Winter 2014

Winter 2013

Director’s Message … Pages 1-2 Program … Pages 3-7 Profiles … Pages 8-11 Happenings … Pages 12-15 Alumni News … Pages 16-19

We hope you enjoy your winter issue of Alumni Alive!

December, in particular, seems to always be a busy month as we try to finish the year, travel to see family, and prepare for the holidays.

I think that is a good thing.

Winter by nature is COLD! The holidays force us to get out of our warm houses and brave the elements (with cheery music, of course!)

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Scouting is similar in that participation gets both youth and adults outside.

I chuckle at the picture of the two Scouts on the right. The snow is almost sideways, and yet they have smiles on their faces.

They are having fun and creating an experience that they will remember for a lifetime, which may not have happened if they remained in the comfort of the indoors!

So, follow the Boy Scout Law, take all the hustle and bustle in stride and try to be “Cheerful” during this holiday season.

It’s tough but most things are if they are worthwhile!

C. William (Bill) Steele Director, Alumni Relations 3

PROGRAM

Venturing Gets a Facelift Few youth awards have the name recognition of the Eagle Scout Award. Even people who’ve never been in Scouting know what an honor it is to become an Eagle Scout.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the Silver Award, Venturing’s highest recognition . Most people outside Scouting have never heard of it, and even those within Venturing aren’t too sure what it and other Venturing awards represent. In fact, just seven in every 1,000 Venturers pursue any sort of Venturing awards. (By comparison, about five in every 100 Boy Scouts reach the Eagle Scout rank, and the vast majority earns at least a badge or two.)

Why the lack of knowledge 15 years after Venturing’s launch? One is the relative complexity of the Venturing recognition scheme. Another is the underlying program’s flexibility. When Scouters say, “Venturing is anything you want it to be,” they fail to offer clear paths along which Venturers can progress.

That situation will soon change, thanks to a task force led by longtime Scouter Charles Dahlquist. The group is working to revise and simplify both the Venturing program and the recognition system.

In a recent interview, Dahlquist explained, “We have realized for a number of years that the longer we can keep a boy in Scouting, the more likely he is to live the principles of the Scout Oath and Law throughout his life. We also know that there are many youth, including some pretty incredible young women, who would benefit from involvement in the Venturing program. Our intent was to not only make the program more desirable for youth of Venturing age, but to provide experiences and adventures that would prepare

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them for the challenges they will meet in relationships, in education, in the job market—in a word, to prepare them for life.”

So how does the new Venturing recognition program support those goals? In addition to simplifying the recognition program, the task force is making it more skills-based. “When someone thinks of an Eagle Scout, they think of someone who is a ‘finisher’—one who gets things done and sticks with it until the job or project is finished,” Dahlquist said. “It is our hope that, in time, when educators, HR directors in the workforce, community leaders, and Venturers themselves think of the highest Venturing award [still to be named], they will recognize not only that that young man or young woman is a ‘finisher,’ but also that that Venturer has those skills that will better prepare him or her to be successful in education and in the marketplace—skills like goal setting, time management, building relationships, team building, and project management.”

While Venturing will still have the flexibility to support a variety of crews, from church-based units to groups focused on high adventure, every Venturer will have a clear path to follow. The task force has identified four pillars of Venturing: (1) Adventure and Activities, (2) Leadership, (3) Service, and (4) Personal Growth. These four pillars are the foundation not only for the recognition program but also for a well-rounded Venturing activity program.

Although details are still being nailed down, there will be four primary awards: an introductory award, an award that recognizes participation and mastery of essential skills, an award that recognizes leadership and achievement of challenging goals, and a top-level award that recognizes mentoring skills, as well as focusing on a “Legacy” service project to encourage Venturers to give back to their communities.

More than just recognizing achievement, the awards will give focus and direction to Venturers as they plan activities. “We realized successful crews already do something like this,” said Ken King, the task-force member in charge of developing a new Venturing handbook. “We just formalized it for everyone else, so that they can enjoy the same sort of experiences that other crews enjoy.”

The new Venturing program and recognition program will be unveiled at the 2014 National Annual Meeting in May. However, Venturers will have until the end of 2014 to continue working on the current awards.

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PROGRAM

Merit Badge Roundup

On the surface, little has changed in the Boy Scout advancement program since 1911. Now as then, Scouts work toward the Eagle Scout Award. And now as then, merit badges are important milestones along the Eagle Scout trail.

Below the surface, however, change is constant—especially in the merit badge program. New merit badges appear, old merit badges are retired, requirements get refreshed, and the list of merit badges required for Eagle changes.

So what’s new in the world of merit badges as 2014 approaches? Plenty. Here are highlights:

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Beginning on Jan. 1, 2014, Cooking will be required for Eagle for the first time since the early 1970s.

The requirements are also changing to focus more on good nutrition and offer options for both camp and home cooking. Scouts will also learn about food allergies and the risk of cross-contamination.

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Sustainability merit badge, which was unveiled at the 2013 National Scout Jamboree, has joined the list of Eagle-required merit badges as an alternative to Environmental Science.

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Cinematography merit badge has been renamed Moviemaking in recognition of the fact that cinematography is just part of what goes into making movies. The requirements have been tweaked to reflect the broadened focus.

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Cycling merit badge has been revised to add a mountain-biking option. (Previously the focus was on road cycling.) Since 1999, Cycling has been on the Eagle-required list as an alternative to Hiking and Swimming.

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Programming merit badge was released this summer. It’s another in a series of badges that support Scouting’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) emphasis. Coming in 2014 and 2015 will be several more technology-related badges.

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PROFILES

George Gomez: Pinball Wizard

Pinball-game designer George Gomez has found inspiration in cars (“Corvette,” 1994), sports (“NBA Fastbreak,” 1997), and popular culture (“The Avengers,” 2013). But his real inspiration comes from a far different realm: Scouting.

“Scouting was a great thing for me.

It was phenomenal. It got me out of trouble. It gave me stuff to do. It introduced me to some of the greatest friends I have,” Gomez said.

It also taught him how to meet challenges head on, something he deals with every day in his job as executive vice president of game design for Stern Pinball. “Everybody thinks [making games] is a lot of fun.

Yes, it can be. I’m blessed to work on a product that no one needs,” he said. “But at the same time, my games have to compete in the marketplace; my games have to be successful. We employ hundreds of people. If I don’t cut it, if I don’t make compelling games, if I don’t get stuff done on time, those people go home.”

Gomez came to the United States as a 7-year-old Cuban refugee in 1962. He spent an indifferent few years in Cub Scouting, then left the program and quickly started getting in trouble. After his mom had severely grounded him for a few months, she let him choose one extracurricular activity. Remembering his friends’ stories of camping adventures, he chose Boy Scouting.

His troop, Troop 850 in Chicago, was strong and active, although it hadn’t produced an Eagle Scout in 20 years. On his first two-week trip to Owasippe Scout Reservation, he and his friends saw their first Eagle Scout. “We had never seen an Eagle badge in person,” he recalled. “We were like, ‘Look at that dude.

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He’s an Eagle Scout.’ ” By his sophomore year in high school, Gomez was an Eagle Scout himself, having overcome numerous challenges, not the least of which was his Lifesaving merit badge instructor. “I must have weighed 115 pounds.

Every time I tried to save this guy, he damn near drowned me,” Gomez said. “He would save me. He would put me on the side of the pool, and I would be coughing up water.”

Despite his weakness in the water, Gomez impressed Arnold Schenk, the Chicago Area Council’s director of camping. Schenk nominated him to attend Kit Carson Men at Philmont Scout Ranch (forerunner of today’s Rayado program). “I went on Kit Carson Men and absolutely loved it and fell in love with the place,” he said.

“The following year, I applied to be a ranger and got it.”

Gomez went on to serve on the Philmont staff for four summers, ending his tenure as assistant chief ranger in 1978. “In my day, it was such an eclectic and amazing talent pool. Just being surrounded by all of those people with talent and vision was an experience that I absolutely can’t match. They were the best summers of my life,” he said.

This summer, Gomez’s work was featured in a special exhibit at the Philmont Museum called “The Gift of Inspiration.” As part of Philmont’s 75th anniversary celebration, the exhibit showcased 14 artists whose work was inspired by Philmont. There were western landscapes, livestock photos, Scouting-related sculptures, and a brand-new “Avengers” pinball machine that visitors got to play.

“Kids were all over that thing all summer long,” Gomez said. And while most were content to play, at least a few probably pondered these words from Gomez on the wall behind the machine: “For me, the confidence to tackle diverse problems with no obvious solution was born at Philmont. I’m thrilled that Philmont continues to forge great people and unique, amazing adventures.”

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PROFILES

Buell Jannuzi: Seeing Stars (and a Whole Lot More)

Buell Jannuzi was already interested in space when he took an Astronomy merit badge class at Boy Scout summer camp. Nonetheless, he learned an important lesson that summer at Lost Pine Scout Reservation. “Doing it during summer camp wasn’t necessarily the smartest thing in the world,” he said. “It meant you stayed up late, and then you had to get up at 6:30 or whatever, but it was fun.”

Jannuzi continues to put in long hours, although the telescopes he now uses look nothing like the hobby models amateur astronomers use to peer at the moon. As head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, the 1980 Eagle Scout has joked that he holds four jobs in one. In addition to leading the department, he raises money, directs the Steward Observatory, and oversees the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab. That last task puts Jannuzi in the middle of astronomy’s biggest undertaking: building a landbased telescope that is 10 times as powerful as the Hubble Space Telescope. Named the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), this engineering marvel will use seven mirrors, each weighing 20 tons and measuring more than 27 feet in diameter, to collect and focus light from distant galaxies. It will be housed in a 22-story-tall observatory on a remote mountaintop in Chile, one of the highest, driest, and darkest spots on the planet. It’s slated to be fully operational around 2022.

Ten universities and scientific institutions are building the GMT, including Harvard University, the University of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution, and groups in Australia and Korea. “When you’re doing a large project like this, the resources are significant,” Jannuzi said “To get a billion dollars, which is roughly what it will cost, you need to pool resources. You also need to pool expertise.”

Expertise is where the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab comes in. Since the early 1980s the lab

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has pioneered and perfected techniques to create mirrors that are both technically complex and virtually flawless. Each GMT mirror begins with a parabolic mold that contains about 1,700 hexagonal boxes that form a honeycomb structure. This mold is filled with borosilicate glass (the kind used in glass cookware) and covered. The whole assembly is then heated to 2120 F and spun at 5 rpm in a massive furnace. Once the mirror has been formed, it’s slowly cooled over a three-month period. Only then is it polished, a process that takes close to two years. That laborious process results in a mirror that’s accurately shaped to one-millionth of an inch, or just a few wavelengths of light. (You can learn more, and see a video of the casting process, at http://mirrorlab.as.arizona.edu .)

Despite the key role his department plays in developing the GMT, Jannuzi is quick to emphasize the role of teamwork and collaboration, skills he said Scouting taught him. He also drew another connection to Scouting. “A big part of Scouting is taking kids into the outdoors to broaden their vision of the world they live in,” he said.

“Certainly astronomy does that. We help the world by exploring and trying to understand the universe we all live in.”

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HAPPENINGS

Sea Base Goes Three-for-Three

The Florida National High Adventure Sea Base in 2013 set an attendance record for the third year in a row. More than 11,800 participants in 1,400 crews attended programs run by the Islamorada, Florida, base.

“The exciting thing is that we set an attendance record in a jamboree year,” said Captain Paul Beal, the base’s general manager for the past eight years. “And next year we’re set for our fourth record in a row.”

What draws so many Boy Scouts and Venturers to a sailing program in the Florida Keys? Plenty, starting with the fact that Sea Base is more than just a sailing program in the Florida Keys. In fact, sailing is just one of the many ocean-based adventures Sea Base offers.

Many participants prefer to spend time under the water instead of on top of it. Sea Base accommodates with the scuba certification program, a scuba adventure based at Islamorada, and a scuba live-aboard program that combines scuba with sailing.

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Those who want to hug the shoreline can sign up for a week of fishing or for the Out Island Adventure, which lets participants spend a week camping on remote Big Munson Island. There’s even a curriculumbased STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) adventure for the academically inclined. “It’s very much an educational program, but kids never had so much fun learning about science,” Beal said. “You get all the fun of a Sea Base adventure, but you also spend time kayaking and snorkeling in the mangroves and learning about this very important and fragile ecosystem.”

And then there’s sailing. Participants can choose sailing adventures on anything from a 40-foot yacht to a 75-foot topsail schooner. Sailing adventures depart from Islamorada, from Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas, and—starting in 2014—from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

There’s little doubt that Sea Base is fun—thus the record attendance figures—but Beal is quick to emphasize that it’s fun with a purpose. “All of us in high adventure feel that we’re the retention arm of the National Council,” he said. “We see a lot of 17-, 18-, 19-year-olds coming to our bases. That’s kids staying in Scouting because they want another high adventure. It’s just an amazing, amazing retention tool.”

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HAPPENINGS

True Green: Fall Event Promotes Sustainability

The Boy Scouts of America was green when green was still a color. Generations of Scouts have followed the Outdoor Code and learned how to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures. Beginning this year, they can even earn a merit badge that’s all about sustainability.

But learning about sustainability isn’t limited to individual Scouts. The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve has given the BSA and its partners an outdoor laboratory in which to experiment with sustainable forestry, green construction, and creative reuse of materials. For example, shower houses at the Summit were built using timber harvested from the site and milled locally, and gray water from showers and sinks is recycled to flush toilets, drastically reducing water and water-treatment needs.

This fall, just a short drive from the new high-adventure base, the BSA convened its second Sustainability Summit at the Greenbrier Resort. The event brought together BSA leaders and representatives from an array of industries for four days of candid discussion, education, and collaboration between corporate leaders and today’s youth regarding sustainability.

The attendees heard from a host of experts in the field, as well as speakers who addressed sustainability in construction, the military, mining, and education. In keeping with the BSA’s youth focus, young adults participated in a panel discussion with industry leaders.

The event ended with a tour of the Summit, where attendees witnessed firsthand the BSA’s commitment to leaving the Earth a better place than we found it. At the top of the 125-foot-tall Sustainability Treehouse, they could read sustainability pledges written by Scouts at the 2013 National Scout Jamboree— and ponder their own commitments to a greener future.

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ALUMNI NEWS Washington State Councils Get Creative to Recruit Each year, hundreds of thousands of people visit LeMay—America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, to gawk at cars from the world’s largest private collection of vehicles. This fall, the museum also attracted a small group of Scouting alumni who had a different purpose: to talk about the program they love.

(OK, they also spent plenty of time gawking at the cars.)

Of course, Scout councils across America hold alumni events all the time, but this one was a little different, according to Mike Movius, who heads Pacific Harbors Council’s alumni committee and serves on the National Alumni Relations Committee. Rather than hold a singlecouncil event, Movius’ committee teamed up with the alumni committee of its neighbor to the north, Chief Seattle Council. (Alumni from the Mount Baker Council were also invited, although distance limited their participation.)

Why hold a multicouncil event? Because council boundaries don’t always align with the way people live. Movius cited the example of Auburn, Washington, which lies on the border between two councils. “Most of Auburn is in Chief Seattle Council,” he said. “But the way the boundary lines run, I have a friend who lives in Auburn and is in Pacific Harbors Council.”

The LeMay event was different for another reason: It focused on quality instead of quantity. Rather than try to fill a banquet hall, the councils aimed for a smaller crowd. Just over 20 people attended.

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That’s a good thing, according to Ryan Larson, the BSA’s associate director of alumni relations and the National Eagle Scout Association, who emphasized that bigger is not always better. “What’s the value of one person? If you have the right person walk in, it’s well worth it. He could be your social media person. He could be your newsletter editor. He could host your next alumni event,” Larson said.

Movius said he and his fellow alumni committee members learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t by holding their event at the car museum. “Increasing our recruiting effectiveness has been a really good outcome of the LeMay event,” he said.

Courtesy of David Imanaka

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ALUMNI NEWS Make a Difference With a Vehicle Donation You may have heard a pitch like this on the radio: “Donate your car to (name of charity) and get a tax deduction.” But did you know that you can donate your car to benefit Scouting?

The One Car One Difference program can turn your old car into cash that your local council (or the council where you grew up) can use to strengthen Scouting. And the process really is as easy as those radio pitches make it sound.

To get started, just visit www.onecarhelpsscouts.com or call 855-272-1227. After you enter your contact information and some basic information about your car (make, model, mileage, and whether you have the title), the BSA’s vendor will arrange to have it picked up—typically within 24 hours—and towed to an auction site. After it’s auctioned, you’ll receive a donation receipt that you can use when you file your income tax return. (Check with your tax advisor for more information.)

Where does the money go? The One Car One Difference program receives a flat fee, the National Council retains 5 percent of the proceeds, and the rest of the money goes o the council you designated.

One Car One Difference is a national public awareness program presented by Insurance Auto Auctions’ Donation Division to support charities nationwide. In addition to cars and trucks, it handles donations of motorcycles, boats, farm equipment, and commercial vehicles.

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