Boy Scouts to Gather on CMU Campus Aug. 6-8 for Centennial Celebration
Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010.
FAYETTE, Mo. -- More than 1,500 Scouts and Scouting leaders will gather on the campus of Central Methodist University in Fayette Aug. 6-8 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.
The Fayette event will be the largest of seven centennial events to be staged in Missouri by the Great Rivers Council, Boy Scouts of America. Headquartered in Columbia, the Council encompasses 33 counties in Central and North-Central Missouri and is one of 300 Scout Councils nationwide.
Arriving on campus Friday, Aug. 6, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts and Venturers will camp on a 30-acre area of the campus used for athletics. They will use many of the campus buildings and the central Quad area of the 94-acre campus for a wide variety of activities, exhibits and events during their three-day stay. Cub Scouts will be housed indoors.
On Saturday, Scouts will rotate through five major programs areas on campus while taking part in activities and programming suitable for Scouts of all ages. There also will be displays, vendors and a trading post for the Scouts. During 10 hours of outdoor and indoor activities, Scouts and leaders will visit more than 30 event stations, including action archery, climbing towers, Cub Mobile races (self-propelled wooden cars), Dutch oven cooking, Missouri Highway Patrol safety demonstrations, helicopter landings, birds of prey, magic acts, tomahawk throwing, Missouri Fur trappers, Coleman camping gear and a working sawmill.
Older Scouts (14 and up) and Venturers will also have the option of participating in a number of off-campus activities at nearby D.C. Rogers Lake, such as orienteering, geocaching and disc golf, and SCUBA and C.O.P.E. (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience, such as a ropes course) events at the Fayette City Park and swimming pool. Other Saturday events will include a 5K run and a major display of fireworks that will take place Saturday night on the Universitys Davis (football) Field.
The Boy Scouts of America organization was founded on Feb. 8, 1910, and that same year saw the establishment of Scout troops at Columbias Presbyterian Church and Christian Church. The Great Rivers Council, Boy Scouts of America, was established in 1940. There are now more than 8,000 Scouts in the Councils 33 county region of Missouri.
For more information about the Great Rivers Council, Boy Scouts of America, and its planned centennial celebration on the campus of Central Methodist University, contact Mike Miller of the Great Rivers Council at 573-449-2561 ext. 202 or by e-mail: micmille@bsamail.org.
Founded in 1854, Central Methodist is the only United Methodist Church-related university in Missouri, and welcomes qualified men and women of all faiths and from diverse backgrounds. Its wooded, historic campus hosts a faculty of teachers, mentors, and scholars dedicated to providing extraordinary attention to the individual learner. With offerings ranging from high-school dual credit to graduate studies and a total enrollment of more than 4,500, its liberal arts and pre-professional programs are centered on a character core that has twice brought Central Methodist national recognition for its leadership in character education. In recent years the University has attracted significant challenge grants from the national Kresge and Mabee Foundations to help build a $15 million Student and Community Center on the academic quadrangle and to fund $5 million in major upgrades to its athletic facilities.
