The rain subsided for a day to let the Daredevil’s Club and Vespula Veterans participate in the annual fall Showdown between the two eldest groups of Explorers. On the docket for the day… play! With three adult volunteers, anEMA from the Firestalkers group of our Four Shields program, and all four regular mentors, Explorers enjoyed a loud and raucous day in the south Lake Padden woods with stealthy and focused moments interspersed throughout. Thank you Kyle, Brian, Jimmy, and Mike for volunteering your Sunday with the Boys EC!
It took a while for everyone to get comfortable with such a large group but Explorers considered the motto, All Things Are Connected. Despite being in different groups, we are all integral to the Boys EC and we care about the natural world, so we have an immediate connection. Steve led us in a mixer so that we could meet some new faces that we may not have known.
Last year, the Vespula Veterans looked up to the Firestalkers during the outing, deferring to those older boys. This year, the Vespula Veterans were the older group being looked up to. And that’s not just figuratively! Soon they will tower over us mentors. Next year the Daredevil’s Club Explorers will most likely do the same thing as they mentor an upcoming group.
Our first challenge was a three way competition among the Daredevil’s Club, Vespula Veterans, and the mentors! In twenty minutes, we were to build the best debris shelter possible. In this time of focus, every person in the woods was helping his team to have the sturdiest and most insulated shelter. And the final products were impressive. All the while, Greg and Matt were setting up our next game, Life and Death in the Forest, so they served as judges for the competition. Their feedback was enlightening.
They reminded all groups about the importance of insulating ourselves from the GROUND! We all did a good job of adding insulation to the top of the shelters, but we forgot about making ourselves a proper thermal block from the cold earth. Some groups were docked for building in precarious locations (near dead standing trees, aka snags) or in places where water might collect. But we were all praised for the strength of our shelters. Matt climbed atop of each to see if they were sturdy and indeed they were!
Competition can be broken down in Latin as such: Com- together andpetere- to seek. Thus, our competition was not to set up rivalry nor negative feelings. Boys learned and should remember that competition in Explorers Club is designed so that we “strive together.” In competing against other groups, we are actually working with each other and striving to make ourselves better. Explorers all grew as a result of the day’s competitions.
The second and lengthy game is called “Life and Death in the Forest.” Explorers and Mentors alike took on the roles of carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores and tried to collect the proper amounts of food and water to survive. Carnivores set up ambushes near watering holes and bands of omnivores roamed the forest looking out for carnivores while attacking herbivores. Carnivores howled and some herbivores started to mimic the carnivores in order to scare off potential threats around watering holes and food sources.
We fled from predation but only as much as needed. Hunters readily gave up chasing prey that was too fast, lest they spend more energy than necessary to get their resources. We truly embodied these roles as we lived and died in the forest. This is a beneficial game for its demand that we connect with the landscape and learn to live within its boundaries. It also gives us first hand feelings of what it is like to hunt or be hunted. When we were being chased by a predacious hunter, many of us lost our thinking sense and identified the best routes to flee by instinct and feeling. Above all, this was a lot of fun!
Thank you Daredevil’s Club and Vespula Veterans for this great day together in the woods. Your sense of competition should be celebrated. We all grew as a result of working hard, pushing one another to do our very best while building debris shelter and hunting and hiding from one another. You are creating a healthy Explorers Club culture for the younger groups coming through the ranks after you!
Parents, thank you for your support of these Explorers and our BEC community. We appreciate your working together to navigate a tricky parking lot at Galby Lane too! You can find the few (blurry) pictures from the outing at the Vespula Veteran's photo gallery. See you on November 16th for your respective outings: Vespula Veterans meet for service at Connelly Creek; Daredevil’s Club meets at Samish Woods Montessori for an exploration at Squires Lake.
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