Waking up early to celebrate Scouting’s birth

On Aug. 1, I, along with Scouts from all over the world, celebrated the 100th birthday of Scouting at the 2007 World Scout Jamboree. Scouting was born on Aug. 1, 1907, the first day of Lord Baden-Powell’s experimental camp on Brownsea Island.

In order to commemorate that event, a special ceremony was held at the arena on the Jamboree site. Called the Sunrise Ceremony, it celebrated the birth of Scouting and how far it has come since then.

To be there for the ceremony, I had to get up a 5:15 a.m. and march with the rest of my troop and subcamp all the way to the arena. Unfortunately, I was a little tired as I had stayed up late the night before. However, any tiredness didn’t interfere with my experience that day.

The ceremony opened with a live broadcast from Brownsea Island where two Scouts from each nation attending the Jamboree were gathered. After the Chief Scout of the United Kingdom, Peter Duncan, blew the Kudu horn as Baden-Powell had done 100 years ago, Scouts from Brownsea Island led Scouts at the Jamboree in reciting the Scout promise.

While I was reciting the oath, I became filled with gratitude for all that Scouting has done for me. I want to repay it somehow, and I think I can do that best by becoming a future leader for other Scouts.

My favorite part of the ceremony, though, was seeing the flags of all the countries attending the Jamboree parading through the arena. It was amazing to think that from 20 boys on a small island in England 100 years ago, the Scouting movement has grown to include thousands of Scouts in 158 countries.

It was almost overwhelming to think that from one small seed from Baden-Powell grew a large tree that now covers the whole world.

Cole Houston is submitting blog posts from the World Jamboree in England. He is from Troop 526, New York, N.Y.