S19 used to be in scouting, but he quite the girl scouts when he transitioned. I talked to him about going back a couple of times, or about joining a boy scout troupe, but no dice. It’s a pity he lost interest, we have a wonderful local troupe. They’ve met in the same church basement for over 80 years, and the same family has been running it for over 40 of those years.
Yesterday’s test that he was dreading turned into a non-event. It took him all of 17 minutes to get 47/50 on a test scheduled for an hour. He then came home and spent the afternoon working on supplementals and on the next chapter in his textbook. I guess summer doldrums are getting to him.
We were compiling everything and totally forgot the order of the arrow as well as NYLT. Not sure if that’s a typo @eandesmom or something different. My son likely persisted as he’s not a super athlete and hubby is an Eagle as well. His last summer camp was last week and yikes, they had a major issue with the younger kids that resulted in having to go to council. DH is glad to be done.
@ninakatarina I think breaking down the barriers will now help in scouting, but maybe a little too late for your son, which is too bad:(.
I’m jealous of all of you with good scouting programs for boys. S started out in scouts, and somehow stayed in it three years, but never really liked it. All they ever did was watch PowerPoints and do arts and crafts. As in “today’s topic is recycling. First we’ll have a PowerPoint to teach you all about it and then we’ll make posters showing what we learned.” They never went anywhere or did anything fun. He couldn’t tale it anymore and begged to quit. I though Boy Scouts was supposed to be outdoorsy stuff like hiking and camping but there was none of that in our program.
On the other hand my D had an excellent experience with Girl Scouts and stayed with it until the troop broke up when they got to high school. The two programs were night and day.
@me29034 did you son join Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts?I am sorry that you and your son did not have a good experience in Scouts. There are specific requirements to earn merit badges and some of that is education . You were not in a good troop and were wasting your time because in order to move up the rank, there are camping and hiking requirements in Boy Scouts. In Cub Scouts, that is less of a focus.
@SDCounty3Mom yes all emails from coaches happening this summer. Recruiting officially started July 1. S19’s first meet is at the end of August. If he runs the times he thinks he can run, it will be very interesting if things change with recruiting. Boys tend to get faster each year as they grow. Many of the boys on his team grew early but he’s late. He’s four inches taller than this time last year. He had injury issues during sophomore year because of growth spurts so his junior XC times were just ok. Those are the times the coaches are seeing. Since then, he’s trained consistently and he’s now running with the top of the pack at his high school this summer. And those kids are all getting lots of recruiting attention. He’ll have to prove himself in these races so I’m crossing my fingers for no injuries, cooler weather, and no random things happening like getting tripped up in a pack.
Honestly, I can’t even believe we are even talking about running in college. This wasn’t on his radar even nine months ago. He filled out the recruiting forms because he thought it might be fun to run in college but he didn’t think he was fast enough. Filing out the forms was another way to show interest in the schools since many of them have such low acceptance rates. There’s only the one school who invited him to campus. The coaches from the highest ranked schools on his list did send him personal emails to comment on his transcript and scores and to ask him to keep them up to date on times. They both said he could run on the team if he got accepted but didn’t offer any help. So he will just do the best he can and see what happens.
There is a dirt road .1 miles from our driveway and all the kids’ lives we have taken our walks (with the dog) down it as there is almost no traffic. The girls used to play in the dirt, toss pebbles in the stream, and bring pretty rocks home. These days, we figure out life on that road.
@MAandMEmom typo, why I should never post from my phone! I’d have forgotten about order of the arrow too to be honest so glad it was mentioned!
@me29034 that is unfortunate. It really really varies by troop, of the 2 closest to us one was much more focused on camping and hiking and the other…gaming. S19 chose the outdoorsy one and it was very good for him for a very long time, he just evolved in different ways at the end and the troop dynamics changed quite a lot and it became the same old same old that he felt he wasn’t getting anything out of (or giving much back really). Still sad though.
Scouting, both organizations, really vary from one troop to another and from one region to another. My S21 really has had a wonderful experience with his active high-adventure troop, and he’s hiked over 250 miles and camped probably around 70 nights. But for my daughters, there was nothing available at our school for D19, and for D25, we were told their troop was “full” two years ago which seemed…weird to me. I’m grateful at least that S21 has had such a great outdoors experience. The next three days are his work days for his Eagle project…fingers crossed it all goes well.
@bjscheel Nothing quite like undivided attention and fresh air – love your dirt road!
My S16 is an Eagle Scout. I definitely think it helped with his college apps (and scholarship apps). He too had all the leadership roles in the troop including Senior Patrol leader, Philmont crew leader, member of Order of The Arrow, attended NYLT, etc. After he achieved Eagle he was ready to move on. By that point in our Troop most older boys are gone and what’s left are the younger, middle school boys. (Which is not a bad thing, it’s just the younger boys still have that middle school mentality and an upperclassmen high schooler can have a low threshold of tolerence for mischief). What I absolutely LOVE about what my son got out of the road to achieving the rank of Eagle - is his leadership skills. He is going into his junior year at college. His university does not have a rowing program - his sport - so he has gone back to his roots and joined the Outdoor Club. His freshman year he was annoyed - the Outdoor Club thought apple picking was a big event (clearly it’s not). So he took his leadership skills and joined the Executive Board of the Outdoor Club (he’s currently treasurer). He had a huge hand in planning all the trips last year, his sophomore year. He goes to school in the Boston area. Last year the Club had hikes/campouts (atleast 2 to 3 each semester) to upper NH and the Berkshires. In addition they even went zip lining and white river rafting. For junior year they have several campouts already planned plus an out of the box campout on one of the Boston Harbor Islands (his idea). I am a proud mom because he has been instrumental with planning these outings and upping the adventures in the club. I know all his years in various leadership roles in scouting had a hand in his new role on the Executive Board of the Outdoor Club. (He also went on an independent backpacking trip in Ecuador during spring break with another boy in the club. They planned the whole trip themselves. Yes as a mom I worried because he was out of the country, but as an Eagle scout mom I knew he had the skills to plan and execute the trip). (I’m also thrilled that he met his girlfriend through the Outdoor Club. As you watch your kids grow up you hope they find a girlfriend/boyfriend with similar interests to theirs).
Thank you for sharing the Clemson scholarship link, @carolinamom2boys ! D19 has a high test score but not a stellar UWGPA. The WGPA is still high. I am sure that there are going to be many applicants with similar or better stats. I will keep my fingers crossed if she decides to apply after visiting. Where did my “no fuss” girl disappear? ~X(
Amazing @Stuffedquahog (or as we call them stuffies!) and I wish S19 could have done Philmont but there was no local group going this year. I think that would have been a life-changing experience.
Yes my username is kind of goofy, LOL. I am a Cape Cod native if that explains the logic of the username better. (However I have been a CT resident for 25 years now.)
Thanks for the kind words on my son and his scouting and college accomplishments. I am very happy to share his success in the Outdoor Club with the CC family. I know that many of you will be absolutely amazed (and maybe shocked) in the next few years at what your kids will accomplish during their college years. Aside from tapping into interests they may have already pursued in their youth, they will thoroughly enjoy exploring new clubs, hobbies, sports, volunteering opportunities, etc during their college years. Another club my son is involved in on campus is the Investment Club - which is great because he definitely was not exposed to that in HS.
My D19 wants to go to the same university my son attends (crossing my fingers this is how it plays out). However her major will be completely different then his. She will be a marketing and/or management major while he is an econ-finance major. She lights up whenever we are on campus because there are numerous clubs that interest her - and they all are different clubs then my son is involved in. While it is sad and yes heart wrenching to see them leave the nest (especially when you’re an involved parent like all of us are) - it is wonderful to watch them grow and succeed. We get them headed down the right road in life then they take the wheel…
Yes, the scout troops differ a lot. Back in Colorado, there is a local troop that hikes 14ners routinely (there are 58 fourteeners, peaks taller than 14000 feet.) We never hiked a 14ner during our 19 years in Colorado, so it would not have been a good fit for my DS19 and us. LoL
DS19 chose not to go to Philmont, which was a shame since we do not need altitude adjustment and was within driving distance. He did go to Nothern Tier HA base and Marin Sierra in CA. He enjoyed snow camping, Okpic, etc.
@Stuffedquahog I also have a DS19 who is also wanting to attend the same school as his older brother. Both are very happy about it, and so am I. I hope it all works out. There will be one year of overlap which I think will be perfect.
@carolinamom2boys - That’s wonderful - I hope it works out for your family as well.
We have decided to go with ED for D19. We are not full price, but middle class (we own our home, we both have full time jobs, etc). However the net price calculator for my son’s school was close to accurate the last 2 years as well as his upcoming junior year. We pay a combo of cash each year and he takes out a very reasonable student loan. He also works on campus for his spending $. (He is invested in his own education - and I really think that is important). We fall into a category that gives him a very generous yearly grant (free $). We were shocked and happily surprised that our son could attend a private university for the same price as our state flagship (where he would have gotten no $ if he attended). We would have never done ED with him because we really knew nothing about how the cost of college would play out. We needed the packages to compare. Now that we know the process, and especially since its the same university our son attends, we know the package should be about the same for D19. (We checked with FA this summer and they confirmed that it was a good assumption that D19’s package should be the same as S16’s - in fact for the one overlap year both packages should be even better).
My D19 is thrilled to go with ED. We still have to submit her safety app (state flagship) by Dec 1st to be considered for their merit. That’s very important since she is in the top 10% of her class (excellent SATs too) and we don’t want to lose that opportunity if something unexpected happens. We are trying to work on a small list of colleges to quickly send apps to if something goes wrong during ED. It’s so hard though - she doesn’t want to go anywhere else.
My gut says she will do well during the ED round. Aside from being at the top of her class academically (many APs and honors classes), she is also very involved in ECs at her HS and holds several leadership positions. She has showed an abundant amount of interest to the university in the last year and a half. Her interview is coming up in early August. We are both looking forward to it!
@Stuffedquahog Congrats on the decision to go ED! You’ve obviously thought it through and it seems like a tremendous plan, especially with the ace-in-the-hole of having your son there too. It’s wonderful that they both love the same school, and you were able to discuss the financials ahead of time.
We’re close to deciding one way or the other for an ED application. D19 will apply EA to at least 3 schools…two safeties which she loves and one matchy-reachy favorite. What makes the decision so difficult and worrisome is that we’re full pay and we can’t predict merit, especially with an ED application. I feel like we’re about to go all-in in a game of high-stakes poker…
Ugh!!! Just received DS19’s schedule in the mail. He has two empty periods so we have to go to the school to see if he can find an available class that he actually wants to take that won’t pull down his GPA or let him have early release which we did not want because we wanted his rigor to remain high. Also found out that we will not have the counselor who DS19 had that was amazing .Tjis kid can’t catch a break. His brother had amazing teachers throughout school ,but DS 19 seems to run every other year . So frustrating! Thanks for letting me vent.
How frustrating @carolinamom2boys! I hope he can fill out his schedule without having to compromise too much.
That’s too bad about the counselor, too. Did the counselor leave the school? (Our counselors are assigned alphabetically so students have the same one all four years).
S19’s school doesn’t have free periods or early release as a backup option, so they will just stick him in a random open class if his requested courses don’t work out.
Our counselors change each year . They are alphabetical, but the class size has grown so much that they had to hire another counselor @eh1234 . Thanks for letting me vent. I know in the grand scheme of things, this is not a huge deal, but this kid really can’t catch a break. We are still waiting for June 9th ACT scores, when some of his friends who took it in July have gotten there. He really is a patient, tenacious kid. For that I am grateful.
I do wonder how different schools manage course choices and which kids get what. We’ve never had a problem with our kids getting what they want but I have a feeling that’s because they never take any interesting electives and core classes are usually offered multiple times a day. I’m sure we have classes that are only offered one or two class periods and the school sometimes cannot make it work with a student’s other requested classes. While kids may have to give up on taking something like Asian History because it won’t work with their schedule, at least AP classes are offered almost every class period so the kids don’t get turned away from those.