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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Once a scout, always a scout
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Franklyn C. Robinson’s no jock. He doesn’t play football, basketball or run track for Valdosta State University.
The 2006 graduate of Central Gwinnett High has done something that carries just as much cache as being the campus athlete, though.
He’s an Eagle Scout.
And among friends he’s made as a freshman at Valdosta State, that’s pretty cool. “They congratulate me,” Robinson, 18, wrote in an e-mail. “And they think it’s great that I am still involved in Scouts.”
We met three years ago when I wrote a story about attempts by the Scout’s Northeast Georgia Council to grow scouting in the burbs, especially among minorities. Robinson, then 15, was really rooted in the program. At the time, he’d just been designated an Eagle Scout. It’s a rank, that, on average, only about two out of every 100 Scouts earn.
Gwinnett, which is served by the Scouts’ Atlanta and Northeast Georgia councils, has 158 Eagle Scouts; the county has about 23,000 Scouts.
Robinson’s Eagle project was done in conjunction with the Gwinnett Adopt-A-Stream program. He attached labels to 252 storm drains to warn Lawrenceville-area residents about the dangers of pollution. He also passed out educational streamers in neighborhoods.
This young man has been involved in scouting since he was 6. His father, Jonathan Robinson, an adult Scout leader for Troop 573 in Lawrenceville, introduced him to it.
The family epitomizes what Scouting is all about. For them, it’s a family affair, a way to learn about leadership, community service, personal responsibility, ethics — all those things that fall under the big umbrella of values.
The Atlanta Area Council of Boy Scouts authorized a December study to weigh the program’s effectiveness. It involved 953 Boy Scouts and their parents from a 13-county area that takes in a slice of Gwinnett.
Where it concerns program efficiency, the study found that: 84 percent of Boy Scouts parents felt that Scouting helped their son become a better leader. 78 percent of parents agreed that Scouting helped their son value family activities. 83 percent of parents agreed or agreed strongly that Scouting helped their son better serve the community.
My son, Miles, tried Scouting a few years back. It never really took, and we didn’t force the issue. The experience gave me insight into the worthy goals of the program, though. The lessons and exercises on self-esteem, service, preparedness, discipline and manly virtues were moral blueprints. Ideals to live by.
So it’s easy to see why the parents and the Scouts who took part in the Atlanta Area Council’s survey responded so positively. They see their sons grow up to be well-rounded young men with skills and values that we don’t see enough of, that too often are written off as “square.”
They grow up to be like Franklyn, a finance accounting major. He serves as assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 573 in Lawrenceville, his old group. He’s active in The Order of the Arrow, the Scouts national honor society.
“I’ll probably be involved all my life,” he told me. “It’s fun and it’s a chance to meet people from all over. Most of my guy friends who were involved in Scouts at one time wish they’d never quit.”
THE BADIE TOUR His “chi” is unbalanced. And Rick Badie, your AJC columnist, plans to do something about it. The Badie Tour pulls up to Dragon Acupuncture & Herb at 10 a.m. Wednesday. It’s at 3365 Steve Reynolds Blvd., Suite 106, in Duluth. Jessica Lee, a licensed acupuncturist, will see what she can do about Rick’s insomnia, headaches, shoulder pain and whatever else ails him. Read about his needling adventure in print and online Thursday.
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