Santa Margarita: Back to School Kicks Off Scouting Recruitment

Back to School Kicks off

By Simone Smith

Scouting Recruitment

When kids head back to school in August, learning is on everyone’s minds, well, that and seeing friends and maybe the thought of joining a sports team or a new club to pursue a special interest. If, however, you (or maybe a child or teen you know) have diverse interests, want to learn leadership skills, are interested in outdoor adventures, or just want to escape the boredom of being indoors and are 11 to 17 years of age, you may be interested in Scouting.

Although the “modern Scouting Movement” started over 100 years ago, Scouting organizations are still going strong worldwide. It all began when British Army General Lord Robert Baden-Powell re-wrote his popular military training manual, “Aids to Scouting,” into “Scouting for Boys,” which was published over six installments in 1908 to better suit a youth readership. The story goes that Baden-Powell’s new manual was so eagerly received that it resulted in the spontaneous formations of Boy Scout troops and led Baden-Powell to become the founder and Chief Scout of what would become the worldwide Scouting Movement.

Scouting quickly became so popular that, according to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, when the first Boy Scout Rally took place in 1909 in the UK, “a group of girls showed up declaring themselves to be Girl Scouts.” This prompted Baden-Powell to decide that there should be a Scouting movement for girls as well, leading to the official establishment of the Girl Guide Association in the UK led by Agness Baden-Powell, Robert Baden-Powell’s sister. By 1912 the movement had spread to other countries such as Ireland, Portugal, and Norway, and a woman by the name of Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low became the Founder of Girl Scouting in the U.S.A.

By 1922, Scouting had grown to over 1 million members in 32 countries around the world, and according to Scouting facts, by 2020 had increased to “more than 31 million Scouts, youth and adults, boys and girls, in 216 countries and territories”.

Much has happened over the years, and since its inception, Scouting has changed along with the times. Although in the U.S., Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts remained similar in promoting adventure, camping, skills, personal fitness, and leadership development, the organizations remained separate in regards to the membership for only boys or only girls until recently.

Although siblings were welcomed to attend meetings and work on projects, girls were not allowed to become official members of the Boy Scouts, earn Merit Badges, or recognize progression through ranks. That all changed beginning in February of 2019 when the Boy Scouts of America became all-inclusive, changing their name to Scouts BSA and allowing girls to become members. Now Scouting is for everyone, all children 7 to 10 years of age can become Cub Scouts, and for those 11 to 17 years of age, there are additional, new, and separate all Girl Troops of Scouts BSA (due to the dynamics of girls generally maturing earlier, being more communicative, cooperative and more naturally prone to taking on leadership roles).

In San Luis Obispo County, you can find local Scout BSA Troops to join through scouting.org, with newer Scout BSA Girl Troops available in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Arroyo Grande, and Pismo Beach. Although Scouting is yearround and welcomes new members at any time, Scout BSA organizations will be doing more

outreach and recruiting students as they head back to school in August. Currently, Santa Margarita has a very active Boy Scout Troop 123, which is looking for new members and will be doing outreach and recruiting to middle schools. Under the guidance of Scoutmaster Sean Tashma for the past three years, Scout Troop 123 is a “high adventure Scouts BSA Troop serving boys ages 11-17” as part of the Los Padres Council of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. As Scoutmaster and former U.S. Marine, Tashma has brought his leadership skills, boundless energy, enthusiasm, and project ideas to the Troop and encourages the boys to go in the directions of their choosing. As a self proclaimed “avid YouTuber,” Sean has helped lead the Troop in many projects, including making Rocket Stoves, Penny Stoves, and PVC snowshoes. During COVID, the Troop spent their time being active outside, restoring 1970s canoes from Camp French and renting space from a local Christian camp for a week-long campout where the boys were able to earn up to 50 Merit Badges, including Motor Boating, Cycling, Fishing, First Aid and Pioneering.

The development of leadership skills and self-reliance has high priority in Scouting, and Tashma likes to push the Scouts to do more planning, researching their ideas for projects and campouts and presenting them along with details of, when, where, how, and what the costs are.

Sound interesting? To join Scouts BSA Troop 123, you can contact Tashma by calling him at (760) 219-4277 or via email cuestadistricttraining@gmail.com or by attending a meeting which is held generally every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Santa Margarita Community Hall. 

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