Combined Campfire with CHIJ St Theresa's Convent.

About 2 days ago, my troop hosted our annual campfire. However, this campfire was unique
compared to the other campfires i have been to. Our campfire was combined with the guides at CHIJ STC. Which meant that the campfire process was planned both by us and them. 

The start of the combined campfire process first started with them coming to our school where we will be split into our respective campfire patrols and get to know our patrol members well with some ice breakers. This session was personally an awkward one for me as i did not know all of the guides and furthermore, most of the scouts in my patrol are people i do not talk to oftenly during meetings or trainings. Due to this i had to keep trying to get the scouts to talk to the guides to keep the morale high, which was something i have not done before. 

During the second cohesion meeting, we had to go to their school for another day of games. This time, it was less awkward as we knew each other slightly better and having conversations with each other was not as hard as last time. 

Other than participating in these cohesion meetings, i was also chosen to perform a song during the campfire with another scout and some guides. Which meant that i had to come down to their school for extra trainings. However, these extra trainings were fun as i got to make new friends out of my patrol.

Our practice video

Campfire Performance video

Group picture after campfire

 On top of these combined trainings, my scout troop also conducted meetings every week for our pioneering structure and making sure that we can build the structure with ease before the campfire day.

 For the pioneering section, i was put into a group with my APL Bellamy, APL Justin, Senior Aiden Low, and my batch mates Gabriel and Nicholas to build a mini entrance for the main pioneering gateway. The experience of being in this pioneering group was honestly a rewarding one as we failed the structure many times and after we managed to bring up the structure successfully,i got to learn the various things to take note when building a frame such as not to put poles that are to heavy on the top or it will drop.

Picture of structure after many attempts

On the day of the campfire, our first activity was a mini orienteering game around the school compound where each patrol was given a paper with a 6 digit grid reference. Using the grid reference, we were supposed to figure out where these places were and get there together. Each location would have a game for our patrol and we had to try to work together and gain as many points. 

After the orienteering activity was our backwoodsman cooking competition. During this session, we were supposed to cook the dish that we have discussed in the patrol group chat. The patrol with the best tasting dish wins. 

Our patrol was given Malay as our cuisine and we all agreed on cooking Nasi Lemak. Personally, this session took longer than expected as most of them had very little about backwoodsman and some of us had to spend extra time teaching them how to start and maintain the fire. However, it was a fun experience overall as everyone participated actively either by cooking, preparing food, or maintaining the fire.At the end of the session, i felt that our dish was the most aesthetically pleasing.

Our Nasi Lemak :D

 After the backwoodsman session, the patrols then moved on to playing station games. I did not participate in the games as i had to do sound checks for the performances later. However, i could tell that they were having fun.

We ended the day with the campfire with an entertaining program planned by both the Scouts and the  Guides. During this time, my group also went up to perform our song, Moonlight by Grace Vanderwaal. I personally felt that this was our best try as everyone put in their most effort in this. 

The campfire then came to an end with our Scout Leader delivering a yarn. Overall, i felt that this campfire was a very rewarding experience as i got to make new friends and have lots of fun.

Southern Cross Group Picture