Yearly, the Chiang Kai Shek College Scout Center conducts a youth leadership camp which aims to develop and hone the leadership ability, skills, and competitiveness of potential scouts. During the Adult Leader's Council meeting and deliberation last February 22, 2014, selected boy and girl scouts, who will become Scout Center officers for School Year 2014-2015, were chosen to join the training program. These scouts were given the chance to share their knowledge in Scouting by leading other fellow scouts. It was noted during the meeting that there would be no announcement of specific position to each scout until after the Youth Leaders’ Training Course (YLTC) was done. This means that the positions may vary based on the performances each scout will carry out while in the camp. After the second deliberation and evaluation of the Adult Leader's Council, the appropriate positions shall be assigned and announced.

And so, the YLTC was held at Mt. Makiling, Los Banos, Laguna last March 20 to 23, 2014. The adult leaders reminded the scouts that it was not a fun camp, but rather a more rigid and more intense kind of training. The camp was facilitated to reevaluate, review, and check once again all the skills that the scouts have learned in the past. Among the skills reviewed were lashing, first aid treatment, proper tent pitching and ditching, basic and advance knots, woogle-making made of nylon strings, and conducting flag-up ceremonies. The adult leaders also emphasized the importance of abiding by and valuing the Scout Law, which means not just memorizing everything written in the handbook but amore importantly, understanding them. Afterwards, a competition among patrols was conducted to assess the performances of each scout, as well as to determine the outcome of the camp.

Contributor: Janelle T. Dy