Boys Scouts' Camp Shands celebrates 50 years

The North Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America should “be prepared” for another fun-filled summer at Camp Shands as the camp celebrates its 50th year of giving Scouts an outdoor summer camping experience.

Located on the 870-acre Baden Powell Scout Reservation in Hawthorne, the camp serves as a refuge from the city, where Boys Scouts from all over the country learn to camp and live in nature, one of the important aspects of scouting.

“Fundamentally the outdoor experience at Boy Scout camps is where the character education, physical fitness and citizenship training programs are reinforced and occur,” said Jack Sears, executive scout/CEO of the North Florida Council.

“When any young person joins the Boy Scouts, we know that we are going to develop good character training — physically active in mind, body and spirit, and citizenship,” Sears said. “This all happens when a young person goes to summer camp and lives, plays and learns.”

When it opened in 1967, the camp had only building on the premises, the Meninak Lodge. Campers used hand-dug latrines and cooked every meal over an open fire.

Since then, there have been a few renovations including the addition of a dining hall, improvements to the campsites such as platforms for tents and pavilions for scout leaders, and more recently, the $3 million aquatic center, as well as updates to program facilities.

“During my 10-year stint with the Boy Scouts we have put in over $4 million in camp improvements,” Sears said. “Improvements to the road and program areas, the aquatic center, campsite improvements … we added extensive programming features — the 54-foot climbing tower, extreme obstacle course, shooting sports, and expanded the camp for year-round use.”

In addition to these, Camp Shands offers many more outdoor activities such as water sports on Lake Osborne, miles of hiking trails, zip lining, gaga ball — a dodge-ball hybrid game — and much more for campers.

Jim Chesnut, who has spent 20 of his summers at Camp Shands, said the spirit of Camp Shands has remained the same all those years. Long after attending camp the first summer it was open, he returned as a staff member. Chesnut is in his 19th year on staff, and is now the archery director.

“When I started here, we had latrines,” Chesnut said. “They’ve done away with hand-dug latrines — we have running water in all of our camps now. We have a dining hall now — we used to have to do all our own cooking.”

Camp director Eli Rivera has been involved with the Boy Scouts for 20 years.

“I take it to heart,” Rivera said. “That’s one of the things I love about my job. I am able to give back what I received from the program. Just seeing the smile on their faces, that’s the true value.”

He considers summer camp — where he sees Scouts transform and grow in confidence in just one week — the epitome of the scouting experience.

“Every year as a scout, there’s one goal — summer camp,” Rivera said. “How we as a group are going to do fundraising, prepare ourselves to go to camp, get our advancements, get our program and then return to our units.”

On the first day, each boy selects six from over 50 merit badges offered to focus on for the week, ranging from archery and shooting to space exploration, handicraft skills and emergency preparedness. This sets the Scout’s schedule during the day, and the evening programming opens all classes to anyone, Rivera said.

“All of the things that happen in any of these areas are all about making sure that these kids can learn to fend for themselves,” outdoor activities director Ken Shorten said. “Merit badges are nothing but a taste of everything that’s out there in the world. Some kids that have never been on an airplane get to fly an airplane, or a kid gets to see scientific work. A kid who comes from a place where programming doesn’t happen gets a taste of it.”

Campers are taught skills required for merit badges using the “edge” method: explaining the topic, demonstrating the skill, guiding the camper to recreate it and enabling the Scout to retain and use the skill, Rivera said.

One of the most renowned programs offered at Camp Shands is shooting sports. The shooting merit badge has a 100 percent success rate at the camp, much higher than the 40 percent national average, said shooting director Mike Davis, a retired law enforcement officer who has been involved with Camp Shands since 2010.

All of the instructors are NRA certified, and dedicate a lot of time and bullets to teaching each Scout. Some boys arrive at camp never having touched a gun and by the end of the week know how to safely handle a firearm, Davis said.

“The years of experience from all the instructors combined are probably close to 200. … This camp is blessed with a number of good instructors,” Davis said. “At any given time, we have 16o trained instructors who can step in, who we put through NRA camp every fall. We are about the only ones in the nation with that ratio.”

Two of the instructors, Jerry and Caroline Sheldon, pass two other camps on their drive to Camp Shands every summer, but continue to return year after year.

“When you see that first kid struggling with everything, trying to do something he wants to so bad, and when he first gets a breakthrough, his face lights up and you’re back the next year,” Jerry Sheldon said.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Camp Shands, staff and campers will take part in a ceremony with ashes at the final campfire of the last week, where they will deposit the ashes they’ve collected over from previous campfires and collect new ones.

“It’s become a tradition that a lot of people participate in,” Rivera said. “That way everybody takes a little bit of the 50th anniversary home with them.”

For more information on Camp Shands, visit campshands.org.

Marie Fazio: (904) 359-4467