WHAT TO EXPECT

You will arrive and your patrol leader will check your patrol in, medical forms and all.  You will set up your tent and campsite and as a patrol (hopefully) and head to the dining hall for a nice dinner, compliments of your SWC staff.  (—personally, I like the chili! —)

Fellowship, excitement, put up your display board so others can get to know your group.  But, there is a tradition.  “STUMP THE BUBBA”

A BUBBA is an OLD Scouter, set in their ways, grumpy, and just kidding.  The BUBBA Patrol is a group of Scouters who band together and camp as a patrol.  Their goal is to supplement the staff at SWC if asked, no task is out of bounds.  At Friday Fellowship, they have a table and ask questions.  If you can answer their trivia question you get a bubba-bead, the coveted BUBBA BEAD may I add (yes, I have one).

After they ask their question, you can ask a trivia question also.  Giving you the opportunity to STUMP THE BUBBA!  All good fun.

The remainder of the night is at your patrol campfire or in your tent and in the morning, you and your patrol make breakfast and prepare for the opening ceremony.  Maybe an hour because EVERYONE gets to say hello to everyone! 

During the day there are Patrol Games, the camp-wide game, conservation project, and a few other things that are just plain fun.  How do you know when it is time to head to the next game, well, the train whistle blasts of course?  Yes, it is loud enough to hear anywhere in the camp.

Lunch is at your patrol site and you can start prepping for the mass dinner.  All patrols will be assigned a table in the dining hall and you can set it up as you see fit.  It is judged!

Your dinner is for your patrol, but sharing is not frowned upon and you will have a few staff members joining you for dinner.  After dinner is the AWARD ceremony and the patrol leader heads up to collect the beads your patrol won during the day.

Afterward, we all head to the campfire ring for the campfire, and each patrol is requested…strongly requested… to do a skit or song at the campfire.  The presenting of the claws will also take place towards the end of the campfire. 

FYI, smart people bring something to sit on, the seats are HARD-COLD-CEMENT.  So, be a smart person and bring a cushion. 

After campfire you head back to the activity field where you can gaze are the sky.  An astronomy club will be there (weather permitting) and you can collect a bead.  The Davis Inn hike is fun and there is a surprise when you get there, other than another bead of course.

Sunday morning is opening and goodbye.  Will not go into it here, you need to experience it!  Also, Scout’s Own service.  The choir, music, and planning are by the participants.  Donations go to World Scouting.

Lastly, you pack up and head home.  On the way home you will most likely call each other and talk about the weekend.  Stop for lunch and find people from the weekend sitting there eating.  It happens….

The big thing to remember is when you get home, recruit others for next year.  Start planning your patrol, meals, duties, and who will be the patrol leader.  The rest will all fall into place as you find yourself putting it on the calendar the day after you return home.

SWC is a fun time, in the woods, in the North Georgia Mountains, with a few hundred of your (new and old) friends.