Pond Prompts - 9/9/07

Did you belong to boy/girl scouts or 4-H? Tell about your experiences.

I did belong to Boy Scouts in my childhood. I think I started when I was 7 or 8, and continued until I was about 14.

I don't remember a whole lot about the troop meetings for Cub Scouts. I remember meeting at my elementary school for the first year, and at our troop leader's house other years. I don't really remember what we did, but I'm sure it was something interesting or exciting. I do remember the other boys in the troops, though. There were wild guys, funny guys, calm guys (like me) and guys who weren't really serious about the whole Scout thing.

I remember some of the camping outings we'd have. I don't remember all the places we went, but I remember there were many activities to do. I remember our troop leaders cooking in pots over the fire, or using foil. I remember the excitement of actually doing something outside the troop meetings. I remember good times around the campfire, and the silly songs and games we'd play.

After my elementary school years, I moved up to the real thing, Boy Scouts. We were able to pick the troop we wanted to join, and I joined the troop with the leader I liked the most, Norm. Norm was a really cool guy, a great leader, and very capable in whatever we were doing.

Our Boy Scout troop used to meet at a church, in the gymnasium. I always remember my Scouting days whenever we drive by that church. Every summer, we'd go to the big camp, Camp Baker. There were so many activities to do - crafting, archery, or just playing games. There were also merit badge classes. By the second year, I was tired of the classes - I was there for fun, not school! So I stopped going and just did whatever I felt like doing. Too much structure isn't good for kids. Sometimes kids just want to go their own way and do their own thing.

By my last year in middle school, I was getting tired of Scouts. Our troop meetings started to get less and less structured. Remember what I said above about structure? Well, sometimes too little structure can be bad. All there was to do for large periods of time was basketball. Not being an athletic type, I started to get bored and wish I was at home instead of at the troop meeting, doing nothing. When you start to get tired of doing something, maybe it's something you shouldn't be doing. I just wanted to have my own time and not belong to anything. So I stopped going to Scouts.

Sometimes I wish I had stuck with Scouts, but then I wouldn't have dug into work with the school newspaper. Perhaps I made the right choice. If I wasn't getting anything out of it, it was a waste of my time. However, I do appreciate my Scouting years. It gave me something to do, and it gave me some other guys to hang out with. To this day, I keep one lesson of Scouting in mind each and every day: Always Be Prepared!


Name five things laying around your computer.

1) My water bottle
2) My cell phone
3) A stack of mail
4) My CD collection
5) A picture of me and my friend Jessica