Historian Blog

On November 29, 2017, Leicester’s Troop 123 took a visit to the center of town’s Leicester Cable Access Corporation, or LCAC for short. I had an away math meet, so I was unfortunately unable to make the meet, so I sat down with fellow Troop 123 scout Brendan Johnson to find out about the outing. Having previously visited LCAC myself due to my interest in video production, I was curious as to what the Troop was shown.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by Art Paquette, one of the long time members of the corporation. He talked about the history of LCAC and what it does today, usually involving the recording of numerous activities around the town, such as town meetings, basketball and baseball games, and sometimes school graduations, for the local cable channel in Leicester. He also mentioned the live coverage they did when officer Ronald Tarentino was shot and killed.

After describing the coverage that LCAC does, Art went on to showcase some of the major equipment that they use. He showed them the cameras on wheels, which were connected to live video feeds. He used this opportunity to have some fun, and starting zooming in on objects and parts of people’s faces and cracking jokes about the way the shape of the lens warped their shapes. He showed the Troop their large systems of computers, fitted with recording and editing softwares, primarily QuickTime Player and Final Cut Pro. He mentioned that the company used to have drones, but they have since given them to the police department.

The Troop learned the rudimentary principles of LCAC’s operations at their meeting. Brendan enjoyed his time there, although he told me that standing up for virtually the entirety of the meeting took somewhat of a toll by the end. He said that his takeaway was that LCAC left him with the feeling that they are there to help the community, as Art additionally mentioned the jobs they do for people who just call up and ask in terms of video production. From my personal experience with LCAC, this sums up the corporation quite accurately. This is Historian Joe, signing off!

Welcome back to the Historian Blog, where in this article we will be covering Troop 123’s journey through the Escape Games. I was unable to make this event due to it being on Super Sunday for the High School Quiz Show, so I sat down with Zavier Morales, who shared his experience in the event.

This event was held on Sunday, November 5, 2017, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Zavier and the other scouts arrived in the afternoon and grouped up in the entrance. The agreement for the event was that each Scout would pay the admission fee in advance, and if they showed up to the event they would get their money back. After each Scout received their funds, they entered the building and waited for their time slot.

After quite some time waiting, the Troop entered. They were greeted by a man with an incredible mustache, who told them the rules of the game– where they were and were not allowed to go. The event played out a scenario true to its name– a game in which the Troop must escape from a locked room. Clues strewn about the room were hidden by locked chests and logic puzzles, and one final clue would lead to the escape in sight.

The puzzles were diverse and complex. Some were trick questions, others were riddles, and still others were circuit boards with buttons and switches, which needed to be set in just the right fashion in order to advance. Some puzzles were even locked behind other puzzles. Upon escaping the room, the Troop was not yet out of the woods, as they were greeted with an armed bomb and a narrow time limit to defuse it. The ultimate quicktime event, the Troop triumphed in the end, successfully defusing the bomb and escaping the games.

From Zavier’s description, the Games seem reminiscent to 5 Wits at Patriot Place, which I visited a couple times several years ago. One of the games even involved a bomb defusal. The main difference, of course, was that my group was not actually successful in defusing the bomb.

After the games were over; Zavier said the event lasted about 1 hour and 45 minutes; the Troop stopped at Antonio’s Pizza for dinner. The pizza was high quality, signifying a job well done for Troop 123. Zavier’s favorite part of the games was the suspense-filled bomb defusing sequence, and his least favorite part was the waiting time for their slot. If he were to change one thing about the event, it would be the access to bathrooms  pre-game, as they were locked.

Zavier told me his main takeaway from the event is that, just like in the tricky puzzles present in the Escape Games, things are not always what they seem from the outside. You may need to solve a little riddle to find the prize inside. Troop 123 will be sure to take this to heart moving forward; until next time, this is Historian Joe signing off!

Welcome back to Historian Joe’s catalog of Troop 123 events! Since my long break, I have garnered many new scouting experiences, including Treasure Valley Scout Camp, the 2017 Harvest Fair, and my Eagle Scout project. For today’s article, the topic is Troop 123’s recent outing at Jiminy Peak in Hancock over the Columbus Day weekend. I was unable to make this event, so I sat down with Nathan Keevan, a second year Scout who took on the event for the first time.

Going into the interview, what I remembered most prominently was the bleak forecast of the weekend on which the outing took place. However, according to Nate, the Troop dodged a bullet, as on Sunday, the main event day, there was hardly any rain. Monday poured, but that was simply a pack-up-and-leave day. The outing went from Saturday evening to Monday morning.

The campsite was worlds different from that of our summer camp home base, as it was primary an open field, which hardly left the Troop’s tents in any condition to stay dry overnight. Nate, however, told me that this was his only major complaint about the event, and that the main source of memorability, of course, came from the Jiminy Peak course itself.

On Sunday, main event day, once the passes were paid and accounted for, Nate set off for the obstacle course. Along the way he was harnessed for the zip lines, and moved onward. He started on the easier section, which was simple to complete with the exception of a segment involving wobbly boards which moved at sporadic rates. On the normal difficulty section, this section of the course was considerably more challenging, with the boards being smaller, less predictably moving, and occupying a much longer percentage of the course.

After this was lunch. Scouts brought their lunches in their bags. Some ate in the truck, some ate in the lot. Immediately upon finishing, Nate moved on to the zipline-focused course, which involved a rather complicated harness, with a locking system that inhibited his movement inconveniently throughout the course. The harness consisted of two locks, one of which had to be locked into the course at all times for safety, but this caused the harness to be overly cumbersome to work with, its mechanics especially noticeable during the tighter sections of the course against the trees.

Then came what was the hardest part of the courses for Nate: the trust fall. In this, he was to harness himself and gradually fall over a landscape, trusting the harness’ cords to stop his fall safely. The most challenging part for him was overcoming the feeling of weightlessness that accompanied the jump off into the fall. After conquering this attraction, snacks were served at the Food Shack. Nate ordered an oreo milkshake for his troubles.

After the food stop, the final attraction was a bouncy house, optimized with harnesses for maximum bounciness. The house was an excellent time, but soon it was time to return to camp. Nate pitched a tent with Second Class scout Bobby Hokanson, and the Troop played Nate’s game from summer camp, Shape Shifter, for a while and then slept until morning, awakening to the sound of the pouring rain. The rain prevented too much from being accomplished at the campsite, such as requirements for rank advancements, but thankfully the Jiminy Peak expedition was kept intact.

Nate’s favorite part of Jiminy Peak was the ziplining. Unlike the trust fall segment, the feeling of weightlessness here was relaxing and complemented the motion of the zipline nicely. His least favorite part was the locking of the harness through tight spaces, what with its over complications. If he were to change one part of the outing, it would have been camping at a campsite much more reminiscent of a Treasure Valley campsite, with tent platforms and a hard shelter. He was glad to have conquered his minor fear of heights, and says that his main takeaway from the event was that he knows he had a great time, while knowing how much more awaits him next time he visits, as there are even more difficult obstacle courses that he wasn’t able to take on due to age/height barriers, and he looks forward to the next time the Troop visits.

That’s all my interview with Nate had to report on the Jiminy Peak experience of Troop 123 this year. This was not Troop 123’s first visit to this location, and it certainly won’t be their last with descriptions like this one! Until then, this is Historian Joe signing off!