LONG VALLEY, N.J. – A camporee for Ukrainian Plast cub scouts (novatstvo) took place on Sunday, May 31, here at Schooley’s Mountain County Park . The camporee is a one-day, theme-oriented program that is usually held at the conclusion of the school year.
Eighty-three Plast cub scouts, boys and girls age 6-11, as well as 26 counselors, from Plast branches and groups in Newark, Passaic and Bound Brook, N.J., and Philadelphia participated in the event, which was organized this year by Plast’s Chortopolokhy sorority, led by Anna Pohorylo, with the participation of 17 of its senior and junior members.
The camporee was led by Nadia Nynka, director; Adrienne Magun, head counselor; and Larissa Popel, scribe. Mark Nynka, as a registered EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), provided medical support. Additionally, two members of the Newark Plast branch, scouts Deanna Zawadiwsky and Alexander Tomko, as part of their project for achieving Plast’s eagle scout rank, planned the camporee’s theme and the general program for the day, designed and ordered the T-shirts and emblems distributed to all of the participants, and organized and led the sports activities and games.
The theme of the camporee was “A Sweet World.” During the opening ceremonies, the leader of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization U.S.A., Christine Kochan, was introduced and welcomed. Following opening ceremonies, Christine Stawnychy presented a story in which the main characters were acted out by the counselors and members of Chortopolokhy that set the storyline for the day: The king of Candy-Land rode out to buy candy and flowers for his daughter’s birthday, but on his way back got lost in a forest and was captured by a forest urchin, who stole his candy and locked him in a dungeon throwing away the keys. The king needed to be found and freed.
The day’s activities also included: hiking, with three planned activities along the way, including hints for finding the king, organized by Ms. Stawnychy, Larissa Holynskyj and Christine Chraplyvy; and an arts and crafts activity planned and organized by Christine Bokalo-D’Agostino.
Following lunch, prepared by Nila Pawluk and Evhenia Podolak, the children and counselors participated in liturgy celebrated by the Rev. Taras Lonchyna. During his sermon he told the children that he too grew up in scouting and was a member of the Pobratymy fraternity.
The day’s closing ceremony included the award of the fifth level of cub scouting, the highest in Plast cub scouts before entering scouting, to Adrian D’Agostino of Bound Brook.
However, the closing ceremony didn’t end the day’s activities. A traditional campfire was held, organized by the junior members of Chortopolokhy. Although a real fire was not permitted, a very realistic campfire had been constructed by Evhenia Podolok which, with the use of a fan and red, orange and yellow streamers, looked very convincing. Ksenia Salewycz provided guitar accompaniment, as the children sang along and listened to a story acted out by Chortopolokhy junior members Adriana Fedorijczuk, Roxanna Kobziar, Adrienne Magun, Andrea Watters and Adrianna Kuzyszyn-Mamay.
Finally, Ms. Stawnychy announced that, while hiking through the woods, the children had found clues that led them to keys that could unlock the dungeon where the king was imprisoned. One by one the children who found keys came up to the door of the dungeon and opened a lock. Once all of the locks were opened, the king came out and, to the delight of all of the children present, distributed a bagful of candy to each child there as a thank-you for freeing him.
The camporee came to an end with all of the children forming a large circle and singing the traditional farewell song “Nich Vzhe Ide.” Although this marked the end of the scouting activities in their local branches, many of the children are looking forward to several weeks at Plast camps in July before returning to their regular branch activities in September.