Scouting, an opportunity for all students to explore and broaden their horizons

Elizabeth Warren in her Venturing Scouts Uniform

Elizabeth Warren in her Venturing Scouts Uniform

“On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to god and my country and to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

Scouts should recognize that saying. It is the Scout Oath that is used in Girl Scouts, Sea Scouts, Venturing Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Cub Scouts. These are all divisions of scouting, with the most popular being Boy Scouts.

It is a common misconception that Boy Scouts are just in the United States, but Boy Scouts is an organization that is all over the world. Boy scouts was actually started in Great Britain. According to scouting.org, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, a British Army Officer in the early 20th Century, wrote a handbook called Aid to Scouting when he found that his men did not know basic information about outdoor survival.

He then found that English boys had become interested in his handbook and formed a group of boys to go on an outdoor camp out. From there Boy Scouts then spread to United States in 1910. Venturing Scouts and Sea Scouts branched off from Boy Scouts. Girl Scouts was later founded in 1912.

Many people start scouting at a young age. Junior Julia Crews has been a girl scout since the age of five. “I don’t really know why [I joined]. I just wanted to do something for the community,” Crews said.

Junior Fiona Franke has also dedicated part of her life to scouting. “I did Girl Scouts when I was in elementary school and then I stopped for a couple of years, [but] then I rejoined,” Franke said.

‘[I] loves the sense of community and family [scouting] brings and how there is always somebody that you can depend on,” Girl Scout Ambassador Elizabeth Warren said. “That there is always someone who can push you up and give you new opportunities for the future.”

You will not only gain vital skills by joining scouting, but also lifelong experiences and memories. Warren said that her favorite service project that she has done was “one that [I] actually did [recently] called the Antietam Luminaries…I have found that it is a super rewarding event.”

Franke has fond memories from scouting of  “camping and it’s always fun.” She enjoys her experience during her many years of scouting.

“My brothers Eagle Scout project. We made blankets for mothers who had lost their children in childbirth.” Gettys also said, “I like the camping and service parts [ of scouting].”

Girl Scouts starts in kindergarten and goes until you graduate from high school. Venturing Scouts starts when you graduate the eighth grade all the way up to you are twenty-one. Cub Scouts starts in first grade and goes until you finish elementary school. Boy Scouts starts when you start middle school and goes until you turn eighteen.

There is something for everyone to join and participate in scouting from the start of elementary school until you turn twenty-one.

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