Written By: Neeyati Salvi
2020 was a year that changed everyone’s lives forever. It started off as a normal year. We went to school, work, parties, and other events. In January the first Coronavirus case was reported in the US. By March it had spread to the entire country. People started social distancing, doing work and school virtually, wearing masks when they went out. All of these major lifestyle changes changed the way we did scouting this year.
The first few months were conducted in person. We held our troop meetings in person throughout January, February, and part of March. During these months we had the Indoor Rally on January 31st, our first troop birthday on February 1st, and our last in-person troop meeting on March 13th.
Indoor rally preparations started a few months in advance. The events we prepared for were: knot tying relay, compass relay, first aid relay, firemen drag, stick relay, rope rescue, and scoutmaster drag. I participated in the compass relay. Sanjana and I had a great time teaching other scouts the directions on the compass and watching the team break team records. Watching other events was also really fun. The girls in our troop that didn’t participate in events played a big part as well. On the sidelines, our troop was one of the loudest cheerleaders, making it only right we won the spirit award :). The next day the troop’s first birthday party was held at Rockin' Jump. We got to play on the trampolines for a little bit and then we went into a room to cut the cake. The cake was cut by Mr. Amon and other adult leaders. Then Anya played a video made by Sofia. All the girls loved it!
In late March and early April, we started doing scouting virtually. Our last in-person troop meeting was on March 13, 2020. That day wasn’t only the last “normal” day for scouting, it was also the last “normal” day for the world. It was the last day people went to school, went to work, and went out with their friends. I remember sitting on the bus on the way home from school thinking we were having a two-week break, I could say those two weeks felt like nine months. At the end of March, the troop set up an online advancement system. Unlike meeting with older scouts or adults at the end of troop meetings, scouts have to contact those who sign off requirements for specific ranks and meeting them virtually. Asking for BOR’s had the same process as before the pandemic, except the meeting was virtual. On April 10, 2020, we had our first virtual meeting. The first few meetings were movie nights because we were piloting. As time went on, we started hosting virtual campouts, informational sessions, craft sessions, and much more.
Throughout the rest of the year, scouts did many activities such as making face shields, sending cards to frontline workers, and doing art projects together. Over the summer, Zoe held a face shield service project. Throughout the summer she held pick up and drop off sessions for the shields. For a good chunk of the year, Shria held pick up and drop off’s so we could give cards to the frontline workers. On September 11, 2020, we made cards during the meeting to give to firefighters fighting the fires all over northern California.
To see how much spirit our troop had we held a troop spirit month. The preparations started in October. Each patrol had to undergo a series of competitions. During each competition, the patrols would gain points for how many members attended and overall performance. Each competition had individual winners and patrol winners.
The first competition was the costume competition. Scouts dressed up in their Halloween costumes and attended the meeting. During the first part of the meeting, we watched a movie and in the last few minutes, we held the competition. The competition had three categories: the sweetest costume, the best classic costume, and the scariest costume. In these three categories, scouts competed for first, second, and third place. They earned points which went to their total score for the whole month
The next day, there was a Halloween scavenger hunt. Patrols went on a scavenger hunt and competed for points. In the end they got candy to make up for trick or treating. Some people said there was someone stalking them from the paw patrol. That’s pretty spooky!
The week after we held the cooking competitions. Scouts competed for first, second, and third place individually and in their patrols. Scouts spent the meeting baking their desserts. They were judged based on description and appearance.
Next week, there was an Art competition. Each patrol was assigned topics about nature: animals, trees, flowers, insects, etc. All the girls must have had so much fun. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend otherwise I would have enjoyed it too:(.
Over Thanksgiving break, scouts were asked to take pictures of anything they wanted and to submit them the following week. Enough scouts didn’t participate, but those that did manage to get points for their patrol.
Two weeks later our troop held our wintmas party. We watched “Home Alone” and made cards for each other. Then we split apart to begin our virtual campout. During the campout, we had sign off sessions, skill learning sessions, and patrol time. In the Turtlez patrol meetings, we played online games and bonded.
2020 was a year completely different from the rest. I remember memes going around about people not having 2020 vision. Nobody thought it would actually be true. Anyway, let’s hope 2021 is somewhat normal!