Recently, you may have noticed that the Scouts BSA summer camp guides for Bear Paw Scout Camp and Camp Hiawatha were released. If you haven’t seen them yet, check out the links at the end of this article. Contained in these guides are tons of information about program, logistics, pricing, policies, and everything in between. However, we want to highlight and extract the more exciting items from these guides.
3-Day Option for Youth
We understand that there is a ton of activities going on during the summer, more than just summer camp. With that in mind, we’re giving youth attending Scouts BSA summer camp the option to attend either Sunday-Wednesday or Wednesday-Saturday. We’ll talk about it later, but the schedule at our Scouts BSA summer camps have been adjusted to allow the full completion of merit badges in half-a-week, as long as prerequisites are completed. The price for attending 3 days is $170 (early bird price). After May 1, the price increases to $205.
New Merit Badges
Refreshing summer camp program on an annual basis is important to any BSA summer camp. It starts with merit badges and we’re excited to announce that 16 new merit badges will be offered at Bear Paw Scout Camp and 7 new merit badges will be offered at Camp Hiawatha this summer.
Bear Paw Scout Camp – New Merit Badges
- Citizenship in the World
- Electricity
- Exploration
- Horesmanship
- Insect Study
- Mining in Society
- Moviemaking
- Orienteering
- Photography
- Pioneering
- Scultpure
- Signs, Signals, & Codes
- Small Boat Sailing
- Soil & Water Conservation
- Textiles
- Whitewater
Camp Hiawatha – New Merit Badges
- Automotive Maintenance
- Exploration
- Fingerprinting
- Home Repairs
- Insect Study
- Metalwork
- Photography
All Merit Badge Supplies Provided for No Extra Cost!
We’re now including the cost of all merit badge supplies into the camp fee for camp! Scouts will no longer need to go to the Trading Post to purchase their supplies. In the past these supplies could cost a Scout an extra $20, $30, or even $50. What are some examples of some merit badges that you will not have to pay to take? Just to name a few…
- Archery
- Basketry
- Indian Lore
- Horesmanship
- Leatherwork
- Metalwork
- Rifle Shooting
- Sculpture
- Shotgun
- Space Exploration
- Whitewater
- Woodcarving
All of the Dining Options @ Bear Paw Scout Camp!
Unit attending Bear Paw Scout Camp, will have three dining options to choose from.
Dining Hall Option – All meals are prepared by camp and served in the dining hall.
Patrol Method Cooking Option – Units pick up ingredients to prepare their meals in their campsite.
Hybrid Option – Units can opt to prepare all breakfasts, all lunches, and/or all dinners in their campsite and eat the rest of their meals in the Dining Hall. Please note that units will not be able to “cherry pick” a specific meal on a specific day to prepare in their campsite.
You Don’t Need to Attend with your Unit!
While attending camp with a unit is what most Scouts do, our camps are organized this year to accept an individual Scout or a group of Scouts. Typically we see this from Scouts who maybe can’t attend summer camp when their unit is going, is a lone Scout, or just looking to attend camp for additional sessions. Scouts can choose any week of camp to attend on their own. The camp will pair these Scouts with a host unit to ensure the Scout is under the guidance and support of registered and trained Scout leaders for the week.
Free to Arrive Early on Saturday
Units traveling long distances and some local units would rather want to arrive to camp on Saturday. While the Bay-Lakes Council has always offered this option, we’re no longer charging a fee to arrive early. Units will be able to arrive on Saturday between 5:00PM and 8:00PM.
Swim Tests Completed Prior to Camp
We’ve made a policy change starting this summer to allow units the option to complete their swim tests prior to coming to camp. The swim classification form must be filled out and submitted at check-in. This form can be found in the summer camp guide, in the resources section. Please be sure to read the instructions carefully to ensure the test is administrated correctly.
Electronic Blue Cards
Leave your blue cards at home. Our camps are coming into the 21st century. Units will be able to print out blue cards at home, at the conclusion of camp. Additionally, unit leaders can come to the camp office anytime and ask for a status report of their Scouts to ensure they are advancing while in camp. Electronic blue cards earned at camp will be able to be accessed for years into the future by the unit.
Scoutbook Integration
Unit leaders will be able to import all advancement earned at camp directly into their unit’s Scoutbook account. Units can access their Scoutbook import file by logging onto their online summer camp registration and going to “reports.”
Parent Portal
Parent portal allows the unit’s registration contact to provide parents in your unit with access credentials, so they can make payments and complete data entry for their Scouts, including program sign-up. Checkout the how-to video for unit leaders at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wqanwRP05Q.
Parents can check out this video for guidance on how to use Parent Portal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fimdr9O63I.
Want to Change Your Plans to Attend a Bay-Lakes Council Camp? We Have Your Back! Up-to $250.
There’s a ton of great things happening at Bay-Lakes Council Camps and we understand that your unit may already have plans at another camp. We’ll discount up-to $250 on your unit’s summer camp reservation when you switch your plans to attend one of our camps to cover any non-refundable fees which have already been paid to another camp.
Call our friendly team to let us know if you would like to take advantage of this offer. 920-734-5705 or reservations@baylakescamps.org.
How About Those Summer Guides?
Our camp specific summer guides are the go-to resources for summer. Download buttons are below. We do ask for your name and email before downloading so we can communicate any updates to the guide between now and summer camp.