Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  We are very excited about what 2018 will bring for International Scouting in the United States, and how you can get involved.  The US Contingent Management Team is working hard to recruit and plan for the largest US delegation to a World Scout Jamboree in history.  

If you’ve been to a National Jamboree and think the World Jamboree is more of the same, you are mistaken.  The central attraction at the World Jamboree is the people, from more than 169 National Scouting Organizations from every corner of the world.  There is no other event on the planet that gives youth an opportunity like this to make friends with people with similar values from every imaginable culture, language and country.  

I remember a brief walk after dinner around my subcamp at the 2015 Jamboree in Japan.  I wandered over to the subcamp tent and came across a troop from Indonesia performing traditional dances, dressed in intricate indigenous clothing.  I met a Scout leader from Ireland who started a camp for Scouts from both Ireland and Northern Ireland to break down barriers and promote peace between the countries.  I came across the contingent from Scotland, all dressed in matching kilts, performing a ceilidh dance, which later turned into a mini Scout rave with hundreds of dancers.  Scouts were trading patches along the pathways.  Around the turn and down the road there were 300 Scouts singing songs I never heard before around a campfire.  I passed the Welsh troop and saw two of our Scouts having tea and playing cards with two girls from Wales.  On my way home, I stop to check in with new found friends from Lebanon, Poland, Germany and the USA unit from the Pacific. Just one walk on one night.  

Whether you are a 13-year-old girl who plans on joining Scouts next year, or a 16-year-old Eagle Scout, or a 21-year-old college graduate looking for the ultimate scouting experience as IST (staff), I encourage you to apply to join us at the 2019 World Scout Jamboree at the Summit.   I promise you that your evening walks will be even more interesting and exciting than mine in Japan.  

Your life, and your Facebook feed, will never be the same.

Apply now at wsj2019.us/apply

– Mark Beese,  International Representative, Scoutmaster 23rd World Jamboree Troop 70302