Boy Scouts lend hand to Glacier Institute

A crew of Boy Scouts from Lancaster, Pa. gave the Glacier Institute’s Big Creek field camp a big boost last week.

Scouts from Troop 99 made the 40-hour bus ride to the camp and went to work converting a former 1941-era saw shop tucked in back of the campus into a working classroom. The Glacier Institute had been holding classes in a converted garage.

Twenty-one boys and nine adults worked for three days remodeling the lower half of the saw shop with a new floor, porch, windows and other amenities, troop leader Dave Shirk said.

The Scouts worked in shifts, with help from Glacier Institute board member Art Burch, who is a woodworker and boat builder himself.

When the Scouts weren’t working, they were on hikes in Glacier National Park. They also planned on doing some invasive species surveying while in the Park on their last two days. All told, the Scouts were only in the area for five days.

“They’re eager boys,” Shirk said. “Keeping them busy is a challenge.”

Robby Miller was one of the Scouts at work, pounding nails into the siding. When asked how he liked Montana, he just smiled.

“It’s awesome,” he said.