Scout Law
A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
Source: Boy Scouts of America
Jordan Parker is a self-motivator who's committed to a helpful group of boys.
The 12-year-old seventh-grader at Bryan Middle School in the Omaha district has been a Scout for about seven years.
Jordan, who lives in Bellevue, has earned more than a dozen merit badges and proudly displays each one on his greenish colored sash. He's determined to become an Eagle Scout — the Boy Scouts' highest honor. And currently he's focused on a reading badge, which includes working with librarians and reading to preschoolers.
“I like the different things you can do,” Jordan said, “and the sense of achievement that you get with earning different merit badges.”
That same sense of achievement has inspired countless other young American boys who have participated with the Boy Scouts of America during the past 100 years.
For a century in this country, the program has been teaching boys to be brave and loyal, trustworthy and courteous, friendly and helpful.
Long ago, a Chicago publisher and businessman named William D. Boyce was lost in London and in need of directions. Legend tells of a young Scout (Scouting originated in England) who helped the wayward traveler and wouldn't accept a tip.
The boy was simply doing his daily good deed.
That unselfish act inspired Boyce in February 1910 to introduce Scouting in the United States. The program caught on and quickly moved into numerous communities throughout the country.
“Over a hundred years, a lot of things have changed, but a lot of things haven't changed,” said Lloyd Roitstein, an Eagle Scout and executive director of the Boy Scouts' Mid-America Council, which oversees 58 counties in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota.
As society changed, the Scouts altered the ways boys were challenged and trained. For example, newer technologies, such as GPS mapping, are more relevant today than what was once required learning, such as Morse code.
But instilling patriotism, duty to country and God, teaching first aid, introducing outdoor adventures and molding future leaders all remain top priorities.
“How we deliver the program continues to evolve,” Roitstein said. “But the core of the program is still the same.”
The Mid-America Council includes nearly 500 communities, about 31,000 Scouts and almost 9,000 leaders. Roitstein credits those numbers to “strong Midwest family values.”
Children who participate in Scouts over a period of time, Roitstein said, tend to avoid trouble, attend college, find success, give to their community and become leaders. They set goals for themselves and often accomplish whatever they strive for in life.
For many years, Wes Agar has helped young Scouts reach their goals. Agar's been a Scout for more than half a century. The 59-year-old, who now mentors boys who want to earn Eagle, has witnessed change, including the terminology, the uniforms and other little tweaks. But Scouting remains a wholesome program committed to guiding young boys, he said.
“It's an honor for me to be a Scout,” said Agar, an Eagle Scout. “If I can give one-tenth back to the program of what I got out of it, I think I will have accomplished something.”
Many current Boy Scouts may not grasp the significance that the century mark carries. But for Agar and many others who have been involved for so long, it's something to be proud of and celebrate.
“For an organization to be around for 100 years,” Agar said, “it's got to be a pretty darn good program.”
Contact the writer:
444-3198, chip.olsen@owh.com
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