Scouting Programs
at St. Anthony
“We think that youth develop best when they’re out there and being challenged in new and different ways. It’s pretty cool that it’s a system that’s been working for over a hundred years.” — Dr. Bill Dixon
W
e are blessed to have two organizations that encourage independence in some of our youngest parishioners while providing their parents with a wonderful resource for helping their children and teenagers grow in character and virtue — the Scouts BSA (Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts) and Girl Scouts. Participating youth benefit from these programs as they learn outdoor and entrepreneurial skills, participate in community service projects and forge lasting friendships with their fellow scouts. Dr. Bill Dixon is the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 76 here at St. Anthony. “The purpose of scouting is to help develop leaders, and to do that, you have to develop the whole child,” he says. “In the Boy Scouts, there is an emphasis on outdoor activities that work on confidence, self-sufficiency, and teamwork. We think that youth develop best when they’re out there and being challenged in new and different ways.
It’s pretty cool that it’s a system that’s been working for over a hundred years.” Cub Scouts is open to boys from kindergarten through fifth grade. In the spring of the fifth-grade year, many decide to “crossover” to the Boy Scout Troop. Fifth-graders — and any youth up to the age of 18 — who have not participated in Cub Scouts are also welcome to join Boy Scouts. As both a leader and a father, Dr. Dixon has a great appreciation for the many life lessons made available through the scouting program. “My son, Noah, is 16,” he says. “As the parent of a scout, I have seen in him the development of selfconfidence, dedication to others, teamwork, and social skills — the growing into a mature young man that puts others before himself.” According to the Scout Law recited at the beginning of all meetings, a scout strives to be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” In Boy Scout Troop 76, this last character trait — reverence — takes on a particularly Catholic component as the group begins each meeting with prayer. Also, the chaplain aide is one of the troop leadership roles available to the scouts. “When you talk to our boys and ask them what the main mission of scouting is, they know that the national answer is to produce leaders,” Dr. Dixon says. “But they also feel that Troop 76 encourages young men to become men of God.” Another way the scouts live out their faith together is through service. For example, they help with parish fish fry dinners and Members of Boy Scout Troop 76 on a high adventure trip to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. the Scouting for Food canned
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