Screemin' Eagles Newsletter

September '96

 

            Well! The old scout year's finally over.  The big summer trip concluded and a blow-out Court of Honor finished.  The boys had quite a summer with younger scouts participating in Scout Camp at Parsons, a Biking trip for the Older Scouts at the San Juans and A High Adventure Sailing trip for the group that I work most closely with.  To all who helped out in these activities, for the boys, let me thank you. Did you see the load of merit badges and advancements that poured from these efforts! Did you hear of the great spirit felt around  the campfires and our Sunday sacrament services.

            Much preparation went into putting the sailing trip together and Id like to make special mention of the long hours of preparation Kevin Tame and Josh put into getting the motorboat and sailing rigs together. A number of evenings were spent with the aid of Alan and Glen as well.  The boys all helped create the sails, masts, rudders - well you name it, we had to fabricate it.  In the process, those who worked on this learned all kinds of skills; riveting, drilling, metal bending, cutting & welding, painting, knot tying, sewing, material layout.  Certainly, the adults did a great deal of work on the project, but each of the boys who contributed was able to take their turn at the helm of a seaworthy vessel with thrill & pride in their accomplishment. Other than a loose bolt that brought the McGyver out of the Sypher crew, the boats held up very well to some healthy wind and chop.  These boats were fast! Towing the vessels behind the motorboat was a different story - fuel for many campfire yarns to come.

            Lets keep our eyes open for good deals on canoes.  If we own the canoes instead of renting them, we can create much better decks to keep splash out of the canoes than the skirts we created for the rentals.  This sailing rigging is part of the legacy these boys leave behind and it was built to last. It will be much easier to use if we own all the gear.

            OK, Onward and upward!  Literally.  I'd like to move the emphasis for this year from aquatics to mountaineering climaxing with rock climbing and a high peak (maybe for the older scouts) during a 50 mile hike.  This is traditional Scouting for many troops and is the legacy I am able to carry to your youth from many good men who led me to a love of Gods wilderness.  I invite you to lend your support.  To get us in shape the troop went on our 1st overnight & 10 mile hike.

            When I was 12 year old on my 1st 50 mile hike, I was a little 'Tiny Tim' if there ever was one.  I still don't particularly care for that weight on my back and take every effort to minimize how heavy, how long and under what conditions and terrain it must be carried. So why do it? I know from long experience that there is real growth - physical, spiritual and emotional that can acrew. I conduct all my activities including high adventure as you read in DC 89 "Given for a principle with a promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak, and the weakest of all (scouts), who are or can be called (scouts).

            While the world is wrapped up in a tide of highminded selfishness and pleasure seeking, Our scouting meeting and outing run by priesthood bretheren for priesthood bretheren are a bulk head of defence. Our program addresses the categories I've elaborated below in a favorable way.

 

      Leadership: Doing projects like building snowshoes, canoes, sails, shelves, book holders teaches skills and cooperative efforts.  High adventure forces the boys to take care of each other.  The patrol method is heavily emphasized and maps well with the multi-quorum strategy of the church.

 

    Safety is utmost. 14 years of 50 milers, para-sailing, kayaking, rock climbing, canoeing, winter & wet camping have yielded a 100% safety record (minus a few cut fingers).  Safety is not an accident. I give it a lot of thought to minimize or mitigate the inherent risks of outdoor adventures.

 

    Capability: Our kids are a lot more capable than most folks or the kids themselves realize.  It's not my way to pamper, but I've never received a complaint.  Quite the contrary, the boys that struggle the most are the ones who seem to come back the most excited. If anybodies whining, it's probably me!

 

    Burnout: Folks don't enjoy a sport and then just walk away with -"been there, done that" on their lips.  The activities these young boys enjoy one year get repeated for a lifetime.  This is true with a caveat.  Kids whose creativity has been saturated with "easy entertainment" may find it more difficult to appreciate anything not spoon fed, but even my worst 'cartoon kids' have been turned around spiritually and otherwise due to the Zion's camp effect of a 50 miler.

 

      Advancement: We have a month to month emphasis on various merit badges both on week nights and our campouts.  Parents, take note of which ones we are working on if you'ld like to encourage your sons progress.  When it comes to advancement - our program with its' high adventure emphasis achieves up to twice the merit badges earned as troops that rely on council programs and we deliver the kind of real adventure they'll tell their grandkids about. This will be available for scouts 12 and up. For the youngest scouts, 11 and maybe some 12 year olds, we will offer a council run camp experience in the summer. This provides an easy transition away from home. With so many scouts around, the boys can get a feeling for the momentum of the scouting movement and experience a flavor of scouting that we would not try to duplicate on our own.  We will have non-overlapping schedules for those who qualify and want to have it all!

 

    Spiritual Development: Many youth in the scriptures discovered God while in the wilderness.  Enough of my former scouts have called me to relate how a 50 miler became a crossroads - where they chose the trail of a Godly walk, that I've made every effort to include them as a consistent part of our program.  I think it takes getting away from all that is familiar for a significant period of time before our programmed faced can be breached.  These trips can be a crucible for growth. I am convinced that I can best achieve this refinement as far away from civilization as possible.

 

    Physical Development: I remember pushing a couple of nervous portly kids somewhat further up a vertical cliff than they thought they could go.  The next day at church, it was those same kids that were the most jazzed over the rock climbing - not the thin spiders who had had an easy time of it. This has been repeated so many times.  We coddle our kids so much with tailgate camping or worse that we cheat them of the development that could have been theirs. Yes, I do want them to dig snow caves, not sleep in cabins.

 

            Missionary Work: The best kind of missionary work is one on one.  Rubbing shoulders at a camporee with non-member troops might be fun and we do it most every year, but that's not were anybodies likely to get converted.  In John 15:19 we read:

           

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

 

 The world will not embrace us until we become like the world.  Showing them up at camporees and scout camps with flagpoles full of ribbons will no more endear them to our cause than our superior advancement record has hertofore. Having a top flight program that your sons are proud and excited to share with their friends has a much better chance to bring them into fellowship.

 

    Emotional Growth: We accelerate growth when we successfully overcome trials, difficulties or stressful situations. Its part of the Scoutmasters job to help our boys grow to emotionally strong men. I try to stay just outside the comfort region.  The monthly activities and the summer high adventure trips are designed to be unfamiliar & challenging, yet doable for all who prepare by coming to our weekly and monthly activities.

 

           

Ok thats an earfull if you got this far.  We are still putting detail into our next years plan.  It will be out shortly for your review.

 

                                    May you and yours Soar with the Eagles

 

                                                Scoutmaster Steve