Personal Narrative: Boy Scouts

The year is 2016, it is a cold and rainy Tuesday afternoon. My father, John Carey, and I are driving to Sherman, Texas. Once I reach Sherman I will go before a board of leaders in order to achieve the ranking of Eagle Scout. I am incredibly nervous, anxious, but really I am ready to get into the meeting and show them that I am trustworthy and capable of achieving such an honor. As we pull up to the church where the meeting will be held, I realize that I could possibly not be ready. I have gone over my project, which they will be asking questions about, a million times. Not to mention I am the one who orchestrated the planning and everything about the project, so I am very familiar with it. Yet, I sit and wonder what if they ask that one question

Throughout my high school career, I have continuously adhered to the qualities of participation, engagement and leadership through being a good citizen, and have not only begun to impact my local community, but also communities abroad in my state. Active involvement in The Boy Scouts of America has helped develop these qualities I hold and more. My volunteering in county-hosted Christmas events, multiple eagle projects, Brown Bag Ministry, street cleanup, student tutoring, technology assistance, and others has combined to over 160 total service hours in just the span of four high school years. Active citizenship continues to show me different ways of life in my own community and is illuminating. What it also creates is initiative. Through participation with my local fire department, I have been able to identify a need of my community and start to address it. I have volunteered my time for the fire department, and together with the Assistant Fire Chief, we are starting to create a new department website and digital

All across America, young men join together in a special organization called the Boy Scouts of America. Scouts from 1st grade to seniors in high school work toward a common goal: growing up into a functional, mature citizen and leader of the United States. I joined this great organization in 2006 as a Wolf Cub Scout and rose through the ranks to get into Boy Scouts in 2010. I didn’t know what to expect from such a widely popular, military-like group. Will I get pushed to my limit? How much can Scouts impact me? Is Cub Scouts like what others say?

I recently completed my Eagle Scout rank, achieving the highest honor in Boy Scouts, and I am also a brotherhood member of scouting's honor society, the Order of the Arrow. I served a six month term as Senior Patrol Leader, the most senior scout leader within my troop, as well as serving as Assistant Senior Patrol Leader for one term. Before that, I did three six month terms as Troop Guide, a position in which I acclimated first year scouts to the troop, teaching them the ways of scouting. My experience in Boy Scouts has presented an abundance of opportunities for me to develop my leadership skills, giving me a competitive advantage over other candidates.

One of my very first instances of leadership was during a Boy Scout meeting about five years ago where I led our

Being in the scouts have taught me lots of things. They have taught me life skills that I can use in the real

I sit around a table of familiar faces: my fellow scouters, good people I have known for almost twenty years. But the faces are contorted with anger, and their voices are filled with acrimony because of the issue being debated. Should girls be allowed to participate in all programs of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), allowing them to earn the Eagle Scout Award? I feel conflicted as a woman who has been denied entrance to an all-male organization, but my greatest concern is whether this will be the final blow to the integrity of a great American institution. Research about the origins of this controversy brought me to the story of Sydney Ireland, a girl from New York who has called on the BSA to end their discriminatory ban against girl

I have developed many leadership skills throughout my life, from the skills I learned by participating in NJHS and Student Lighthouse. Along with the leadership techniques I have learned in school I have learned even more out of school. Via the National Youth Leadership Training program (NYLT) where I learned how to become a better leader and the best methods on how to do so while I camped in the woods for a week and put them to use. As

I have been a boy scout since the first grade, and I believe nothing contributed greater to me wanting to help people, and my leadership skills, then being a boy scout. There are countless times on campouts and events where first aid and knowledge of the human body come into play. During one of the annual summer camps my troop goes on every year, me and a friend of mine were hiking up a mountain. It was one of the steeper trails, so we had to watch our step. About half way up, my partner lost his footing and sprained his ankle. He could not get down the mountain so I had to find what I could to make a brace, because I could not carry him down without injuring myself as well. I found a few sturdy sticks and tied them around his ankle, using the tibia as a guide for how straight I needed to make it. We worked together to get down and to the first aid tent. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had and taught me a lot about leadership and gave me some experience when it came to handling

Boy Scouts of America: I have been involved with the scouting program since I was six years old, and continue to be actively involved. I currently working to the rank of Eagle Scout. I am currently the Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) of my troop, which includes running the weekly meetings, sending and creating the weekly agenda, updating our Troop website, and help plan Troop outings. On average I spend roughly 5 hours a week with doing activities that are involved with Boy Scouts.

Those who can strengthen their leadership skills as a youth will better set themselves up to be able to lead others in the future. A leader is not always one that tells others what to do, but many times must show them by taking the initiative to work on the tasks with those that may follow. I have learned through my time as a Scout that the most effective leader does not boss others around, but leads by example. To obtain the rank of Eagle Scout, a Scout must learn many traits throughout his time, that he will apply in his life service. This is the epitome of one’s time in Scouting, and can teach a person endless things about themselves.

Throughout life, we will all meet numerous people. Each character in our story is different and unique in some way. Perhaps one is known for being a prodigal and dedicated athlete. The next is creative and passionate in the arts. Yet another prefers to stay to the side, despite being surprisingly knowledgeable and wise for their age. They all have their own story to tell and their own characteristics that have formed them. I am no exception to this rule and have my own characteristics that set me apart from others. My various different interests are what have encouraged me in different ways, whether it be my drive, my creativity, or my intelligence.

My leadership qualities are exemplified by my involvement in the 4-H Hunter Safety Camp. This is a three day camp that combines the Hunter Education curriculum with hands on learning in field exercises. My involvement with the camp began in 2011, when I attended as a student and absolutely loved it. Every year after that I became more involved. The next year I was a youth volunteer and in 2013, the assistant coordinator. In 2014 I had the responsibility of coordinating and directing the statewide three day 4-H Hunter Safety Camp for 33 students (with a waiting list of 65). In each subsequent year I have continued to be the coordinator and director. Organizing this camp would become one of my biggest projects for the next three years. Despite my past experience, that first year I still did not completely understand the leadership and work required for coordinating and directing a camp.

Standing in front of a bunch of kids, I found myself with the Boy Scout Handbook, the kids are screaming. They wanted to do literally anything other than sit and listen, but I had to teach them. A few years ago, being an older kid in my troop, from time to time, it was my job to teach a bunch of twelve year olds. In Boy Scouts, it is the job of the older scouts to teach the younger scouts how to be the next generation of Boy Scouts.

Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth groups in the nation that is was well known and popular. But in recent years is has faced a decline in members and donors as American public gradually moved to support LGBT rights. The boy scouts policy did not support these rights so they attracted a lot of attention. I read that in 2012, perhaps in an attempt to reassure conservative church groups, the BSA forcefully reaffirmed its commitment to ban openly gay youth and openly gay adults from scouting. In response, LGBT groups escalated their campaign against BSA's discriminatory policies. Activists gathered thousands of signatures on petitions calling for an end to the gay ban. They called attention to many news stories of the BSA kicking