News

Cub Scout camp is for the birds… and BBs

Boys in the Delpollo den show off their den flag.

By Emily Stanley, Published: July 2, 2015

On Tuesday morning of the week-long Camp Terrora, the Cub Scouts of Henderson and Transylvania counties had a new song to sing: “Bird, bird, birds fly, just like a plane, lots of fun for all Cub Scouts, hope it doesn’t rain!” The previous afternoon, rain had kept the Cubs from participating in all of their rotating activities, including archery, BB guns, science and nature lessons, and, last but not least, the giant water slide.

Just ask third grader Andrew Lyda what his favorite thing about camp is. “The water slide!” He learns, too. “We just go to different stations and learn about like science, and nature, and art. We have partners and if we need to go somewhere, we can take our partner.”
Reagan Govern, a rising fourth grader, also reported that the water slide was his favorite activity. He’s also partial to “archery and BBs . . . And lunch.” When asked what he learned at camp, he said, “I learned not to hold the BB near my mouth so I don’t get a bruise on my head.” Safety is a high priority here at camp.
Tuesday’s busy schedule was happily thrown off by a visit from Steve Longenecker and his wild birds. He brought in a screech owl, an American kestrel, a great-horned owl, and a red-tailed hawk, all of which are native to Western North Carolina. To keep from startling the birds, Longenecker had the Scouts “scratch their beards” instead of raising their hands when they had questions.
Longenecker’s visit illustrates just one example of the exciting opportunities Camp Terrora offers. “My grandpa’s coming tomorrow with his plane,” Reagan said. “It’s a glider.”
Volunteers—parents and others with an interest in scouting—made sure the camp ran smoothly and put in many extra hours “behind the scenes.”
Seventeen-year-old volunteer Seth Hendrix only joined the Boy Scouts of America last year when he moved to the area. “We moved up here, there were a lot more places to hike, camp, all that, so you can really get more involved here.” His favorite thing about camp? “The kids,” he says. “The first day I got here, they were really open to me. They didn’t care that I started late, they taught me the ropes, and they helped me through everything. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
Older kids—some of them older brothers and sisters, some other scouts—also helped out as den chiefs, guiding the Cubs through the day’s activities. One den chief, rising sixth grader Jayden Farley, looks indistinguishable from the campers, as he is just “almost eleven.” Nicky Wilson explains, “What it is, is they have just crossed over into Boy Scouts. So being that they have just crossed over, this is a way to mentor them and show them how to become good leaders.”
“My kid asked me yesterday, ‘How old do I have to be to be a den chief?’” Alicia Lyda said. “And he is a rising third grader.”
And Camp Terrora isn’t just for boys, either. Volunteering parents can register their daughters as tag-alongs, and older girls can serve as den chiefs. “My daughter was more excited than my son,” Wilson said. In fact, the whole family, who recently moved from Hendersonville to Goldsboro, because of Wilson’s husband’s active military career, traveled almost five hours just to be a part of camp this year.
Scouts learn tons of skills and accrue many new badges throughout the week, but that’s not all they get out of the experience. “They learn sportsmanship, integrity, working as a team,” Wilson says. “They learn safety. Some of them are put into different leadership roles throughout the week. We learn proper flag ceremonies. Creativity and imagination are huge, because we have to come up with a den name, a flag, a skit, all of that within the first couple days of camp.”
Cub Scouts Trevor Long and Andrew Ramsey proudly explained their den’s unique and clever name. “Apollo 5 is a spacecraft and Trevor had the idea of Apollo 5 because our den is 5 . . . and we thought of Delta 5, and we didn’t know which one to do so we just combined them. Delta and Apollo. What do we do? Delpollo!”

SHIRTTAIL

Cub Scouts is open to boys from first through fifth grade. To learn more
contact District Executive Caitlin Meeks at 828-989-2538 or caitlin.meeks@scouting.org.