Boy Scouts

I have had a very full plate of Boys Scouts this week.  Monday night through Friday night was our local Council's Cub Scout Twilight Camp.  From 4:30 to 8:30 I led an ad hoc Den of 11 Cub Scouts, aged 5 to 8 from station to station where they shot BB guns, played kickball, made and launched model rockets, played vollyball, learned how to shoot bows and arrows, sang songs, acted in skits, conducted flag raising and lowering ceremonies, made crystals, buit a wooden model of the space shuttle and played soccer.  On the first day they made their Den flag and a different boy carried it at the head of our formation from station to station.  And we yelled our Den Yell the whole time we were marching from station to station.

As much as I enjoyed working with the kids I think the best part for me was meeting all the adult leaders.  There are about 45 families in my Pack.  And they are pretty good.  They get their kids to the meetings on time, and some of them volunteer to help out and run the pack.  But for the most part Scouting isn't very important to them.  It's just another one of their kids activities, along with soccer, little league, and school.  They are in it for their kids but don't really think of themselves as part of the Scouting movement.  But the people who volunteered to run the Twilight Camp were amazing.  Their dedication to Scouting is as near to total as it can be.  It was inspiring to be around them.

The other Scouting related thing I did this week was that I interviewed for an executive position at the Council.  (The BSA is mostly a volunteer organization.  The Council serves more than 30,000 youth members in hundreds of Packs, Troops, and Crews but only has 7 paid employees.) They had applicants from all over the country and norrowed it down to 20.  I was one of the 20 they interviewed.  I think it went well, but they have a four part hiring process and I only just completed part one.  I won't know anything for a couple of weeks.

Tonight after Twilight Camp, Basil and I raced to the baseball park to join the rest of our Pack (We were the only ones from our Pack to go to Twilight Camp.) for the last two innings of the SJ Giants (2010 Cal. League Champions) game against the Stockton Ports.  We lost 8-5 but it was fun.  Tomorrow night we will join with Scouts from lots and lots of packs for the official Scout Night.  After the game we will spend the night in a tent on the outfield!