Eagle Scout Alex Lubinsky’s Summer Trip—

At A Jamboree With An International Flavor

By Shannon Hicks

Now that school has started for the 2007-08 academic year and students are sharing their “What I Did For Summer Vacation” stories with each other, one Newtown High School senior can share his story of attending an event in England that had attendees from around the world.

Alex Lubinsky attended the World Jamboree in Chelmsford, Essex, England, this summer. He was part of a Scouting unit that left New York on Monday, July 23, and spent the next two-plus weeks in England. His group spent three days touring London before arriving at the jamboree in Hylands Park (which is within Chelmsford). This was not the first jamboree Alex attended, but it was certainly the largest.

“I went to the 2005 national jamboree and have been to two local jamborees, which are called extravaganzas, but this was completely different,” Alex said of the international event. “I thought it would be like the national jamboree, but it was more hanging out, meeting people from different countries.”

Alex is an Eagle Scout in Newtown’s Troop 270. He was inducted as the 55th Eagle for Troop 270 on May 12. During his Court of Honor, Alex also received a Bronze Palm, which is earned after a Scout has been active for an additional three months since earning his Eagle rank and has earned five merit badges beyond the 21 needed for Eagle. Alex is only the sixth Eagle Scout in the troop’s history to receive a Bronze Palm, and is on track to earn Gold and Silver Palms.

Earlier this year, Alex also received the National Camping Award from the Boy Scouts of America for 100 nights of overnight camping. To say he has been active in Scouting is almost an understatement.

The 21st World Scout Jamboree was hosted by the Scout Association of the United Kingdom from July 27 until August 8, at the birthplace of the Scouting movement. Organizers expected to host 40,000 Scouts, Venturers, leaders, and staff for 12 days, sharing adventure, international friendship, personal growth, and development. In 2007, the centennial year of the founding of the Scouting movement, the jamboree theme was “One World, One Promise.”

The United States contingent sent 3,200 Scouts from all across the country. Scouts were organized at the jamboree into subcamps, and the one that Alex stayed in had Scouts from Belgium, England, France, Greenland, Iceland, Japan, Namibia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, and others.

Subcamps, explained Alex, were divided into different geological regions such as Lagoon, Fjord, and Mangroves. There were 16 different subcamps, and each included about 2,000 people.

On August 1, Scouts from the world over held centennial celebrations. It was expected that nearly one million Scouts and leaders took part in worldwide celebrations and related events. The World Jamboree was no exception and had many special events planned for the day.

While at the jamboree, Alex also participated in workshops on the environment, health, and human rights, and had the opportunity to take part in discussions on global issues, tourism, and religious values.

There was also a Community Action Day, where the Scouts helped the community by working on a service project. One of three outings from the jamboree, in fact, was on Community Action Day. Alex traveled to a historical park where he and other young men and women (“Scouting is coed everywhere but the United States,” he said. “We are the last country to keep Scouting separate. Venture crew is coed, however.”) spent the day clearing brush from a trail.

One of Alex’s other outings during the jamboree was to Gilwell Park.

“Gilwell is the main headquarters for British Boy Scouts,” said Alex. “They had BMX, skateboarding, and carnival style rides for us while we were there.”

The jamboree was divided almost evenly between structured activities and free time. Different countries had booths set up to demonstrate the culture of their countries, and by making sure that the subcamps each hosted Scouts from a number of countries, organizers ensured that new friendships were formed.

“Clearly the purpose was to meet people of other cultures and to make friends,” said Peter Lubinsky, Alex’s father and the Scoutmaster of Newtown Troop 270. “They generally had activities scheduled for half of each day and then a lot of free time.”

In meeting people from other countries, Scouts did a lot of trading as well. Flags, uniforms, patches… “Trading is a big thing over there,” said Alex, who took a handful of uniforms with him so that he could exchange them with others. He ended up coming home with uniform components from French, British, and Japanese Scouts.

“These countries were important to me because I have lived in each of them,” he said. “I also came home with a Greater London T-shirt, a Polish beret, and a Mexican T-shirt.”

Alex also formed a close relationship with a group of Scouts from Britain. The Scouts started by playing a lot of soccer, but soon Alex had them playing Frisbee. At the end of the jamboree, he exchanged his neckerchief with one of these boys.

“Neckerchiefs, in many parts of the world, is the uniform,” said Mr Lubinsky.

“That was part of your ID, your neckerchief and nametag,” agreed Alex.

Alex arrived in England shortly after the country had gone through a historic period of rains. In packing for his trip, one of the final things he put into his duffel bag was a 25-foot roll of plastic. He was, as the Boy Scouts motto urges, prepared. Ironically, he never needed the plastic.

“It’s funny, because you always hear about rain and fog and bad weather in England,” said Alex. “But there was no rain while we were there. We had nice weather in England.”