Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

Date: October 15, 2009 - # 9942 - Title: Scouting turns boys into responsible adult leaders (820)

A strong community, a community where people like to live, is more than a community of people governed by laws enforced by a sheriff; it is a community of people serving other people – not by government decree or compulsion but out of a love for their fellow man. And the opportunity to serve one’s fellow man is endless with the person providing the service often more blessed than he or she, or the cause, being served.

            Growing up I was served by the 4/H volunteers of my community and I learned much from those that served me. Then it became my turn to serve and in 1965 I was asked to serve as the scoutmaster of Troop 43 here in Atlanta. I served Troop 43 as scoutmaster for five years before being asked to serve as a neighborhood commissioner. During those years of service I developed a great love for the scouting program, a love that continues to this day. Scouting not only blessed the lives of the boys and their families I served it also blessed me and my family, especially my sons and grandsons who became Eagle Scouts.

            The memories of those days of service are still vivid in my memory bank. I remember well those days of taking ‘my boys’ to Bert Adams, then the only Scout Camp in Georgia, and setting up camp, of cooking over the open fire, of encouraging the boys to work on their merit badge requirements, and of my first encounter with Georgia chiggers, you know those little unseen things that nearly eat you alive. I remain in contact with many of those boys even today and revel as I watch them rise to the top of their professional and religious organizations. Scouting served those young men well and today they now serve scouting.

            My service to the scouting community today is limited to encouraging the boys of Troop 637 to move forward and earn their Eagle Badges, and as a counselor for their Citizenship Merit Badges. Two of these boys, Philip Henderson, son of Alan and Linda Henderson of Kennesaw, and Hans Schulzke, son of Kirk and Corinne Schulzke of Woodstock, have both been served well by the scouting program. Philip, who earned his Eagle last year, and Hans who completed his Eagle project last Saturday, have both taken advantage of the opportunity for developing their leadership experience through scouting’s National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience program, a fantastic program.

            Philip, in August, returned from an exciting three weeks in the New Mexico Mountains where he participated in a 12 day backcountry wilderness trek at the Boy Scout’s National Philmont Camp, serving as a Chaplin’s Aid, and then serving for three weeks on the scout staff as a Troop Guide. What an experience for a young man who is still a student at Etowah High School and a member of the school’s Cross Country and Track Team.

            These wonderful memories of what scouting can do for boys came back last week when Rodrigo Cano, chairman of Metro Atlanta’s Merit Badge University program called and invited me to participate in last Saturday’s Merit Badge University hosted by Kennesaw State University, with a hearty welcome from KSU’s president Dan Papp. Students in Free Enterprise, a KSU on campus student organization, assisted Cano. A guest and supporter of scouting was Ralph de-La-Vega, President and CEO of ATT Mobility.

 Chairman Cano brought me up to date on the continued growth of the Merit Badge University program, now in its sixth year. Cano told me there would be over 1600 attending this year’s annual Merit Badge University – with 1000 scouts, up from 500 in 2005 when I first wrote on this subject, with 600 leaders in attendance this year, including 100 counselors teaching merit badge classes. These Boy Scouts, all in uniform and their leaders represent over 80 cities and towns in the southeast. A major achievement!

Cano’s reminder that one of Cherokee County’s most ardent Boy Scout supporters, Judge Frank Mills, continues to teach the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge brought back special memories for me. Early on Judge Mills asked me to assist him in teaching his class. I did, for two years, until my accident. I truly wish I could continue being his assistant. When Judge Mills passes off a Scout on the Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge that boy knows how America’s government operates and its purpose. I truly believe that if each member of congress were required to take a class on the Constitution, using this merit badge manual, and taught by Judge Mills, our congress would better understand that they were elected to serve the people, not to enrich themselves or to gain power over the people.

Scouting, what an opportunity to serve the young men of America! Scouting, an organization that continues to grow, by serving all mankind through programs such as KSU’s Merit Badge University!