From: Robert \ (Rcwscouts@AOL.COM)
Date: Fri Feb 11 2000 - 03:08:40 CST
I would to announce a new Eagle Scout: Paul Heath Warner 02-10-00
(my youngest son).
I would to announce the newest candidate for Eagle Scout in the Warner clan:
Timothy Raymond Warner, born 2/8/00 (BSA's Birthday), 9 lbs, 11 ozs., 19
inches, reddish-blond hair and blue eyes with long fingers (his mother's
notation, see following), son of Eagle Scout Robert C. Warner, Jr., and Amy
Everdyke Warner.
Mother and son doing great. Mother is a keyboard artist, certified teacher
of coral and instrumental music, church organist and choirs director. She is
the daughter of a Methodist minister. Father is a grad of Penn State in
Quantitative Business Analysis and is Assistant Production Manager at Power
X, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi and GE.
Some Thoughts on Last Minute Eagles
Number 1 son got his Eagle at age 17 and 11.5/12ths. His completed his Eagle
Project while his Dad was working in Germany by refurbishing a community
playground when he was 15. This project included weld repair of equipment,
painting, moving and grading 5 truckloads of dirt to correct about 30 years
of sever erosion, and revamping two totally vandalized and unusable
bathrooms. His SM had closed to the troop to new members, and there were 7
Scouts that he worked with until they made Eagle. To get enough help, my son
enlisted his church youth group, friends, Scouts, parents and went door to
door asking the neighbors of the playground to help improve the quality of
their neighborhood. It was not his neighborhood. This was recruitment was
even more remarkable when you learn why he finished his Eagle so near the
deadline. Every time he got close to finishing his last required MB,
Communications, he'd get everything done except the presentation to a group.
You see he was very shy--and he'd stop dead in his tracks. And after
6-months, his SM would make him start all over. But he finally overcame this
hurdle. What is really remarkable--his first job upon graduation--Director
of Youth Ministries at a combined church of three churches which had just
retired their minister. This meant that this shy Scout lead the Sunday
worship service each Sunday except for the sermon by the guest minister--at a
church at which he initially knew no one. Dad couldn't wait to go see this!
Number 2 son is very competitive and was not to be outdone by his older
brother. He completed his Eagle with a flourish at age 17 and 360/365ths,
the day after giving his Eagle Project signed off. Our city is one of, if
not the leading city, in the Habitat for Humanity. In one area, the first
phase consisted of 80 homes. The community then built a $300,000 Family
Development Center for this community. My son talked with the planners about
building a playground for the center. It took about a year and a half before
the planners could solidify their plans, get the center built, approve the
playground plans and determine where they wanted the playground--this last
criteria changed at least three times. The playground was built to Federal
playground standards. No. 2 son is a master of JIT--Just In Time. This is
because he carries a heavy load and doesn't waste time. He attends a
regional Governors' school in addition to his high school; this year he is
taking 16 college credits in calculus and biology, a seminar, and three AP
courses. One of his goals was to score 800 in math in the SAT which he
accomplished with a 760 in English. He has done equally well in the SATIIs
and the AP exams. He prepares and serves Sunday dinners at men's homeless
shelter and training center (by the way the training center uses BSA merit
badge books to teach the men some of the basic skills for living). He is a
soccer affectionado (spelling?) and to more up to a higher level, plays for a
premier club team in the next city. This means traveling 60 to 70 miles one
way to practice 2 or 3 times a week plus weekend trips frequently of 150 to
200 one way for multiple games or tournaments. He also made the state ODP
(Olympic Development Program) team and because of his December birthday has
to play on a U-19 team where he is the only high school player--this entails
more practice and games all over the state. He is also the youth
representative to the church Administrative Board. He maintains a 4.41 GPA
on a 4.0 scale and is hurt by attending the governor's school even though the
work is of a higher level. His project has now been part of two TV news
broadcasts--which I have been told is bringing a lot of positive credit to
Scouting in our area. Today (or I guess it is now yesterday), he is arguing
a case before the State Appellate Court having been selected from students
from Western Virginia as part of the Model Government Assembly program
sponsored by the Y.
One interesting point: his troop has produced 7 Eagles in the past 6 months
or so that are all seniors at the Governor's school and there is one more in
the wings. They attend 5 different high schools. Their high schools can
only nominate students for the Governor's school from the upper 1 to 1.6 % of
their students. So Scouting is very well represented in an area of academic
excellence in an area of the country that serves a low percentage of
available youth.
During some of the recent exchanges on SCOUTS-L, some harsh opinions were
expressed about Scouts waiting to the last minute to complete their Eagle
requirements. No. 2 son on June 1, had his project to do plus seven required
MBs to finish by November 30 while maintaining grades, soccer participation
and applying to nine top colleges. He also had to put up with one SA who
said he would do everything possible to block his getting the Eagle award
because he had, in this SA's opinion, put soccer ahead of Scouting and that
made him a poor example of a good Scout. This alone would demoralize many a
youth--adults with this kind of attitude need to back off.
There is a Christian Musical Drama that has a song and a simple dance routine
suitable for local churches about not making judgments until you have worn
the other person's shoes for a while. Maybe we should rewrite a version for
Scouters.
While I was a Scouter in TAC, I was asked to take over the Advancement
Chairman's position on the Committee in lieu of SA. I had one Scout transfer
in whose Dad was the PIO (Public Information Officer) for the 7th Army and
NATO. Dad and family had been transferred 6 times in 3 years and this boy
had been jerked around pretty good--and Scouting was no exception. The boy
was reacting by smoking and drinking heavily and letting school work drop,
but he was still interested in Scouting and our Troop had an outstanding
program which he enjoyed. After we finally got all of his Scout records
together and documented, we got him through Life. But by then he only had 5
months until he would be 18. He still had six required MBs to earn and his
Eagle Project (which is not always easy to come up with in a foreign country)
to do. So he and I sat down and worked out a plan, and I wrote National
asking for an exception to the six month rule with endorsements from the DE,
the Scout Executive and (I think) Lt General Otis. His Dad was PIO at a time
when the Barner-Manhof (spelling?) gang smuggled a car bomb onto the US
Airbase in Frankfurt and detonated it and the Russians shot a killed an
unarmed Army captain who was an official observer in East Germany--needless
to say he was up to his eyeteeth with reporters and problems--and he was
undergoing a major bout with cancer to boot.
The Scout started on his plan to Eagle, and National gave us remarkably fast
approval of the requested exception. The result: the Scout quit smoking and
drinking, his grades went up, he finished his Eagle just in the nick of time
and he successfully applied to several colleges--all in five months. I
received a lot of criticism for making an exception for this boy's tenure as
a Life Scout and going to National for an exception from some "old" Scouters.
But did this Scout deserve to make Eagle--you betcha! And I threw a
wing-ding of a Court of Honor for him--and got General Otis to come and give
the Eagle Charge!
Nuff-said!
YIS,
___>V"V<____>V"V<____>V"V<____
Bob Warner
Piedmont District MB Counselor Chairman
Unit Commissioner (Doctor of Commissioner Science, Triad Cluster)
Trained Trainer and District Viking (Training) Patrol
And Freedom Owl, NE-VI-8-32 (1985)
