Scouting Programs at St. Anthony Teach Leadership, Teamwork and Faith

We 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 the Scouting for Food canned food drive. Before the pandemic struck, they participated in the longestrunning service project in the country by wheeling veterans from the Veterans Home to Mass on Sundays.

Community service is also a staple of the Girl Scouts program. Each year, our Girl Scout Troop 5674 chooses a project to complete together. This has included planting flowers, picking up trash, gathering sticks, and recycling. By serving others, the girls learn to put the Gospel call to “love thy neighbor” in action.

Penny Weiman brought the Girl Scouts program to St. Dominic School when her oldest daughter, Elaina, was a kindergartner. Today, she continues in a leadership role as her daughter, Addison, participates in the program. Like the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts organization seeks to build strong character and develop future leaders.

“The purpose of Girl Scouts is to prepare girls to empower themselves and promote compassion, courage, confidence, character, and leadership,” Penny says. “The Girl Scout program correlates with our faith as Catholics. As a leader, I have the freedom to integrate our Catholic faith with any badge. As the Girl Scouts complete each badge and learn these characteristics,

Our school offers Girl Scout troops for girls in the first, second and third grades. However, it is easy to begin a group for any age, first through sixth grades.

“As rewarding as this journey was for Elaina and the other girls, it was easy for me to become the leader of my other daughter’s troop,” Penny says. “I enjoy being a Girl Scout leader. We have a wonderful troop and wonderful parents showing Christ’s love to support the girls. It is simple to become a leader and to join the Girl Scouts community.”

For more info on our Boy Scout Troop, please contact Dr. Bill Dixon at scoutmaster.troop76@gmail.com or 217-242-3421. For more info on the Quincy Girl Scouts or to become a Girl Scout leader, please call 217-494-1884.

Members of Boy Scout Troop 76 on a high adventure trip to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota.

Addison Weiman and Kamryn Pritchett we have fun.” bridging from Daisies to Brownies.

Our Girl Scout Troop will be selling cookies through April!

Some of our parish Boy Scouts display the duck boxes they built for area wildlife preservation.