Dear Fellow Scouting Alumni,
With Labor Day in our rearview mirror, summer’s end and the new academic year are upon us.
For Scouts and Scouters, including many of us alumni, that means unit meetings, hikes in the woods, and camping trips. For Scouts, it also means the return of homework, quizzes, and tests. All in all, it’s a broad set of activities to be prepared for!
And yet, Scouts are taught to prepare for these and more. When Scouting’s founder, Robert Baden-Powell, was once asked what Scouts should be prepared for, he's said to have responded, “Why, any old thing.”.
It therefore seems appropriate that September, the month in which Scouts have to be prepared for a wide range of activities—athletic competitions, musical performances, tests, and Scouting outings, to name a few—is National Preparedness Month.
While National Preparedness Month is a good reminder to review emergency plans and reassess the risks you and your family face, it’s also an opportunity to reflect back on key life moments. How did Scouting prepare you for those?
There are certainly big things that Scouting prepared each of us for, but, if you look at the smaller moments, the everyday tasks, I think you’ll find that Scouting prepared you for many of those, too.
And if there’s a young person in your life who you think could benefit from more preparation, I encourage you to Be Prepared to recommend Scouting to them.
Yours in Scouting,
Andrew Miller
Chair, Scouting Alumni
