Posted on 04/08/2009 6:28:39 AM PDT by Mobile Vulgus
Out of Georgia comes a heart warmer about the Boy Scouts for a change. Instead of radical gays attacking this noble organization, instead of extremist left-wing politicians trying to make a name for themselves by attacking one of America's finest youth organizations, we have a story that makes you smile. And you can bet it won't make national news.
Rodrigo and Rosa Cano moved to the United States in 1980. A decade or so later Rosa gave birth to David who the proud parents enrolled in a local Boy Scouts troop when he reached his tenth year. They hoped that young David could further help them assimilate in their new home as young David brought home his Scouting experiences.
Young David set a goal for himself as a Scout: to win every merit badge and every Eagle Palm award that the Boy Scouts offered. And, finally at age 17, David became only the third Boy Scout ever to win all 121 Boy Scout merit badges. Cano earned all 20 Eagle Palms, as well...
Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...
Huzzah to this young man. Well done.
Oddly - I have an invite to an Eagle court for a young man here in Hayward Calif who has also achieved this status! That makes the third I’ve read about in a year!
WOW.
Some of those badges looked really, really boring when i was a kid. He deserves another palm for the sewing badge alone.
From an Eagle Scout for the last 39 years, congratulations to this young man.
Amazing that he found time to be involved in other things as well.
Great story, thanks, just one nitpick with the author though.
Boy Scouts working towards advancement or merit badges don’t “win” anything, they EARN them. It’s not a competition or race, sometimes it’s a lot of hard work. The Hiking and Cycling MB’s are two of the most physically demanding badges to earn.
Regards,
SZ
Time to brag on my kid a little bit and how great scouting is.
This past Monday he completed his duty as Patrol Leader and handed the patrol off to another leader, completed his Board of Review and earned First Class rank and turned in his paperwork for his second consecutive Yaer Round Camping Award (one night out per month for a year...in Michigan).
An hour before the meeting, another scout called him. The other scout was scheduled to give a 30 minute talk on backpacking gear and skills and could not make it. My 12 year old son hastily assembled his gear and a few visual aids and gave a 30 minute talk to his troop on the fly.
Backpacking is a pretty tough badge too. We still need to do the 30 mile trek. Did 13 miles in the rain one day.
Our family does a lot of cycling so the cycling badge should be pretty easy for him. Doing it this summer.
“It did help us to bridge between being Hispanics into the American society in a way that Scouts offers minority boys - whether black, Chinese or Hispanic - the American culture,” Rodrigo Cano said. “This is something that is very near and dear to many American families.”
Getting my sons involved in Scouting was the best thing I ever did for them. We were involved as a family and they both worked hard and earned Eagle Scout rank. They learned so much about themselves as well as valuable skills. I can’t say enough about what a great experience is was for all of us. I will continue to support BSA as long as I am able to do so.
Great story, stick with him and he will continue to amaze. The boys need parents to be involved, not just the leaders. Praise them appropriately and support them always. If this were the case throughout, I believe the number of Eagle Scouts would be many times higher than it is.
Cheers,
SZ
I’m both parent and leader.
Asst. Scoutmaster
Webelo Den Leader
Asst. Cubmaster
My wife is pack treasurer
It’s unusual to have a week go by when I’m not wearing a tan shirt at least one-two nights...and lovin it.
I think we’ll have two Eagle’s in the family in a few years. The night he earned first class, he was reading the requirements for Star and just said “piece of cake.”
We won’t have two Eagles, but working for one, my son earned STAR this past winter and is currently working on 3 Eagle required MB’s towards Life and he’s only 13.
As you posited, I wear many hats and have worn quite a few as well. Like you, there isn’t a week that goes by where I don’t have the uniform on at least once. You can read my profile page for more info. Are you a Cycling MB counselor? I ride MTB, and currently have two Scouts working the MB with me.
My son was just appointed ASPL a couple of months ago and is duly nervous as he’s never had to be in that type of position before. We’re working it together and he’s “getting” it.
He’s busy with OA as well, but doesn’t have much choice because when I was his SM during elections, I told him “If you do this, you’re going to do it. No sash and dash.” And since we both went through Ordeal and recently Brotherhood together, he’s been doing his part and me as well.
I figure if we don’t give him much non-productive idle time he won’t have time to even think about getting into trouble! I suppose it keeps me out of trouble as well. We both enjoy the time together. Won’t be long till he’s out on his own.
YIS,
SZ
No, I haven’t counseled any badges. One of our dads used to own a bike shop and is a very accomplished cyclist and mechanic. He’s the counselor. Our troop is planning to do the MB as a troop this year, at least a bunch of them are. I plan to be involved, especially along the 50 mile ride. I’m mainly a roadie. I hit a personal goal last year. I managed to go a whole year without having to buy a bike. But the kids keep growing and I had to break down this year and get my son a new Trek 820. He turns 13 next week. He’s APL right now and has been PL for his patrol twice. He was talking to me a couple weeks ago and said he wants to wait at least one more year before looking at running for SPL. It’s really cool to see them all grow and take on challenges. At 13, we still need to prod them along though.
Several of our guys are working on backpacking too. That’s a tough badge physically. We’re planning a 30 mile trek in August.
I’m not sure if I’m ready for the 50 mile ride yet. At least the Scouts working on the MB haven’t said they’re ready for it yet. I need more saddle time before then, still a bit tender down below due to minimal riding.
Backpacking is most of what our Troop concentrates on during outings. We tend to focus more on outings that require the boys to hike in and out of campsites.
My son and I hiked up Mt. Baden-Powell(9400’ elev.)here in SoCal this past weekend. We only had day packs, but it was difficult enough with 2-3 feet of snow on the North slope approach to the summit. It was his idea to do it and he kind of hit a brick wall when we hit the snow line. I pressed him to keep going. We reached the false summit about 300’ below the summit and he said he was done. I told him I didn’t come this far to get so close and quit. Needless to say, we finished it.
We’ve had a couple of others, Valentine Lake was a backpacking camp, over 4000’ elev gain in 5+ miles to an altitude of 10,000’.
We’re surrounded by mountains, so we have ample opportunities to get some backpacking in.
I’m going to propose a trip to Half Dome. I’ve been told that it’s supposed to be a pretty good one that can be extended by hiking into Yosemite and then continuing up to the top. Will have to check it out.
SZ
50 isn’t really that hard. Bike shorts really help cause the lycra doesn’t bind on your legs. You may want to consider getting narrow hybrid tires too. I’ve done a couple 60 mile trips on knobby’s and it’s OK, but more work than with slicks.
You’ve got 8 hours to do it and I’m sure some of the boys will want to take rest time. Be sure to encourage them to hold their rest times to 10 minute cycles.
Having a bike computer really helps. They can set a MPH goal.
Have fun.
I usually wear baggies with lycra and chamois padding. should help, it’s just the duration. I usually ride for a couple of hours and then that’s it.
The tires are a good recommendation, I don’t want to thrash my new mtb tires on the pavement, plus the rolling resistance will make it harder as you said.
I have simple computer, mph, distance, time, avg. speed. Should be good enough. Planning on support folks at predetermined rest stops should help quite a bit as well.
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