Scouts recognized during year-end court of honor

CAZENOVIA — On June 13, Cazenovia’s Scouts BSA Troop 18 Boys & Girls (B&G) wrapped up a successful year of scouting with a court of honor recognizing the achievements of several of its members.

In Scouts BSA, a court of honor is a formal troop ceremony where scouts, joined by their families, come together to receive rank advancements, merit badges, and other awards and acknowledgments.

Among those recognized on June 13 was Micah Hamm, who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout this year and received the Tom Arnold Award for Service and Participation.

Also acknowledged were two senior scouts, Anjali Eastman-Persaud and Esther Hamm, who recently received a grant from the Women’s Fund of Herkimer and Oneida Counties to participate in leadership training offered by the Philmont High Adventure Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Both Scouts will be participating in various programs this summer and then taking that training and teaching at a local leadership scouting event in August.

Troop 18 welcomed five new members who crossed over from Cub Scouts to Scouts BSA.

Additionally, the troop introduced its recently elected senior patrol leaders, patrol leaders, and the rest of the fall 2024 youth leadership team.

“The scouts BSA program continues to serve area youth in a variety of ways, including leadership, outdoor skills, camaraderie, and developing a sense of community mindedness,” said Troop 18 Committee Chair Ramona Persaud. “Today’s scouts are tomorrow’s leaders.”

According to Persaud, Troop 18 consists of separate male and female troops. Members of Troop 18B and Troop 18G participate in the same co-ed activities but have different senior patrol leaders and adult scoutmasters.

Scoutmasters are responsible for being good mentors and role models, providing the youth leaders with the tools and skills they need to run the troop, offering guidance and support, and giving the scouts the space to “fail in a controlled environment.”

Over the past year, Troop 18’s adventures included a fall “Camporee” with scouts from across the northeast and Canada; Scout orienteering at Highland Forest County Park; a survival campout where scouts honed essential skills such as fire building, cooking, and shelter building; a caving trip in the Adirondacks; and a winter campout with a well-timed snowfall that allowed the scouts to try snow kayaking and cross country skiing, practice snow shelter building, and build snow sculptures.

The troop was also involved in various service activities, including its fall “Scouting for Food” initiative to support local food banks, village clean-ups, and helping with the Cazenovia Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt.

“[The scouts] pick the activities they want to do, and we are kind of just along for the ride,” said Troop 18G Scoutmaster Colleen Combs. “They get to make mistakes, and unless there is a [major] safety issue, we just step back and let them roll with it. It’s pretty awesome and really impressive.”

According to Troop 18B Scoutmaster Don Arnold, the troop’s new leadership team will meet over the summer to build relationships, get comfortable in their roles, and begin planning for the upcoming year.

“They’ll start planning [what] merit badges they want to work on, what kind of themes they want to [have for] the different months, where they want to go camping,” Arnold said. “All of that is planned at the youth level. Then our job as adult leaders is to try to help make that happen.”

When asked to share their favorite things about Scouting, the troop’s senior scouts highlighted the friendships and opportunities to hike, backpack, camp, spend time outdoors, explore different places, and learn and use new skills.

“What I really like about Scouts is the communication skills it teaches you,” said Hamm. “Being able to communicate really helps out in tons of other areas in life as you are growing up.”

Will Shafer remarked about the widespread and lasting community Scouts BSA offers its members.

“Scouts just kind of bond to scouts,” Shafer said. “It’s like sticking two pieces of duct tape together; they’re never going to come apart. Scouts are always together. Anywhere you go, if you find another Scout, you’ll be able to connect with them, even if they are 80 years old and were in Scouts many years ago. It’s a big community across the whole country.”

Youths interested in Scouting are invited to the troop’s final meeting of the year on June 20.

Troop 18 meets on Thursdays at 7 p.m. on Riverside Drive in Cazenovia and is open to ages 11 and up.