A Century of Honor

If you have not seen it yet, there is a website for the celebration of 100 years of LDS Scouting. It has links about the museum exhibits, a couple videos and information about a broadcast coming up on October 29. The broadcast will be on the website as well as at church buildings. This could be an opportunity for community outreach by inviting other Scouters in our communities to celebrate Scouting history with us.

Church History Museum

We were in Salt Lake last week, and I was able to take the boys to the Church History Museum to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit and the exhibit about Scouting and the Priesthood. If you get a chance to check out these exhibits, I highly recommend it. They are very well done. (Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me that morning, but I did snap a few pictures with my phone.)

My favorite thing about the exhibits is that they have pamphlets for both Cub Scouts and Boys Scouts to help them earn awards using the two exhibits. The Cub Scout booklet is specifically aimed at the Rockwell exhibit. After looking at the exhibit, discussing it (using questions from the booklet) with a parent or leader, and creating a composition according to instructions, a Cub can earn both the Art Belt Loop and a special patch that can be purchased at Great Salt Lake Council service centers. For Boy Scouts, there are two booklets: Scouting Heritage and Art, which guide a Scout in activities to help him earn the respective merit badges (some activities can be done at the museum, and some will need to be done at home). You can find these materials upstairs with the exhibits or ask one of the very helpful museum workers about them.



The exhibit about Scouting and the Priesthood is especially impressive the way it was put together. It is interactive, with a place children (or adults) can write or draw about a good turn they have done and pin it to a board, as well as design a neckerchief. There is a display about the Unknown Scout and Boyce with a little audio thing (this and the bugle were my youngest's favorites). There are interactive knot-tying and flag signaling stations, and there are several other things to look at and do to experience the history of Scouting in the Church.

(Warning: There is also an exhibit right now to go with the Primary's Book of Mormon celebration that is on par with any children's museum we have been to, and it comes right after the Scouting and the Priesthood exhibit. If you are visiting the museum with younger children and you do not want to spend all day there, make sure to steer them toward the Rockwell exhibit before they see the Book of Mormon area. Otherwise you might have difficulty extracting them. If you brought a second adult with you - which I did not - sucker him/her into taking the kids through the Book of Mormon area while you enjoy the Rockwell exhibit in peace.)



The Norman Rockwell exhibit includes paintings Rockwell did about Scouting and Boys Life covers by Rockwell. There are discriptions and bits of history around the room as well. There are even a couple of interactive screens where you can draw or look at Rockwells (playing with these screens was my middle son's favorite part). Of course, being in a room with actual Rockwell paintings was amazing enough and the focus of the display; fancy interactive activities were not so important here.

I consider both exhibits to be those "once in a lifetime" experiences. The Rockwell exhibit runs through the end of this year. The Scouting and the Priesthood exhibit will be up until October of next year.

Scouting and Family History

An unexpected side effect of the Year of Celebration last year for me was family history research. I already knew that my dad was an Eagle Scout and that his dad earned the Silver Beaver, but as I worked on some of the requirements for my ribbons, I ended up learning quite a bit more, which led me to asking more questions and learning even more about the history of Scouting and how it related to my family and the Church.

One of the requirements I chose to do was to write an article about a Scouting leader who made a positive difference in my life. I decided to write about my granddad, because, even though he was not my Scouting leader, he was a Scouting leader, and he definitely had a big impact on my life. I asked my dad some questions, and in the course of writing the article, learned not only some fun things about both my dad and granddad, I realized a few things about leadership that I had not thought about before. You can read the full article here.

I also made a Scouting Family Tree. This involved asking my brothers and dad for a few details so that I could fill out the chart. Through this I learned things I didn't know about my brothers' differing exeriences and opinions about Scouting.

I even came across, through chance, some interesting information about the history of Scouting in the Church. You may know that the Church became the first official chartered organization of the BSA three years after Scouting came to the US. But did you know that the Church actually implemented Scouting as part of the YMMIA two years before that, and that it was Gordon B. Hinkley's father who made the motion to make the affiliation official? (source) I thought that was an interesting bit of trivia.

Scouting can provide a similar opportunity to open up some family history conversations with your relations. It might give you some common ground you never knew you had with fathers, grandfathers, uncles, cousins, etc. One leader I know has been enthusiastic and done great things ever since she was called. I was not surprised to learn that it was due in large part to her dad being an avid Scouter. It is certainly a worthy legacy to live up to.

I look forward to being able to pass on the things I learned to my boys, to be able to share with them their Scouting family history.

My Scout Hero

One of the items on my "To Do" list for the 100 Years of Scouting award is to "Think of a Scouting leader (youth or adult) who made a positive difference in your life. Write a letter to the editor of a local publication about how that individual taught you about leadership."

When I think of great scouters, of great scout leaders, a few people come to my mind. I think of the people I went through Wood Badge with; I think of my nephews, the oldest of whom have already earned their Eagles; I think of the leaders that taught my National Camping School course (best training ever!!!); but the one person who rises to the top, who has affected me personally the most, is Julee Hicks. Her dedication, devotion, organization and enthusiasm to get the job done always has me in awe. She personifies the statement "above and beyond" with respect to scouting. And yet, she doesn't do it for accolades or for personal gain.

She doesn't limit her volunteerism to her local area. (She volunteered to come over 1000 miles to assist me with our district's Day Camp. Of course, I couldn't let her put herself out like that, but she would have come if I'd said yes).

When I was involved with her unit several years ago, she was the grease that kept the unit running smoothly. All the "i"s were dotted and all the "t"s crossed. One of my loftiest Scouting goals is to become more like Julee.

During my military service I was stationed at an NROTC unit and one of the primary ideals was that as future officers we should lead from the front. Julee does that. She's in the fray, making a difference. Thanks for your fine example Julee. You have no idea how your example has benefited many scouts where I live now.