Re: [Philmont]: Reply to list

In a message dated 1/19/2006 2:15:38 AM Eastern Standard Time,
prestonar@bellsouth.net writes:
I have listened to many dads tell me that when they were a scout, they
made it to Life and wished that someone had pushed them a little harder
to make it to Eagle. It would be great if all of our scouts had the
motivation, drive and organizational skills to reach eagle on their
own. It just rarely happens that way. Philmont preparation is the
same thing. They are kids and they need guidance.

Dan Preston
Louisville, KY
Philmont '70, '72, '02, '06
Dan's response to whether or not a scout should attend Philmont and what
lessons he would learn if he went even though he may not have attended if he
didn't attend all the prep hikes rang very true.

"I have listened to many dads tell me that when they were a scout, they made
it to Life and wished that someone had pushed them a little harder to make it
to Eagle."

What he didn't mention was that of the 10 scouts we had on our Trek in '02, 9
scouts stayed in the Troop and made Eagle. They also all stayed active scouts
till age 18 with several now ASM's in our Troop. Based on the answers they
gave on their Eagle questionnaires, 3-5 of them would have dropped out of
scouting had it not been the team building experiences both preparing for and also
the experiences of Philmont.

We had several scouts that had scheduling conflicts with school activities;
soccer, cross country, theater, etc. They made the ones they could but we knew
they were committed to make Philmont.

I realize substantial monies are involved and lots of adults time, but I
would hope we don't run the Troop or Trek preps like a business without allowing
for the fact these are still 14-16 year old kids. Leave the "business" to our
"Professional Scouters" and the operation of the Troops and Treks to us
amateurs.

Hope this helps.

Brian Martin, SM. T-319
Louisville, KY
Eagle '72
Philmont '02

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Received on Thu Jan 19 09:55:27 2006