GLEN JEAN, W.Va. — Mark Beese, a USA Contingent Management Team Member, has told scouts at the 24th World Scout Jamboree in Fayette County that their social media feeds will never be the same.
He noted how faces and languages from all over the world will remake their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter timelines a global dialogue area when the Jamboree comes to a close.
Beese, appearing on Wednesday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline’, said the global relationships built at the Jamboree has always been what it’s about.
“To a scout, no matter what country that we speak to they say it’s the people that we have met, it’s the relationships that I’ve have built from countries that I have never heard of, from people who I never would have expected to,” Beese said.
“You start seeing stereotypes breakdown and friendship built.”
Beese said that was the mission 99 years ago when the World Scout Jamboree started, for people to make relationships that often last a lifetime that cross cultures and cross borders.
“To be build relationships among the youth of the world so we can prevent world war and make it a peace project,” he said. “Most people think of the Jamboree as a great big campout, but for those planning it and staffing it, we see it as a project of peace.”
Beese told a story about the previous World Scout Jamboree held in Japan and being able to take 36 scouts. He said he warned the scouts that their lives will be changed forever and when they got home to the United States he heard that they did.
“I heard you know Mr. Beese I am a changed person,” he said. “I see the world differently. I have personal connections with places like Lebanon, Europe, and Asia and when I see things in the news it’s now personal to me because I know people that live there. That’s what makes the World Jamboree so special.”
The Jamboree is being held at the Bechtel Summit and has more than 40,000 Scouts from 170 national scouting organizations.
Closing ceremonies take place on Thursday night with the majority of scouts and leaders leaving on Friday.
.@Leadership4Law talks with @HoppyKercheval about how the @2019_WSJ is going, and what his observations are from the last week and a half at the WSJ. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/vEHCuLkqJg
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) July 31, 2019