A Changing of the Guard…

Saying that Scouting – and life – has been different over the past several months is perhaps the understatement of the century. I’ve talked at length within and outside of the troop about how proud I am that our youth leaders have risen to the challenge of 1st – running a virtual troop and 2nd – safely coming back together in a hybrid activity mode, all without asking to be thrust into this mode. Have we occasionally stumbled along the way? Sure…but one look at our troop calendar from April onward quickly conveys just how “virtually active” we’ve been and it is awesome that we went to summer camp @ the Summit Bechtel Reserve, completed our high adventure trek to Northern Tier, have held day canoe trips & hikes, and have even begun camping overnight again.

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But that’s not the topic on my mind today…as with every youth-oriented activity (schools/classes, sports teams, musical programs, etc.) each year youth and/or their families move on and leave the program(s). Sometimes due to a move to another state, sometimes due to changing levels of interest, and sometimes simply because time marches on resulting in a transition from middle to high school, or the end of little league baseball, and yes – the end of one’s time as a boy scout. This hasn’t been an unusual year for Troop 58 in this regard – some scouts decided to leave scouting, a few of our families moved out of the area, and 4 of our scouts “aged-out” when they turned 18.

I am self-aware enough to know that I am a pretty sentimental guy in general, and this applies to Scouting as well. Perhaps it was the email BSA sent last week congratulating me on the 30th anniversary of becoming an Eagle Scout that really got me thinking. Maybe it’s that my own son’s Eagle package came back approved from BSA HQ this month and we have [finally] been able to schedule his Eagle Court of Honor. Or, maybe it was sitting back and fully realizing the impact of the departures of the Croissant, Kalil, and Spore families due to moves and the aging out / high school graduation of the Peiler, Boyd, Baker/Whisenhunt, and Lawrence families (all Eagles whose parents dedicated countless hours to the troop, I might add).

All of these things, the cancellation of so many Scouting activities this past Spring/Summer, and having a little extra COVID19-driven time on my hands to reflect on things really got me down a bit. But as often is the case – there was a silver lining. After our Spring Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) elections, 3 of our Eagles offered to prepare for and lead Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (ILST) training for our new PLC members. This is normally a pretty significant effort – both time-wise and mentally – for me and it was a big relief to just supervise ILST. More importantly, though – these senior scouts were amazing [virtual] instructors! They held everyone’s attention, engaging our new PLC leaders with real Troop 58 stories that re-vitalized what had become a rather dry set of content.

As we transitioned Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) and Assistant SPL (ASPL) roles toward the end of the Summer, I found myself inspired by the energy and excitement these 2 new leaders are bringing to their roles – they are full of new ideas, while still clearly being guided by all of the SPLs that have come before them. And finally, as we prepare for our Summer/Fall Court of Honor in September, the pace of Scoutmaster Conference requests has shot up, as it often does. But this time it feels a little different for some reason…many of the names and faces are the same, but the bodies are taller, the voices are deeper, the experiences and knowledge are greater, and most importantly – the conversations are more meaningful. All signaling that yes – there is a changing of the guard in the troop and although we will miss the scouts and families that have left us – Troop 58 has a bright future ahead of it!