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The Benefit of Being a Scout and Eagle


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We always hear the stories of how being a Scout/Eagle pays off in the end. Some people believe it gives you an advantage, others don't. I want to share my son's story.

 

My son is an Eagle who is in his sophomore year of college. He is in the engineering school at Oklahoma State University with a major in Fire Protection and Safety Technology. His school is one of only two accredited programs in the US. Yesterday was the engineering career fair with over 100 companies represented. His interest lies in fire and safety in the oil and gas field, so he talked to about 15 different companies yesterday. Prior to that, they can apply for internship interviews with these companies. BP called him and set up an interview for this morning. The guy also told him, "don't come in a suit and tie, that isn't how we dress in the biggest oil field in the US". So he wore his boots and jeans for his interview this morning.

 

The interview lasted about an hour. On several of the questions, his answer would related back to some scouting experience like his Eagle project. Towards the end of the interview, the interviewer told him that he had done very well on the interview. He was 1 of only 16 given an interview out of a field of 122 applicants. They would narrow down those 16 to 6 tonight and let those they will hire for the summer know within the next two weeks. The interviewer told my son that two of the contributing factors to his selection for an interview was that he was a member of the Fire Protection Society and his scouting experience listed on his resume. Turns out, the interviewer is an SM, a Brotherhood member of the OA and an Eagle Scout. They spent the last 15 minutes discussing my sons backpacking trips to Philmont and the Pecos Wilderness, his Northern Tier trek, his two Jambos, camp staffing experience, Eagle project and OA ceremonies.

 

He came away from the interview feeling very good about it. If he gets this internship, he'll spend the summer on the north slope of Alaska working 14 day/12 hour a day rotations with 14 days back in Anchorage.

 

That Eagle rank and Scouting do indeed count sometimes!(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

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Congrats to your son! In my first real interview for my first "big-boy" job after college, the employer and I spent about 40 minutes of the one-hour interview talking about our shared experiences in Scouts! Cinched the interview and got the job, and worked very hard at it because of the mutual respect between myself and the boss.

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Good Luck on the job.

 

Had an Eagle Scout who joined the Air Force and after basic training was assigned to a base. After he had been there about 4-6 weeks, he was summoned to the Base Commanders office. Of course, he was trying to figure out what he had done wrong, especially since he had been there such a short time.

The Base Commander was also new at the base and had been going over personnel records. Turned out he was also an Eagle Scout and was calling in all the other Eagle Scouts there to chat with them.

They apparently chatted for almost an hour and the young Eagle Scout left feeling a lot better than when he went in.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

The wheels of progress turn slowly sometimes, but my son got his official offer from BP last night and accepted it. He will be headed to Alaska for his paid internship and has to report in on May 14th. He is super excited at the opportunity. He's even more excited that he will be making almost 3 times per hour what he made the past two summers back home.

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That's great news, Beaver!

 

 

Meanwhile my nephew the music major quit his job as a Customer Service Rep a couple of months ago in order to spend full time promoting himself as a musician/composer.

 

He has given notice that he is moving out of his apartment at the end of the month because playing his piano raises complaints by neighbors.

 

He wants to rent a small house where he and his piano can move into and live in peace together. Whether he will find a landlord willing to rent to someone without a regular job is something he will be finding out shortly.

 

I contrast the experience of your son who is on a career track with my nephew, who followed the common advice to follow his interests and passions and pay little or no attention to economic reality.

 

That's easy advice to give, provided you don't stick around to see what often happens in the end.

 

While I wish my nephew nothing but the best, I'm very concerned about his future. Perhaps his parents will bail him out with Economic Outpatient Care. If so, any difficulties can be postponed indefinitely, I suppose.

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

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I hear you SP. I have a neice finishing her doctorate in medieval literature. Close to 30 years old, around 8 years of school and a PhD and she is grading papers for professors. I worry about her future. She will most likely become a public school teacher unless some old grey haired professor dies somewhere.

 

Then I have a nephew on each side of the family who have blown off a higher education and work menial labor to feed their garage band habits.

 

But they all seem to be happy. Another 10 years down the road, they may question those choices.

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I heard some good news on the situation of my nephew today.

 

Apparently he's coming up with a couple of gigs as a music director and a friend of his is leaving the area and bequeathing him a bunch of people taking piano lessons.

 

That's a start, it sounds like.

 

I have a friend from high school who has made this kind of music career work. I asked him what it was like and he said, "Forty years of struggle."

 

I'm hoping for the best.

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