Scout Week - Scouting History

This week is Scout Week, a celebration of 97 years of scouting in the United States, and it got me thinking about our Troop's history. Often I look back and I feel like I've been in scouts forever, since 1991 (16 years!!!), longer than some of our scouts have been alive!

Then I consider Mr. Al, who has has been in the troop forever and probably helped Baden Powell setup his tent.

But here's a little trip for me down memory road:

The year is 1991 and two friends of mine (Kevin H. & Timmy A.) in middle school wore their uniforms to school. I started talking to them about the sort of things they did and the next week I was signed up and had a pretty uniform to start as a 2nd year Webelo.

In 1994, I had finally graduated from the week long base camps to a high adventure trek at Goshen. This picture is from the Foxfire outpost where we shaped metal in the forge. I'm on the left, to the right is Bernie (Truffle Shuffle) and Nick.

I became ASPL of the troop in 1995 after returning from my second high adventure in Cedarlands. This was a canoeing trek in the Adirondacks of New York.

I was awarded my Eagle rank in 1999 after "gentle" encouragement from my parents and Mr. Al. All along my path, Mr. Ray had always been there to answer questions and to guide me in the right direction. He was by far one of the most influential individuals in my scouting career.

I went off to college in 1998 and it was real hard for me to stay involved in Scouts. I lived on campus the first year and the one hour commute was just too hard for me to make each week. My involvement and interest was reignited in 1999 when my cousin, Derek, signed up for 2nd year Webelos. Here's a picture of his first week camp in 2001 (he's on the right, Curtis is on the left):

In 2006, I had the unique opportunity to lead the high adventure trek. We hiked 50+ miles along the Appalachian Trail from Pennsylvania, through Maryland and into West Virginia. This was a new role for me to be in a learning experience for sure. (I'm on the far right and Derek is on the bottom left and one in).