Sunday, December 7, 2008

Boy Scouts of America

Boy Scouts has been a big part of our family's life since Joey first signed up for Wolf den at Pack 86 and Brian joined Tigers five years ago. Since we have moved to New York, being involved in Scouts has been a lifeline for us in a lot of ways.

Within about 3 minutes of being at our first meeting, Joey was whisked away with some other boys to do a flag ceremony. During our second weekend here, we were out camping with the Troop. Thanks to Scouts, we have an instant group of friends and people we are proud to associate with and who share our values.

Although Pack 728 is small (though actively recruiting!), it has a very energetic Cubmaster who runs the Pack just as if there were 50 boys in it. During part of the "Scientist" badge, we wanted to see if the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment actually worked (part of the rocket/propulsion theory), so we tried it out.

I am especially drawn to the idea that Scouting isn't just a bunch of games, but "a game with a purpose." Yes, we want to have fun, but we also want to help boys turn in to fine young men.

Last weekend, we went to Camp Alpine, Greater New York Council's Cub Camp and got some time on the climbing wall as well as on their compass course. (Check it out, Troop 33, we are working on First Class now!) The Scoutmaster of Troop 728 has a lot of Scouting exeperience (though he's not old like the Committee Chair of our Troop in Columbus) and does a great job with a very diverse group of boys.

Many people call Scouting a brotherhood and we have seen that in our move to New York. It didn't matter where we came from or why we were here, just that we were Scouts and looking to join in the action.

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