Pinewood Derby at Camp Kawabata

What great fun! Christian Welles, sent me a notice that there would be a Pinewood Derby at Camp Kawabata, the Scout Camp. It was held in what looked like an old warehouse near the camp grounds on Saturday the 18th of February. The scouts each built their own cars before the race began, choosing their shapes and paint. The sound of hammering was evident as they all worked.


Then the first round: the girl scouts’ cars raced down the ramp. Little Angala resident was the 1st winner, with a time of 16.70. Then the boys went down the ramps, and the first winner there was Ragged Resident and his time was 17.70. The races went on for several rounds with the winners changing places more than once as they did the rounds.

For those who do not know the Pinewood Derby has a long time place in scouting in real-life. Cub master Don Murphy created it in 1953 as a tool for bonding between dads and sons to build a miniature racing car together and is an official function of the Boy Scouts of America. It has been adopted by other scouting groups and so into Second Life. To read more about the history visit http://www.pinewoodpro.com/pinewood-derby-history.htm.

Christian Welles, Webelos Den Leader, and Billybob Farshore, Patrol Leader, both oversaw the event in Second Life. At the end Angala resident was the top winner with her 16.70 time and received a trophy along with Clymene ( 17.50) and Hunter -Lynn (17.90) who took second and third place respectively. It was fun to watch and listen to. This was the first time the event was held, but not the last I am sure. There should be another one perhaps in the spring.

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Camp Kawabata - Cub Scouts in Second Life

Do you remember being a scout when you were a kid, Boy Scout or Girl Scout, Cub, Explorer?? Many of us do, as there are scouting groups in many countries. Well, there is a Scout group in SL. I was surprised to learn and there are about 230 scouts of all levels here.

Christian Welles, one of the 6 dedicated leaders, told me, “The groups were founded by Geoff Gavaskar back in 2006. Our sim is owned by Ninja Kawabata and Sola Phobos was the camp builder. I'm one of the estate managers and run most of the merit badges as well. We have about 6 dedicated leaders. Kyal and I run the Cub Scouts with our assistant Ardy and Jeremiah runs the scouts with his assistant Billybob. We also have a few members who are real life Eagle Scouts and Queen Scouts who serve on an advisory role.”

They have a wonderful camp and many activities going on weekly. I spent a Sunday going to a meeting to learn about them. I expected a sit down meeting, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the meeting was actually a field trip to work on two badges. The leader for the day was BillyBob Portal. He passed out the requisites for two badges they were working on that day. The first badge was video gaming and off we all went to a Super Mario game at Electrobit City. There, with the help of a “personal guide” bot of the sim each scout proceeded through a list of activities to complete. It was great fun to observe, and I had many chuckles at the patter among the group and the hard work of completing some of the tasks. It was like being at regular meeting of children trying to do a task and either winning or failing but trying again. I am sorry that I could not stay for the whole meeting since it was such an enjoyable trip.

The Scouts have a structure based on real-life scouting principles, although they are not related in any way to real-life organizations. They are expected to attend at least 2 meetings a month to be considered active. All ages and genders are invited to join in one capacity or another. There are no dues but they may purchase uniforms with colors based on their age group and wear them to the meetings. Adults may join as volunteers as den mothers, park rangers if they are accepted by the administration. I am sure they are well vetted. Parents are allowed to visit the Camp at any time and visitors are invited to join in the field trips as well.

I asked Christian what he liked about the idea of scouting in Second Life and what the scouts get out of it. He answered, “I love the diversity of people and things we do. Our membership base brings together people from different communities, countries, and social groups. We do a wide range of activities for badges from aviation to zombie defense, along with role playing and socializing. A lot of people join scouts to relive their time as scouts in real life or because they didn't get to join as a kid. At our meetings, scouts can earn 29 (and growing) merit badges and learn about how to do things in Second Life like flying, sailing, building, and a whole range or topics that are also applicable in real life.”

I went to see another field trip to a zoo and asked some of the kids what do you like about scouting.They told me how much fun getting badges was and all loved the field trips and learning. Niki Frak said, ”Welp, I'ma forest kid myself. So I love livin' at the scout camp. All the badgees n' stuff give me lots of fun things to do, n' places to visit. It's great havin' the older scouts lookin' after us lil cubs, cause we learn stuff from 'em.”

You can find out more about the scouting in Second Life by visiting their web page http://scoutcamp.secondlifekid.com/ and you can take a tour of their camp by visiting the camp and if you are interested in joining you can contact anyone of the leaders. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Camp%20Kawabata/140/100/24

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