Scouts in Grand Forks are marking one year since their inception and the leader is praising the successes and fun families and volunteers have been having in learning bushcraft and life skills.
The troupe started last January as there was a desire to see the youth organization set up a chapter in the region. Since then, it’s grown and there are still spots to fill, according to Dan Brophy, Grand Forks Scouts leader.
This is the latest incarnation of Scouts in the city. The last time was 2018.
“My wife, Kathleen, was Scout Commissioner in Abbotsford before we moved here,” he explained. “It’s a lot of work getting established, like getting volunteers signed up because there are supervision numbers we need to have for our chapter’s exercises. Now, we are hoping to get the parents involved more and eventually open up all the levels.”
Girls Guides was already established in the city when they arrived, he said, but the motivation was to have another quality program that had more of a focus on outdoors. There was also a personal reason, as the Brophy’s own children had been active in Scouts and enjoyed it.
“It’s a good program to bring in, get it going and get it going,” he said.
It was also an auspicious year to start, as Scouts Canada was celebrating its 50-year anniversary.
The Grand Forks Scouts troupe started with Beavers last year, which is for ages five to seven years, then Cubs, ages eight to 10 years old. Each level works on different, but related skills development and exploration to help build confidence and knowledge in the troupe members.
For example, Beavers’ programming includes the mantra of “learning by doing” and spending a lot of time outdoors. Programs include helping others, whether it’s through family or friends, or working as a team on a project.
Cubs takes this further, with camping and hiking exercises. They also learn to be part of a planning process and teamwork, deciding on what adventures and activities fellow team members can do, with a focus on doing one’s best. Among the activities are weekend wilderness trips, canoeing, STEM and civic projects.
The plan going forward is to open up the next stage, Scouts, which is for 11 to 14 years. Brophy said they are hoping to do this by September of this year.
Programming for Scouts is wilderness-focused, so they’ve been going on a lot of hikes and doing nature-based projects to learn about the natural processes of the outside world, such as identifying animals and safety. They’ve been easing the children into being outside by taking them on hikes along the Trans Canada Trail.
So far the reception has been very positive and strong, with the vast majority of children signed up coming to all their activities. Rather than arbitrarily assign projects and activities, leaders and volunteers work with the children to choose activities they find interesting. This helps with engagement, explained Brophy.
“It’s more of a youth-guided program,” he said. "We can give them suggestions if they don’t have any ideas to get the ball rolling, like crafts, artistic stuff, more hikes or learning about camping.”
To help plan activities, once a month leaders will have a quick meeting with the children to plan out the projects for the coming month.
Some of the more popular and successful projects they’ve done include a hybrid of crafts and outdoors. One in particular was making “beaver dams” to demonstrate how they hold together to hold back and channel water. Another was making jungle-themed sets, using natural materials like twigs and sticks they found.
Since becoming established, Brophy said some of the Beavers have aged up to Cubs, plus they still have many of the original Beavers, so it’s become easier to plan as they are familiar with activities available to them and talk to the newer members about which are the more popular projects.
There are still spaces available in both Beavers and Cubs, he said. Meetings are at the Guides clubhouse on 72nd Avenue Wednesdays with Beavers from 6 to 7 p.m. and Cubs 7 to 8 p.m. Registration information is available at the Scouts Canada website, but Brophy pointed out they want to look for the First Grand Forks Scouts.
The troupe is also looking for adults and parents wanting to volunteer.
To volunteer, send a message to GrandForksScouts@gmail.com.