Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions - National Jamboree - July 13th to 24th, 2013

1. Who are the Jamboree Troop Scoutmasters? Are they from Katahdin Area Council?
Yes, they are registered Scoutmaster from various troops in the Council.

2. How do Scouts go? Is there a selection process?
Scouts who meet the qualifications are selected on a first come basis. The first 144 scouts (36 in each troop) and first 18 venturers (1/2 a crew) that sign up, make the initial payment, and meet the requirements (Summary: between 12 and 18 and First Class in 2013) will be assigned a slot. Subsequent signups will be placed on a waiting list.

3. What about the activities I read about on the web site - who runs them?
Adult volunteer scouters and representatives from various state agencies and corporations staff the activities. For example, the Jamboree radio station, QBSA 95.1 "The Voice of the Eagle", which provides Jamboree participants to produce and host their own radio show, is run by professional DJs that are also volunteer Scout leaders back in their home town. The same is true across all the activities at the Jamboree.

4. May Venturers attend the National Jamboree as well?
Yes, Venturers will be able to attend the National Jamboree as participants. Katahdin Area Council will be sending a contingent of 18 youth, 1 adult male and 1 adult female leader. All male or female Venturers are welcome!

To qualify for the Jamboree as a Venturer.

• Crew members must have a current BSA membership with a Venturing crew.
• Must have graduated the 8th grade or be at least 14 years of age by the first day of the jamboree, but have not reached their 21st birthday by the last day of the jamboree.
• Participate in a pre-jamboree training experience.
• Be approved by the unit leader and local council.
• Have filed a Jamboree Personal Health and Medical record with the council jamboree committee before the pre-jamboree training.


5. How about health and safety? How is that handled?

Let's start with safety first.. Jamboree security is handled by adult scout volunteers that are professional law enforcement officers back home (local police, troopers, FBI, etc.). In addition, extra security is in place if the President visits at the arena show.

Likewise, a similar approach is taken with health issues. Overall health and medical concerns are handled by Jamboree sub-camp, which have what amounts to an immediate medical care / mini-emergency room medical tent facility. These are, as you may guess, staffed with volunteer scouters who are in the medical care profession (doctors, nurses, etc.) back home. Scattered throughout the Jamboree's activities, are first aid stations for participants and visitors alike.

Finally, each participant, whether scout or adult leader or Jamboree staffer, has a photo ID card worn at all times. The magnetic strip on the back is encoded with personal and medical information for the participant. It also serves as the ticket for Jamboree participant only activities. (Only a small subset of activities are available for the visiting general public.)

6. And the food….for all those teenage appetites?
Each sub-camp has a commissary and staff that distributes food twice a day, breakfast and dinner. (Lunch is a box lunch available at various pick-up points around the Jamboree.) The food is mostly pre-cooked and pre-packaged in aluminum trays requiring the scouts to reheat them on traditional propane cook stoves. Naturally, the trading posts at the Jamboree offer between meal snacks, such as hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza!

The food is delivered to each sub-camp, each evening after midnight, by tractor-trailer. To put in perspective, one tractor-trailer supplies two sub-camps for one day! The food is then sorted by sub-camp troop and refrigerated when needed (milk, pies, etc.) by the commissary staff. Ice is also provided to cool the water containers and personal water bottles as well. Troop leaders eat with their troops. Jamboree staff has a separate food distribution process and generally eat in mess tents.

7. Finally, what about sanitation?
Again, each sub-camp is a little neighborhood! In the sub-camp, garbage is either ground, disposed of or recycled nightly. There are (cold) showers, flush toilets, running water sinks and fresh drinking water spigots available.

Water sources and port-a-pots are generously placed around the Jamboree activities, arena, and parking areas for participants and visitors alike.

8. Who do I go with? How do I get there?
There are four and a half Jamboree troops, comprised of 144 scouts and 18 Venturers from across the Katahdin Area Council. All four and a half troops travel as a single contingent to the Jamboree at the new Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia by bus. The contingent spends the weekend of July 13 & 14 touring before heading down to the Jamboree site.

9. Can’t I go to the Jamboree with my home troop? What’s the difference?
Visitors to the Jamboree are welcome. So, what’s the difference between visiting and participating? Simple, participants can do … visitors can only look. And there is an awful lot of “doing” available…so much so that participants will need the entire 10-days to just come close to all the fun the jamboree offers participants. Check out the jamboree website https://summit.scouting.org/en/Jamboree2013 for details on all the activities. Or, check out www.YouTube.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUk9c6A-xSw) and search on “2013 National Scout Jamboree” for some great videos!

10. Where do we stay?
Each of the four and a half Jamboree troops from Katahdin Area Council will stay in tents, sleeping on cots in a troop camp site, designed for 36 boys and 4 adult leaders. Our four and a half troops are part of the Northeast Region. In total, there will be several (20+) sub camps with each containing approximately 40 jamboree troops.

Katahdin Area Council Jamboree Information: 207-866-2241