Nine youth from Vancouver Island will be taking the trip of a lifetime to South Korea in 2023.
The 1st Cumberland Scouts of Comox Valley will be sending eight scouts and one venturer (an older scout age 15-17) to the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea next August as part of the Canadian contingent.
The jamboree is held once every four years. It welcomes scouts from across the world to participate in activities and learning opportunities.
In 2023, more than 50,000 scouting participants from over 170 countries will gather in SaeManGeum, South Korea for the event.
This will be the Republic of Korea’s second time hosting the jamboree. The first time was in 1991.
“It’s really an opportunity for us to send this group of young people to a world event as part of the Canadian contingent, and for a small troop like Cumberland to be sending nine youths - which is a whole patrol - is really quite remarkable to have that many young people that are that are making that commitment and wanting to do the trip,” said scouter Angie Prescott.
Kenneth Lochhead, age 13, has been in Scouts for roughly 10 years and is looking forward to experiencing all that the World Scout Jamboree has to offer.
“I’m most excited about meeting new people from new countries and seeing what everything’s like with their scouting,” he said.
His brother, Cole Lochhead, age 17, is attending the event for the second time; this time as a venturer. There, he will take on a leadership role.
“I went to the last one, which was in West Virginia and that was in 2019,” said Cole. “We were there for just over two weeks, and basically, it’s the same structure in South Korea as in West Virginia. There’s a whole bunch of activities and the whole goal of the trip is just to meet new people, have fun and just see what other people do in the world in terms of scouting.”
A trip as momentous as this comes with a price tag to match. The trip costs $6,000 per person, meaning the scouts will be spending this upcoming year fundraising.
“Because we are a Cumberland troop, we’re looking forward to hopefully being at things like the Foggy Mountain Festival and different sort of gatherings and events in Cumberland where we can connect with folks, because a lot of these folks have seen these kids for the last eight, 10,12 years,” said Prescott.
Scouts will have multiple fundraisers including a GoFundMe, splitting firewood to sell, as well as running composting and bottle drives to raise money for the trip.