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proper place is for the fork, where the glass
goes. That’s just a small example of good-quality
moments that mother and son get to
spend together, and that boy learned some-thing
from the process. And from the process
of learning something, he got to spend a few
precious moments with his mother.”
The boys teach each other, too, and, in
the process, learn how to be independent.
Kyle Davis,16, is a member of Troop 232
and one of the youngest troop members to
be elected to a leadership position. “The
troop should be run by the
boys, not the adults,” says
Davis. “They’re there
to watch over us and
give us a little bit of
correction, but it’s
the senior patrol
leader who figures
out what the boys
want to do and how
to make it
happen.”
The transi-tion
from Cub
Scouts to Boy
Scouts is a
critical one,
and Davis
remembers that time. “The older boys come
down and talk with the younger guys and
show them all the cool things they get to do
when they’re older. You get to carry a knife
and play with fire,” says Davis, laugh-ing.
“That’s attractive, I guess.”
Boy Scout values have stayed
the same over the last 100
years, but the times and
the nature of being a boy
in today’s world has gone
through seismic shifts.
There are a lot of distrac-tions
that keep kids isolated.
BSA is all about interaction — young people
interacting with good adult role models,
interacting with the out-of-doors, learning
new skills, hands-on activities. “It’s not the
boys who’ve changed, it’s the outside influ-ences
that have changed,” says John Bennett.
Good citizenship, good community involve-ment
and physical fitness have always been
the bedrock of the BSA. “There has been a
lot of pressure for scouting to compromise,
and we’ve not done that. It’s one of the
things I respect so much about the Scouting
program,” Bennett says.
The Boy Scouts have had their share of
Left to right: Tanner
Paul – Star Scout,
Connor Paul – Life
Scout, John Bennett
– Scout Master Troop
#232, Kevin Black
– Eagle Scout and
Parker Luhring – Eagle
Scout.
John Bennett
At the unit level, this year will mark John’s 22nd year as a registered Scout
leader, having started his adult leadership service in 1988 as an Assistant Den
Leader for Pack #253 at Wrightsville Beach United Methodist Church. In 1996,
John became Scoutmaster of Troop #232. In 2010, he received the Silver Beaver
award, the highest award that the Local Council gives to Scout volunteers each
year. Only five people received it in 2010.
A
Scout is
trustworthy, loyal,
helpful, friendly, cour-teous,
kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave,
clean and reverent.
— Boy Scout law