Crew 276 Attends Camp Somers Venture Week

August 3^rd – 9^th proved to be quite an eventful week for members of Venture Crew 276. Members of the crew had the exciting opportunity to attend Venture week at Camp Somers at Mount Allamuchy Scout Reservation. A normal day consisted of Land Navigation, COPE (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience), Siesta Games, a Conservation project and many night-time activities to choose from, varying from night to night.

Group photo at the conservation project (Katie Rozek, Christopher Rozek, Marcus Hobson, Kathryn Livesey, Zach Button, Sarah Button and Stephen Rozek in the wheelbarrow). Image courtesy of Venture Crew 276.

• Land Navigation consisted of designing, creating and walking an orienteering course with the more experienced scouts teaching the less experienced scouts map and compass skills.
• COPE started out with low COPE, focusing a lot on teambuilding activities and skills. The week ended with high COPE which consisted of individuals pushing themselves outside their comfort zones, multiple stories in the air, while attached to belay lines.
• Every day from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM, Camp Somers has Siesta. During siesta hour, individuals, troops and crews have the opportunity to participate in the Siesta Games to compete for the Siesta Cup. Events included volleyball and ultimate Frisbee. With a new game each day, there is never a dull siesta. Not only did Crew 276 have so much fun at the games, we were thrilled when we were announced as the winners of the Week 5 Siesta Cup!
• The crew undertook a huge task for the week as a conservation project – the crew rebuilt a road. The road up to one of the campsites had gotten so bad from erosion, that you could no longer drive a vehicle up it. The crew’s job was to build rock walls (for water drainage) and to fill the road bringing it back up to level. The crew uses rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows to move tons of fill.
• Most afternoon and evenings, the crew had the opportunity to participate in open-climb, open-shoot, and open-swim. Other evening activities were the exciting opening campfire, canoe wars, cooking competition, Venture pistol shoot and an even more exciting closing campfire with many skits by the Camp Somers staff.

In addition to all that, throughout the week, every troop and crew is encouraged to build a gateway to their campsite and participate in the camp-wide gateway contest. Crew 276 had a ton of fun building their gateway and even used it as an opportunity to teach lashings to other scouts. They built such an awesome gateway that it won the gateway contest for Week 5!

Group photo of crew 276 with the Week 5 Siesta Cup (Alex, Marcus, Keith, Kathryn, Stephen, Chris, Zach and Katie). Photo courtesy of Venture Crew 276.

Crew 276 had such an amazing week at Camp Somers that we will definitely be going back next year! With so many things to do at Camp Somers, COPE, Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking, ATVs, Boating, Swimming, Shooting and more, every time will always be a new and exciting opportunity!

Crew Secretary Stephen Rozek crossing the multiline. Photo courtesy of Venture Crew 276.

Crew President Katie Rozek and Crew Vice President Chris Rozek helping each other on the Giants ladder. Photo courtesy of Venture Crew 276.

Crew Vice President Chris Rozek cooks part of a meal over a fire using a lashed tripod. Photo courtesy of Venture Crew 276.

Crew 276 is based out of Byram Township, NJ. They have meetings every first Wednesday of the month from 7 PM-8:30 PM. If you are interested in joining, see venturecrew276.com for more details.

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