What We Do

The Cadet Scoutmasters' Council is a cadet club comprised of cadets who are interested in scouting activities, most of whom are former Boy and Girl Scouts.  Some of our main activities include providing cadet tours for Scout groups that participate in Scout Day in the fall and hosting an annual camporee in the spring.  We also try to coordinate cadet tours with visiting groups throughout the year.  Information on each of these activities, as well as additional information for visiting West Point is provided below.

 

1.  Scout Day.  Every year the Office of the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics hosts  “Scout Day” for scout groups that desire to attend sporting events. More information about scout day can be found by calling the Army Ticket Office at 1-877-TIX-ARMY.

a.  Football.  This year’s Scout Day will be held on 29 September 2007.  Scouts groups are given the opportunity to buy tickets to the game and to a tailgate and each participant will get a Scout Day patch.  The cadets in our club provide tours for scout groups after the parade and before the game.

b.  There are other Scout Days for Men’s Hockey, Men’s Basketball and  Women’s Basketball.  These dates have not yet been determined by the Office of Intercollegate Athletics for the 2007-2008 seasons.

 

2.  Camporee.  Every year the Cadet Scoutmasters' Council hosts a camporee at Lake Frederick for approximately 3,000 scouts from about 120 different Boy and Girl Scout troops.  The camporee is very popular and we typically can only accommodate about half of the troops who apply for an invitation.  The next camporee is scheduled May 9-11 2008.  Complete up to date information about the camporee can be found at West Point Scoutmasters' Council.  Please note that information for next year’s camporee is usually not posted until September/October the year prior.

 

3.  Cadet tours.  Typically we try to find cadet volunteers from our club to provide short tours of the cadet area.  If the group is camping at West Point (see Lake Frederick below), the cadet may even have the opportunity to camp with the troop.  Making this happen requires as much advanced notice as possible and is of course subject to limitations caused by academy events and cadet schedules.

 

4.  General information for scout groups visiting West Point. 

            a.  Visitor Center and Museum.  The Visitors Center provides an excellent central starting point for all visitors to the U.S. Military Academy and offers information and guided bus tours. The Visitors Center and West Point Museum are located just outside the Highland Falls entrance (i.e. Thayer Gate) to West Point and is open to the general public on a daily basis. The Visitors Center is open daily, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Operating hours are from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Call (845) 938-2638 for information. Gift Shop's Telephone Number:  (845) 446-3085.   The Visitor Center website can be found at: http://www.usma.edu/PublicAffairs/vic.htm.

            b.  Lake Frederick.  There is a camping facility for Scout Groups on the United States Military Academy reservation called Lake Frederick.  It is located about 12 miles from the main post.  Reservation information can be found at

http://www.usma.edu/dcfa/activity/outdoor/frederick2.htm or by calling (845) 938-2503.

            c.  Historic Trail.  There is a West Point Historic Trail that the scouts can hike as well, with a booklet and patch sold at the DUSA Gift Shop on the 2d floor of the museum.  The phone number is 845-446-0566.  The hike is 4.5 miles long and takes folks through all the West Point sites of interest.  An additional .5 miles can easily be added to the hike in order to satisfy the 5 mile hike requirement for the Boy Scout Second Class rank. 

            d.  Parades.   Cadet parades or “reviews” are held on select weekends in the fall and spring.  Typically in the fall, reviews will be held on the Saturday of every home football game.  You can find a complete schedule at http://www.usma.edu/uscc/corpsofcdts/cdtreviewschedule.htm.

e.  Mess Hall.  Requests to eat in the cadet mess are handled by the United States Corp of Cadets S4, Ms. Barbara McNally at 845-938-5974 or Barbara.McNally@usma.edu.  Please note that there are many factors that influence a troop’s ability to eat in the mess hall and all requests are handled based on events occurring on the date in question.  Please know that opportunities to eat in the Cadet Mess are limited so we encourage you to plan ahead..