GLEN JEAN, W.Va (WOAY) – You step onto the Brownsea Island at the World Scout Jamboree and you’re back in 1907 on the English island where the Boy Scouts got its start.
There are games and actors on the island that make you feel like you’re part of Boy Scout Founder Robert Baden-Powell’s original experiment when he took 20 boys to an island to teach them survival.
“The thought was that many young people in this time do not get into the outdoors, were not comfortable camping, didn’t know how to cook their own grub over a fire, don’t know how to track animals or recognize animals and plants in the outdoors,” the actor playing Baden-Powell said.
And the idea of the 1907 experiment was to teach them just that and share the findings with the world. And now, this immersive experience gives the scouts a chance to learn about their history.
“Well it’s kind of where we came from and it’s good to know your roots I guess,” Ruth Wallace, a scout from the U.K., said. “And if you talk to Baden-Powell, he tells loads of cool facts about scouts and what it used to be like and it’s not like it is now but it evolved from that I guess.”
Watch the full story above.
