Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Last Summer Heather Youmans went to Cimarron, New Mexico to backpack through the wild. She went to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch ,“Born in 1938 as Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp, today’s Philmont Scout Ranch is a bustling center for high adventure and training. Youth and adults take advantage of the Ranch’s camping, training and work programs.” (Scouting.org). She was spending 10 days in the backcountry without electricity and carrying her essentials on her back. Heather went on practice hikes…

What would America be like if every young boy was enrolled in Boy Scouts? The Boy Scouts started in America in 1910, after Lord Baden Powell traveled to England. He was trying to find a business building, and being a foreigner, a young boy could tell that he was clearly lost. The boy asked him where he was going, and after Lord Powell told him, the boy didn’t know either. Powell and the boy were wondering around London trying to find the building, and as soon as they came upon it, Baden Powell…

I am an Eagle Scout and an active Assistant Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America, what I believe to be the best leadership training program in the US. One serves in several leadership roles to earn this rank. To meet these requirements, I was an Instructor for two years and a Troop Guide for three. Instructors are in charge…

In the Wind Ensemble, I play the trombone. It is a very easy instrument to play because there are only seven slide positions to remember. The only problem I have with playing the trombone is how much space you need to play it. Every day, people get too close to the trombone players, so we have to ask them to move forward or deal with it. The people we ask will move will move most of the time, but if they don't, we trombone players always have slides to do the work for us.Marching band is…

the person that I am today. In February of 2010, after graduating from cub scouts, I joined The Boy Scouts of America. I started out as a timid young boy, who did not have many skills, but throughout the many years, it had a major impact on my life and taught me many things about myself. Boy Scouts truly impacted my life. One way scouting has impacted me is by teaching me morals and values. In Boy Scouts there is a “Scout’s Law,” which details the morals and values that a scout must live by.…

Joining the Cub Scouts program in first grade put me on track to join the Boy Scouts of America, which at age eleven, I transitioned into, thus beginning my journey towards achieving the coveted pinnacle of the scouting program: Eagle Scout. Obtaining the Eagle rank is a long and difficult process, building within the scout strong traits of leadership, teamwork, and individual growth mindset, because progression is up to the scout. If it’s something they really want, then they will go after it…

Girl Scouts has been an important part of my life since I can remember. Girl Scouts helped me to learn to be practical, independent, strong, and most importantly, a leader. Put simply, Girl Scouts has molded me into the extremely driven person I am today. So you can imagine the shock and dismay I felt when my troop disbanded earlier this year. Though we were all members of the highest level of Girl Scouts as a girl could be, I thought the troop would remain intact until I went to college. I…

year commitment, I was about to finish the journey I started in kindergarten. I was walking into my Eagle Board of review and was about to join a very select group of boys that can call themselves Eagle Scouts and achieve the most prestigious achievement of my life to date. As I looked around the room I was thinking about all that Boy Scouts had meant to me. I remembered learning how to shape a block of wood with a sander during my first attempt to make Pinewood Derby car. I remembered…

on Boy Scouts of America's decision on letting girls join the program, I thank you for your insight and respect everyone’s point of view. And while the facts are that BSA intends to start a program that will begin to integrate girls into BSA by having “Girls Only Troops”, it still does not change the core argument that BSA is changing the dynamic of Boy Scouts. This is the first step to the inevitable merger of male and female troops. While the troops, for now, will not be co-ed. If the girls…

describe a Boy Scout and they will probably tell you that Boy Scouts are socially awkward kids who play with knifes, fire and guns. Stereotypes are oversimplifications about groups or individuals. What makes up a stereotype is that a bit of truth is blown completely out of proportion. When stereotyping, society will see a small section of a group, and assume that the entire group fits within what has been observed. There are many different stereotypes regarding members of the Boy Scouts of…