The Troop 1954
Wednesday Newsletter

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Announcements

1) Scout Hut Painting! Thanks so much to Ms. Deborah Olson of Pack 1954 and the other pack and troop members who worked on the painting last weekend.

2) Junior Leader Training will be held Saturday October 16 from 10-4 at Kiwanis Camp. Cost is $15 and includes lunch. All newly elected PLs who have not taken this course will need to take it at this time.  If you do not take it, you will forfeit your leadership position for this six month period. See our previous email for additional information...or call Molly Alexander at 512-557-0151

3) There is a Patrol Leaders Council tentatively scheduled for Sunday, October 24 at the Painton residence.  This will be a particularly important meeting.  We will try to schedule our monthly camping events for the next year as well as the next several weeks of meetings.

4) Hope you're all out there selling that popcorn.  I know some of you are and are doing well.  The deadline for submitting your popcorn sales is October 26.  Please bring all your order forms and money  to the meeting on that date.

5) The Cub Scout Halloween Carnival (and our Haunted House) is set for October 28th

6) We'll be camping at McKinney Falls with the 1954 Webelos on the weekend of October 29-31.  On that trip we'll be working on the Geology Merit Badge, as well as some Scouting Skills for the younger scouts (and I'm sure that the older ones could use some refreshing on that as well).

7) Here's a cool event that we might take part in:  Scout Law Hike open to all Scouts in the Capitol Area Council, Sam Houston, and South Texas Council.  Schulenburg, Saturday, November 6, starting at 10:00 from the 1st United Methodist Church.  Scouts will do a city hike through historic Schulenburg, visiting 6 houses of Worship including the Jewish Synagogue, Temple Israel.  At each station we will hear messages from 12 different clergy and lay leaders on each of the 12 points of the Scout Law.  Special patch and lunch are included.  Cost is $6 per scout including the patch and lunch.

Rich's Court of Honor Speech.

Well folks, another six months has gone by and we’re here again.

The first thing I want to do is to congratulate the boys who have just received awards. I love standing up here for Courts of Honor because it gives me an opportunity to express my pride in your achievements and how honored I feel to be allowed to be one of your leaders.

We have our ups and downs. Sometimes, after a meeting I go home and I feel just great. I feel like everything went just the way it should have. On other nights, I go home and sit with my head in my hands wondering what went wrong and contemplating whether or not there was something in the water...perhaps too much chocolate or too many video games. I don’t know. But through it all, I never lose confidence in you guys...in your abilities, in your intelligence, in your good will, and in your potential. Every scout in this room has the potential to be an Eagle; and that’s our goal... to provide you the opportunities for leadership and for advancement. To keep this program exciting enough, fun enough, challenging enough that you’ll stay with it through your high school years and look back on it as one of your great experiences.

Courts of Honor are supposed to be about the kids but I want to break with that for a few minutes to talk about the adults. To put it mildly, this troop is not a one man show. In many ways, I’m the most visible adult. I’m the one who stands up in front of the group the most. I’m the one who writes these little speeches. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t run this troop alone. We’re able to have an active troop because of the many many hours put in by adult volunteers. I could not begin to handle the record keeping, the tour permits, the arrangements for summer and winter camps, the popcorn sales, the funnel cake fundraisers, and the many other things we do by myself. It would be more than a full time job.

In Troop 1954, since I became Scoutmaster, we don’t have Assistant Scoutmasters, we have coaches. Each patrol has a coach. The sports writer Frank Deford points out that coaches are just about the only people in America other than doctors who have a special honorific. We call teachers, lawyers, heads of Fortune 500 companies and even presidents Mr. or Ms. But coaches we call coach. Deford argues that this is because coaches have a special place, particularly in the lives of boys. It’s their job to encourage, to support, to push, and yes, even to yell and scream at players. But at least ideally, coaches don’t do this for their own benefit, but so that their players and their team can achieve their potential; become the best players and best team that they possibly have it within themselves to become.

No adult in this troop is a leader for their own benefit. We all have day jobs, thank you. We are here to support our scouts, to encourage them, to challenge them, to help them fulfill their potential.

Tonight, I’d like to try to start a new tradition (I hate it when people say that, we’ll only know if it’s really a tradition ten years from now). I’d like to start the tradition of presenting an award for outstanding adult leadership every year at this fall Court of Honor. Each year at this time I’d like to see us honor an adult leader who exemplifies the generosity, and willing service, the commitment to helping all of our scouts achieve their full potential. that this troop so depends upon.

When I thought about this award, it was obvious to me that the first time we gave it, it would have to be a shared prize. We have two members who really epitomize generosity and dedication to service. Every one of us knows that Ms. Patty Derrickson and Dr. J., Charles Johnson have both put in a great deal of the energy that makes this troop run. They are here dependably week after week, and often at other scout meetings as well. They work one on one with the scouts, helping them to achieve their fullest potential. They do this without asking for anything in return and despite the fact that their own kids are long gone from our program. We have historically done far too little to honor and praise that kind of leadership and dedication but tonight I’d like to change that. I’d like to present the First annual Troop 1954 Baden-Powell Award to Mz. Patty and Dr. J.  The awards read: Troop 1954 Baden-Powell Award, to Mz. Patty Derrickson and Dr. Charles Johnson.  In appreciation of your generosity of spirit and service to the scouts of Troop 1954, San Marcos, Texas 2003-2004.