There's often discussion of 13 or 14 year old Eagle scouts - scouts that plow through the ranks in less than 3 years. This isn't a very rare event.

I believe a much more rare thing is to have a 16 year old boy join Boy Scouts with a goal of reaching Eagle before aging out. This past weekend, I met a scout doing just that while I was presenting a Wilderness First Aid session.

A 16yr old guy just joined a local troop in March with no prior scouting experience. He is now Tenderfoot and has most of his 2nd and 1st Class requirements completed. The 16 months of troop leadership will be a challenge, but he seems to be working very hard at the lower ranks.

It's kind of weird to see a scout taller than me demonstrating how to sharpen his pocketknife and hunting around for signs of 10 animals. :-) He's extra motivated to complete First Class before July, not just to reach Eagle but because he's scheduled to attend Philmont in August!

Speaking of "late starters", we had an 8th grade boy visit our troop meeting, interested in joining Scouts. He's never been in scouting before and doesn't know anyone in the troop. I gave his mother a youth application and will see if they join us at Monday's troop meeting. I'm excited to talk more with him and find out why now and why us. I sure hope he signs up so the one scout in that patrol that is still Tenderfoot might get a bit more motivate to push ahead. :-)

I will be using these two examples for a long time when talking to the troop about being on the look-out for new boys and old friends to invite along on the adventure.

Scout On
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