Scouts honor

October 23, 2009 • KaDee Ellis  
Filed under Feature, People and Clubs

For some students that are in Boy/Girl Scouts this year the scouts are not only getting a diploma. Some are earning high awards and scholarships that other students can not receive.

Right now the Girl Scout Cookie sale is taking place. Scouts sell cookies to raise money for the troop.  Each $3.50 box sold allows for 64 cents to be donated to the troop.  The money is used for activities the scouts partake in.

“Our troop [2340] has been on many trips.  Our  two biggest ones were when we went to Niagara falls and Chicago,” Senior Madelyn Raatz said.

Selling cookies is not the only thing girl scouts do. A main goal of girl scouts is helping the community and completing community service projects.

This year troop 2340 is on their way to earning their Gold Award.

There are various steps a scout must go through to earn this award. For Girl Scouts to earn this award, they must design a community service program that the scout themselves has to organize and keep running through the years.

These programs can be about anything.  Koats for kids is an example of a service project.

Each individual scout has to design and organize their own community service project.  Then she must go to the Badgerland Council and get the project approved.

Once approved, action can be taken to set the project in motion.

Once the project is completed, the scout will receive the Gold Award.  After receiving this award many scholarship opportunities as well as grants for different schools, such as Viterbo College in La Cross WI, become available.

All members of  troop 2340 must have their gold award project completed by the end of senior year.

Some boy scouts have already earned an Eagle scout [equivalent of gold award] award in boy scouts.

“I’ve been in boy scouts since I was 5. My entire family, including my dad, have been in boy scouts. We all achieved one of the highest ranks boy scouts can get. The rank of Eagle scout,” Senior Ben Braun said.

Braun had to do different things to achieve the Eagle Scout Award.

“Only two percent of all boy scouts get it. The reason it’s so hard to achieve is because of the greater than 21 merit badges you have to earn a project approved by the board and be an active scout in the troop. I had to work at least five months organizing it,” Braun said.

The merit badges required for the eagle rank are swimming, camping, first aid, emergency preparedness, family life, personal fitness, citizenship in the nation, citizen in the world and others.

Boy Scouts, especially at the Eagle Scout rank, are eligible for scholarships like The National Eagle Scout Scholarship fund. This scholarship is worth up to $1,500. This award has to be completed by the age of 18.

Many benefits can come out of being a scout through high school.

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