Left: Tami Breymeyer, of Wamego, cheers on her 6-year-old son, Caleb, as he launches an arrow at a target. Center: Boy Scout D.J. Kester, of Hoyt, gets set to launch his water rocket into the air at the recent Cub Scout Adventure Day. Right: Brandon Griffin, far right, of Topeka, helps his son, Jax, aim a BB gun at a target on the firing range.
A large group of Cub Scouts, family members, Boy Scouts and Scout leaders visited the Falley Scout Reservation near Oskaloosa recently for a Cub Scout Adventure Days, designed for Cub Scouts who had joined the organization this fall.
The activity continued a tradition that began more than 100 years ago when the Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910. Today, BSA has more than 2.5 million young members nationally and more than 1 million adult volunteers to help guide them through their Scouting years.
During the Cub Scout Adventure Day sponsored by the BSA Jayhawk Area Council — which serves 6,500 Scouts in an 11-county area of northeast Kansas and has about 1,500 volunteers who assist with Scouting events — Cub Scouts participated in such things as archery, fishing, crafts, knot-making, shooting BB guns and climbing a bouldering wall.
Girl Scouts of the United States of America was founded two years later to teach citizenship and values to young girls. Today, GSUSA has more than 3.2 million young and adult members.
Both organizations always have room for more, however, and parents seeking a way to get their children involved in a multitude of activities that will help them become responsible adults should check out the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.
Dusty Roberts and his 6-year-old son, Aiden, of Topeka, wait for a fish to bite while fishing at Caterpillar Pond on the Falley Scout Reservation grounds in Oskaloosa. The pond had been stocked with fish a few days before the adventure camp.
BSA strives to teach its young charges how to be good, moral citizens and leaders who respect and help others and work together. Those are traits that will serve anyone well throughout their life. Boys from rural and urban areas should have no trouble finding something about Scouting that appeals to them and inspires them to be responsible citizens. Boys can join Cub Scouts as early as the first grade.
BSA reports than in 2013, Scouts across the country performed more than 17 million hours of community service. Based on the national value of a volunteer hour, that service represents a contribution of $377 million.
GSUSA was founded to help girls develop physically, mentally and spiritually and strives to impart such traits as honesty, fairness, compassion, character and citizenship. Camp Daisy Hindman, near Dover, has been serving Girl Scouts for 85 years and offers an outdoor experience that includes a lake, sports field, archery range and hiking trails.
Parents interested in getting their children of to a good start in life would do well to consider Scouting.
(The Boy Scouts of America Communications Department was not involved in the creation of this content. The following is an editorial by The Topeka Capital-Journal.)
