GLEN JEAN, W.Va. — Bus after bus after bus left the Bechtel Summit in Fayette County Friday as thousands of scouts departed the World Scout Jamboree.
Summit Director of Program and Operations Kenn Miller said the coordinated exit effort was impressive.
“We had about a hundred buses leave before midnight (Thursday) and I’ve been loading buses since five o’clock this (Friday) morning. There will be another 730 (buses) depart by about 4 p.m. when the last bus heads out. It’s like an armored maneuver,” Miller said during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Miller talked to several of the 45,000 scouts as they loaded up.
“They were tired and some of them are going to tour the United States after this but I think most are ready to go back to their home countries. They had a great time and the citizens of West Virginia have been a great host to our kids and our leaders,” Miller said.
Some buses were going to Charleston, Charlotte, Washington, D.C. and even New York City.
Miller said the scouts, which represented more than 150 countries, take with them a lot of memories.
“And lots of friends,” he said. “The interaction among countries was amazing and I guarantee you a vast majority of the kids will be back at some point. They’re coming back to West Virginia because of the experience they had.”
Miller said he can tell the 10,000 acre Summit property has seen a lot of action but the scouts did a good job with the property.
“Scouts leave it better than they found it. They were great about cleaning up their area. We just need to get the grass back. We had more than 40,000 people pounding on our lawn for a couple of weeks,” Miller said.
The next major event at the Summit is later this month when the Spartan race takes place.
Kenn Miller, Director of Program & Operations for the Boy Scouts of America Summit Group, speaks with @HoppyKercheval to recap the World Scout Jamboree and its impact on the state of West https://t.co/OfUSlDoAu4: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/3T7IqIGxms
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) August 2, 2019