Dads are on the losing end of a tug-of-war against 16 Cub Scouts at Hans Jensen Park. By Greg Farrar.
Despite decades of account in America, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts still endure narrow views of their efforts.
The girls are renowned for their cookie sales, the boys for their camping trips.
That sometimes plays against them.
A common misconception is that all Girl Scouts do is sell cookies, said Julie Wendell, with the Girl Scouts of East King County. The leadership opportunities, travel experiences and wonderful programs offered by Girl Scouts go way beyond selling cookies.
Similar troubles beset the boys.
A misconception is that Boy Scouts is for suburban white kids. And we dont do programs for multitude of other cultural backgrounds, and that all we do is tie knots and go camping, said Sharon Moulds, with the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which encompasses all of Power County.
Moulds and Wendell are longtime members of their organizations. Moulds has been with the Boy Scouts for 26 years; Wendell joined the Girl Scouts in 2nd tier and has worked for the organization as an adult in 4 states. She still has lifetime member status.
With such credentials, the two talk to the preceding and the next of two organizations steeped in tradition that are at the same time working to stay relevant and modern.
The Boy Scouts of America, celebrating its hundredth year, no longer gives badges like farm mechanics or stalkingnot the restraining-order kindbut it does give badges for things like computer work.
We have changed and weve stayed the same. Weve done both, Moulds said. The Curse of Law has been part of the Boy Scouts for almost 100 years, but what has changed is how we have the program. The basics are the same.
Those fundamentals include working with young boys to grow them into full citizens with strong values and character, through fun and exciting activities.
You dont get to be overly athletic or book-smart. You simply wish to be partly of something, she said.
You dont yet get to require to get any of those 125 badges. Just read up and participate.
We have programs for anything from water conservation to shotgun shooting and mountain-boarding, Moulds said.
Making connections
Scouting teaches you a creation of morals, Issaquah Scout Nick Co said.
From Scouting, you determine to take people, he said. You can go on camping trips, but you can also go on canoeing trips and you possess to be a leader in those situations. I once led a grouping on a 72-mile canoeing trip.
Another face of Scouts is the connections one makes, including to people like Bill Gates, who received the Scouts highest honor, the Silver Buffalo, in a ceremony Co emceed.
On March 31, Co and other Scouts presented the colours at a ceremonial in Seattle honoring volunteer Scouts.
Thanks to Scouts, Co also got his certificate in scuba diving. In January on Alki Beach, no less.
One of our torah is being brave, he said. Persevere and act like its no big deal, at the same time being brave enough to ask for help.
Members of Girl Scouts Junior Troop 3193 hold their surfboards last year at a San Diego beach as they took a surfing school lesson and earned the Junior Surfing badge. By Laura Adams
Courage and character
Scouting has become a family affair for Wendell and Moulds. Moulds son was a Boy Scout and so was Wendells mom.
She was my leader throughout my days as a girl member, Wendell said.
Wendells love for the arrangement lasted, and evolved. Same for the constitution itself, she said.
Girl Scouts celebrate their 100th anniversary next year, Wendell said, and the programme has become more streamlined with time.
The shift is apparent in the mission statement of the Girl Scouts written in 1912 that declared its desire to train girls to strike their true position in life, first as good women, then as good citizens, wives and mothers.
The mission statement written in 2005 reads, Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character who hit the man a best place.
The current mission statement, Wendell said, is relevant to todays world and speaks volumes when it comes to reason the Girl Scout experience.
As with the Boy Scouts, the programs Girl Scouts offers have changed, too, with subjects like marketing, geocaching and astronomy now being studied.
One thing that has not changed is that for the about part, both organizations remain strictly gender-exclusive.
The boys receive a plan that girls participate in called Venturing, for teenagers and 20-year-olds.
Its a high-adventure program, lots of hiking, lots of search-and-rescue things, Moulds said. We get another program called Exploring, for 14- to 21-year-olds, that is more career-based.
On the other hand, Wendell explained, girls need space in their lives for girl-only time.
Its necessary for their healthy development, she said.
Theres a lot of team-building activities, she added. Its like the Boy Scouts, but with more feminine stuff.
Challenges continue
Wendell said national statistics prove that just one-third of high schoolers enrolled in Advanced Placement physics classes are girls; one-fifth of college engineering majors are women; and 60 percent of eighth-grade girls have authority in their math skills, about 11 percent fewer than boys.
Positive reinforcement through Girl Scout programs in these subjects can give girls the additional support they want to enthusiastically pursue science and mathematics education careers, Wendell said.
Challenges exist in both organizations. Boy Scouts struggle with approaching immigrant children.
Its easier to attend the suburban white kids, because their parents were probably Scouts, Moulds said. But the kids whose parents just moved to Us have never been open to Scouting.
Girl Scouts struggle being accepted on their own, Wendell said, even after 100 days of doing much more than just selling cookies.
I frequently felt inferior as a Girl Scout because I would be asked questions like, Oh, Girl Scouts. Is that ilk the Boy Scouts? she said.
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