper wire and a suspended battery. Adriana, Roberto’s wife, says, “It’s always busy here. Pathfinders walk by and get excited when they see the display. We are booked all day!” They were happily surprised with the large turnout of Pathfinders and their interest in the activities. Gabriela, a volunteer from RMC, says, “The honor is going really well. There are lots of very interested Pathfinders. We’re booked through Friday.” Joel, who is also helping with the activities, adds, “Going really great, lots of fun.”
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Aboriginal Lore Honor – North and South Dakota Rebecca, a social science major at Union College, is volunteering to coordinate the Aboriginal Lore honor focusing on the history and life of the original people in Australia. Rebecca has been involved with Pathfinders for about five years now. To receive the honor participants need to fill out a worksheet and go through boards created by the honor coordinators. They are doing a “bark” art project and face painting like warriors would’ve had. It’s a free honor and takes about one hour. “We wanted to do an honor that can be completed within an hour so the Pathfinders can feel accomplished,” Rebecca says. Their honor is also booked for the day.
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Sand Honor – Wisconsin Carol Wheeler is teaching this honor about what sand is, how it’s used, how to study it and identify it by shape, surface and fracture. Pathfinders earning this honor put together a collection of 30 different sands. In addition to learning all about sand, participants are required to recite three Bible verses incorporating sand. “We had 250 yesterday and probably 500 today. Definitely more than we calculated would be here,” says Carol. This is the first time they’ve done this at camporee and say it’s a success. They also encouraged people to bring sands from other countries. Carol Wheeler is a former biology teacher at Union College. Her husband, Carroll Wheeler, taught at College View Academy.
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Plastic Canvas – Rocky Mountain Jody Gage, volunteer area coordinator for Rocky Mountain Conference, is coordinating this honor. “We’ve been very busy, totally booked up for the week,” she says. Barbara Bredenkanp, who really wanted to have an honor from the Arts and Crafts category at camporee, is assisting by instructing Pathfinders how to work with plastic canvas. Barbara is with the New Mexico Roadrunners club. “We had 60 people yesterday and about 40 so far this morning,” she says. It takes about two hours to complete a plastic canvas project. It’s the first time for most Pathfinders doing this type of activity. One Pathfinder said, “I’m very excited to see how many honors I can get today. I’m aiming for at least five.”
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IRR – Obstacle Course Activity Tyler Bissell, an IRR pre-PA student at Union College, is overseeing this course composed of eight different obstacles that Pathfinders can only get through if they work as a team. “This course is a lot of fun to watch as people go through. It’s so interesting to watch how Pathfinders work together and the techniques they use,” he says. “I really enjoy watching how pathfinders step out as natural leaders.” When they complete the course participants receive an IRR Union College patch. Tyler says they have been nonstop busy since 9:30 am.
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Story by Raschelle Casebier, Mid-America Union Communication Department. Photos by Cid Coto, assistant Social Media & IT director for Oshkosh Camporee
