Project Cope

COPE

Since its founding in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has offered its members an outdoor program stressing the words of the scout oath, On my honor I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. In short this means you obide by the rules of your government your religion and the scout law A Scout is ...trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Now as part of being physically strong mentally awake and moally straight you can improve and test these in COPE or Project COPE which is an acronym for Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience. It is comprised of a series of outdoor challenges. It begins with basic group initiative games and progressing to more complicated low-course than high-course activities. most of these events involve a group effort, whereas others test individual skills and agility. Participants climb, swing, balance, jump, and rappel as well as think through solutions to a variety of challenges. Most participants find that they can do much more than they initially thought they could.

Project COPE is an exciting outdoor activity that can attract and keep older boys in Scouting. It is designed to meet the needs of today's youth fourteen years of age and old same age of venturers who are seeking greater challenges to their physical and mental abilities. The underlying goals of a Project COPE course are consistent with the methods of Scouting. Group activities are ideal for emphasizing the patrol method and developing leadership. Individual activities help promote personal growth. Participation is entirely voluntary.

The History and Background of COPE comes from he 1979 Dalajamb International Encampment in Sweden provided a number of challenging events of great interest to Scouts from the United States. Foremost among them was the pioneering course constructed by a group of veteran Swedish Scouts. This course was laid out in a heavily wooded area and utilized terrain elevations as part of the design. Bridges were built across ravines of varying widths and depths. Zip lines hung for traversing the ravines, and novel constructions were used for climbing.

The National Council of the Boy Scouts of America was interested in programs, equal to the successful overseas and jamboree activities, that could be promoted on a nationwide basis. Project COPE was identified as having that potential because it offered older Scouts the kind of challenging and exciting program that encouraged them to return to summer camp and increased their tenure. An unexpected dividend was the use of Project COPE by youth and adults outside of Scouting (high courses, project adventure). These groups found it an excellent tool for developing both team effort and individual achievement.

A Project COPE course provides an opportunity for each participant to achieve success as an individual and as a member of a patrol or team. The activities are not designed to be competitive or to be races against time, though in some circumstances they are turned into competitions. The objectives include building teams; solving problems; making decisions; and developing trust, communication, leadership, and self-esteem as team members cooperate to achieve goals upon which they have agreed. The course is designed to foster personal growth in a shorter length of time than anything most people have experienced.

On the note of safety National promotion of Project COPE enables the Boy Scouts of America to establish standards designed to meet Scouting's