The 2007 Southern Missouri District Royal Ranger Merit Camp is now history.

 

 

This was our 17^th year of conducting this camp (formerly the Advancement Academy). Eighty regular Royal Ranger campers from Discovery Rangers through Expedition Rangers attended. Ten Gold Medal of Achievement recipients returned this year to work on Junior Staff, and many full-time and part-time adult staff donated time this week to teach the boys in their individual areas of expertise. The boys earned 432 merit awards. Here is the breakdown:

 

Red - 49                                             Discovery Rangers - 15

Blue - 14                                             Adventure Rangers - 40

Orange - 20                                        Expedition Rangers - 25

Green - 172                                        Junior Staff - 10

Gold - 78                                            Adult Staff - 53

Silver - 99

 

The awards taught were:

 

Aviation	BB Gun	Computers
Backpacking	Cooking	Fingerprinting
Christian Missions	Electricity	First Aid Skills
International Service	Leathercraft	Knife & Hawk
Woodworking	Medicine	Physical Fitness
Firearm Safety	Paintball Safety	Primitive Snares
First Aid/CPR	Skin Diving	Stamp Collecting
Puppeteering	Truck Transportation	Speed the Light
Horsemanship	Orange Bible Merits	Family Life
Indian Lore	Archery	Swimming
Fire Safety	Compass	Advanced Marksmanship
Adv Dis. Awareness	Dutch Oven	Toolcraft
Black Powder	Emergency Preparedness	Bird Study
Primitive Shelters	Graphics arts	Nature Study
Camp Safety	Hide Tanning	Safety
Communications	Horsemanship	Wilderness Survival
Hunter's Education

 

Each morning after breakfast there was a flag raising ceremony with the Junior Staff serving as color guard. We added a Senior Guide this year (David Huff) as we strive to emphasize the boy-facilitated program pattern. Rev. Royce Beckett would present the morning devotion, while one of the Junior Staff would give a testimony of God's goodness, and how He had worked in each of their lives. It was exciting to hear how the boys incorporated recent event (such as events from the Iceland trip) into their personal stories. After an uniform inspection, the boys attended classes for three different sessions totally over 8 hours. Some great meals and various competitions during the afternoon recreation time punctuated the class sessions.  The boys and leaders participated in nightly council fire services of some type.  Thursday's council fire was boy-led with them planning and conducting the entire service. God moved mightily in the services.

 

A couple of different competitions kept the boys improving all week - Patrols of Excellence and Honor Patrol. Patrols of excellence rank patrol spirit and projects, while the Honor Patrol competition keeps track of boys' participation in all camp activities. At the end of the week, the patrol with the most points wins a special prize to help them with their FCF outfits. The 80 boys were divided into eight patrols, and each patrol had one Junior Staff and two adult staff advisors.

 

 

The winning patrol this year was the Spider Ducks led by Jeff Wogan and Mark Hughes with Brady Smith (not pictured) as their Junior Staff. The boys in this patrol were all winners!  Great job guys!

  

Do we have fun in the Southern Missouri District, or what?!

 

Respectfully submitted,

Rick Barnhouse

District Training Coordinator