In the wilderness

Youngsters cause a stir on the internet

There was a lot of excitement before the launch

(Bild: Pfadfindergruppe Braunau)

14 scouts from Braunau were abandoned in the Swedish wilderness. The youngsters' adventures were filmed and compiled into a series. And with great success: 50,000 people have already watched the first episode on YouTube.

14 young scouts from Braunau have become real internet stars. As reported, the teenagers were sent out into the Swedish wilderness in teams of two and were left to their own devices for 72 hours. The teenagers, aged between 13 and 16, filmed the entire adventure with an action camera. This resulted in more than 50 hours of video footage. Initiator Patrick Eichriedler used the material to create ten episodes. The first episode was shown at HTL Braunau on November 8th.

Making a fire was one of the easier tasks.

(Bild: Pfadfindergruppe Braunau)

Enthusiastic audience
"I have already given and seen many presentations. But I've never experienced anyone being so attentive the whole time and finding the topic so exciting," says Eichriedler happily. "The feedback was very positive. The only criticism was that the first episode was over and people would have liked to see more," smiles Eichriedler. The first episode was also uploaded to the Braunau am Inn scout group's YouTube channel at the same time. New episodes can be seen every Friday from 6 pm.

On land and on water

(Bild: Pfadfindergruppe Braunau)

Lots of positive feedback
"We are incredibly surprised by the number of views. The comments are 95 percent positive," says everyone involved, delighted with the success. After around two weeks, the first episode has almost 50,000 views. "It was important for us to put scouting in the spotlight," says Eichriedler, who has 27 years of scouting experience himself.

He hopes that the campaign will also motivate new recruits: "You normally start as a scout between the ages of seven and nine. Maybe we can use our videos to get older people to join the scouts."