Putting the "out" in Scouting!

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 644, 9 July 1996, Page 6

Putting the "out" in Scouting!

John Hays is keeping a family tradition in Scouting going, recently taking up a position as a lifeguard at a Boy Scouts of America summer camp high in the Sierra Nevadas, near Yosemite National Park in California. John, 17 1/2, and a Queen Scout from Ohakune, will be the resident "Kiwi" at the camp where he will come into contact with some 2400 scouts during his 7-8 week stay

while taking classes in motor-boating, sailing and lifesaving. This is John's second season working at a USA summer camp. In 1993, along with his father, mother and younger brother Brian, he worked for three months in the Blue Ridge Mountains in north-east Georgia. His older brother Warwick spent two summers working in a scout camp near

Dayton, Ohio, in 1994-95. His destination this year is Camp Hi-Sierra which is the same camp that eight scouts (himself included) and four leaders from Ohakune visitedin 1994. John, aselfconfessed rollercoaster dict,islookingforward to catching up with some of the newest, mean-

est and fastest rides that are being offered at the Great America Amusement Park outside San Francisco, as well as a baseball game or two. John took with him many photos of Mt Ruapehu erupting and has said that Californians could not see why we would live so close to an active volcano, but they were quite happy to live on top of the San Andreas fault line with all of its associated earthquakes. He is looking forward to hopefully joining the NZ Army next year as a chef.