Texting, Twitter, Facebook and e-mail. This is not your father’s Jamboree.
It used to be that electronic devices were scarce and often discouraged at National Scout Jamborees, but this year at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., Scouts arrived with cell phones, laptops, smart phones and other mobile devices to remain in touch with family and friends back home. The Boys Scouts of America actually encouraged them to do so.
And if they forgot theirs, or need to charge their phone battery, AT&T is taking care of that, too, free of charge. Not only has AT&T installed free wi-fi for instant access to the Internet throughout the 3,000-acre Jamboree grounds, but it has also constructed both permanent and temporary cell towers as part of a multi-million dollar investment in the Jamboree.
Better still, there are six large prefab “Connection Zone” buildings where Scouts can go to use cell phones and netbooks, free of charge. Each building has 40 netbooks and 78 phones, all tethered to counters in a glass-enclosed and air-conditioned environment, with technicians on hand to help out. A sign near banks of phones reads “Please limit your call to 5 minutes,” so other Scouts get a turn. The buildings are open from 4-10 p.m. each day, when the Scouts are winding down after a full day of activities.
“You can’t stop the social activity of connectivity,” said Sean Schulte, who works in marketing for AT&T and oversees the six buildings Scouts use. They have become centers of activities for hundreds of Scouts, who are also setting up their patch-trading blankets outside and socializing the old-fashioned way, without electronic devices. “It’s a great next step, a way for Scouts to stay in touch now.”
It is also a great way for the Boys Scouts of America to get out its message as Scouts report home, e-mail photos, text their friends and update their Facebook pages. The BSA has a popular Facebook page, as do Jamboree Today, the daily newspaper; QBSA, the Jamboree radio station; and the Trading Posts.
“This is a well-connected world. Most everyone has access to a cell phone of some type,” said Renee Fairrer, manager of media relations for the Boy Scouts of America. “We are embracing the technology.”
There are also many international Scouts among the 36,000 participants at the Jamboree, and three Russia Scouts were busy at the netbooks Tuesday evening, communicating with family and friends halfway around the world. “Computers … are good,” said one of the smiling Russian Scouts in broken English.
On the porch of each building, available anytime, are 192 small lockers with keys. Inside each is a phone charger with 10 adapters, enough to match up with most phones in use these days. There is also a key inside each locker. The idea is, the Scouts place their phones inside to charge, lock them up and come back later to retrieve the phones and return the keys in an honor system.
“These guys are burning through [battery] power, always looking for a charge,” said Schulte, noting that there is no electrical power in the troop campsites.
There have been flaws in the system. Some Scouts are holding onto the keys to maintain their own personal charging station, and Apple iPhones will not work on generic chargers.
Another popular stop for the boys is AT&T’s Fanzone, an air-conditioned trailer where they can watch TV and play video games.
While there are some Scouts with laptops in backpacks, the free wi-fi service has been more popular among the 9,000-plus staff members and volunteers, enabling them to keep in touch with home and business while being away for two weeks. Staff members can sit in the tents or army barracks they call home, or in dining pavilions and get on line around the clock with their computers and PDAs.
Eight weeks before the Jamboree began, AT&T began installing truckloads of wi-fi WAN (wide area network) devices on phone poles along the Jamboree roads. As for cell service, a permanent, 180-foot tower was constructed on Thomas Road, where many of the exhibits and activities are located, as well as many cellular towers on wheels. Just five years ago, I had to drive almost to the main gate to get faint cell phone service.
Signs along the main road at A.P. Hill, leading to campsites, and on towers remind Scouts to phone, Tweet and e-mail photos home. It’s good exposure for AT&T, reaching out to 46,000 Jamboree participants and staff from all over the country, as well as an anticipated 200,000 to 400,000 visitors during the 10-day event. But AT&T is selling no products at the Jamboree.
“It more of a service, and the partnership AT&T has with Scouting,” Schulte said.
“We’ve always looked at where we are in the world, and coordinate aspects of our program to coincide with the world we live in,” said Fairrer. “In 1910, we had a merit badge on horseshoeing. Now, we’re getting ready to introduce a merit badge in robotics.
“We’re looking at youngsters and their interests, but not losing the core values of our program.”
Radio station QBSA has been on the air since the 1997 Jamboree, playing music; providing news, weather and contests; interviewing Scouts; and describing the activities of the day in broadcasts around the clock. Scouts are given spots as guest DJs. This year, the station is also webcasting live over the Internet. For a link to the live broadcasts, click HERE
Jamboree jottings
Scouts today will try to set a world record for the most people to get CPR and AED (auto external defibrillator) training in one day. The record is 6,700, and trainers are ready to handle up to 25,000 Scouts over a 12-hour period, with 2,500 manikin training kits available … Scouts will fire 540,000 arrows at targets, rappel a collective nine million feet and ride on mountain boards four times the distance between Fort A.P. Hill and Washington, D.C.
A few more staggering numbers for the Jamboree: 300,000 gallons of milk, 1.2 million pounds of ice, 85,000 bananas and 2,000 porta-johns … The stage for the arena shows is 395 feet wide, and 76,000 pounds of concrete were used as a ballast for the stage … Ten tons of fish were stocked in Fish Hook lake, with 600 poles available for Scouts to use.
