By Rick Abercrombie
Representing Indian Waters Council of Scouting America – formerly Boy Scouts of America – Scott Haigler spoke recently to St. Andrews Optimists. Among other duties, Haigler is a National Camping School Course Director with the organization. The Council includes 19 counties in South Carolina.
Haigler outlined a wide variety of participating options for Scouts, who can begin as early as Kindergarten age (Cub Scouts) and can follow a continuum through age 21. As a whole, the Indian Waters Council is enjoying a healthy membership growth profile.
The Council operates two camps: Camp Barstow on Lake Murray, almost 300 acres near Batesburg, and camp Coker, over 330 acres near Society Hill. Because of its proximity to the lake, Camp Barstow, while offering the full range of Scouting activities, specializes in every imaginable water activity. There are also ropes courses, climbing walls, and a gun range where campers are taught basic firearm safety.
Camp Barstow offers four week-long camps during the summer, where more than 500 campers grow from the experience.
At its core, Scouting instills in its participants values that last a lifetime:
SERVICE: Long after the formal Scouting, members rise to leadership roles in the business and civic world. They serve on boards of large corporations, as military officers, and as Church leaders. Many former and current astronauts have scouting backgrounds.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Scouts learn to recognize the need for their roles as leaders and along the way, they become reliable teammates in the corporate world. They instinctively collaborate in group settings. They gain an appreciation for the positive ideas of others. They embrace the importance of following through assignments to completion.
PERSONAL GROWTH: It has been said that character is doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. Scouts are taught to “do a good turn daily” as an encouragement to their fellow citizens.
A summarizing excerpt from the Scout Oath reads: “To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”
Pictured are Haigler and Optimist Club President David Kafitz, also a former scout. Haigler received a copy of the Optimist Creed.
