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8/3/2019 Troop Article

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Pegaus Troop 911 by Nancy Fries

FEATURE

Pegasus graduates boast all kinds of impressive

accomplishments as they progress through high school:

varsity athlete, class president, accomplished musician,

award-winning artist, and Eagle Scout.

the puzzled look or laugh a little bit, said Christopher Jusuf 07

at his Eagle Court of Honor last fall. A century after the founding

of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), many question its relevance

in todays fast-paced, technology-driven society. But Pegasus

scouting an enriching addition to their modern-day lives.

Boy Scouts of America was founded during a time when it

a Hamilton College freshman. During [that] time, boys were

tasked not only with their schoolwork, but also with becoming

whole menmen who gained knowledge of things not by

studying about them in a book or on a TV screen, but actually by

going out and doing them men of character who know how

to handle themselves and work with their team men who are

not afraid to leave the comfort of paved roads and air-conditione

rooms and, men who are stewards of the environment that

theyve been blessed with.

These principles upon which the BSA was founded have

largely been forgotten outside of scouting, Jusuf said. Boys

gave up their tents and their maps and their buddies around

a past generation that is dying out, a generation of boys and

men who were instilled with initiative and independence. Who

understood the world on a level that can only be reached by

going out and embracing it.

The scouts of Pegasus Troop 911 spend plenty of time

reaching out to the world. They participate in exciting outdoor

adventures, such as backpacking, rafting, rock climbing, and

the annual favorite, kayaking on the Colorado River. They

perform community service activities, may attend summer camp

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weekend of competition between dozens of local troops. Despite

its small size, the troop consistently wins awards. Troop 911

offers Pegasus boys a wholly unique scouting experience, one

that wouldnt exist if not for a bold group of parents with a

zealous idea.

THE ORIGINS OF TROOP 911

Troop 911 was formed in 2001, when a tight-knit group of Pegasus

At the time, Pegasus offered Pack 911 for the younger boys, but no

Boy Scout troop for grades six and up. Boys would either split up

and join their local troops or quit scouting altogether.

The core group, including my son, wanted to stay on and

not split into different troops, said Michael Shulman, father of

Bryant 04. Shulman and several other parents hatched a plan to

keep their scouts together by forming their own troop. Despite

resistance from the BSA, which typically doesnt charter new

took no for an answer, said Shulman, who became the troops

of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, its number is coincidental.)

Ten years after its founding, Troop 911 includes current

Pegasus students and graduates now in high school and college.

Like the founding group of scouts, the newest sixth graders

comprise a remarkably cohesive group, most of who have been

larger, more established troops outside Pegasus, but all decided

to stay with Troop 911. The Pegasus troop is a great way for the

boys to be together since they dont necessarily l ive in the same

neighborhoods, said Amy Weiss, mother of Cameron 14.

Pegasus is a challenging school and all the boys have other

outside interests, Shulman said in a past interview with Eagle

Scout Erik Ringman 05. The Pegasus boys are not only able

Eagle Scout Kevin Kassel

Kevin Kassel 09

Kevin develop his outdoor skills and appreciation

and animals especially after his third grade

for the environment has grown immensely since

an easy choice to help beautify The Pegasus

Tristania Trees along the schools new dismissal

deforestation and plant native trees in damaged

at Pegasus as it prepared him to excel in high

and motivation that contributed to the success

that he enjoys today:

me a sense of accomplishment and insight on how

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to continue scouting together, even as they leave for different

high schools, they also can balance the multiple demands of

academics, sports, and other activities by being in a troop that

accommodates and encourages those commitments. A Pegasus

troop allowed us to structure our activities around the boys

school schedule, said founding parent Harty Beitman, whose son

been able to make it to Eagle without the Pegasus troop.

To date, twenty-one Troop 911 scouts have achieved the

percent of scouts nationwide, requires at least twenty-one merit

and three different citizenship badges. The scout must also

plan, organize, and lead an extensive service project. Recent

projects by Troop 911 scouts include planting trees on the

Pegasus campus; installing fencing at Crystal Cove State Park;

building bat boxes and a bench on the Upper Newport Bay; andrenovating the baseball dugout at Newport Harbor High School.

There is nothing quite like an Eagle Scout project in terms of

learning how to plan a project, enlisting people to help you, and

managing them in an organized fashion to complete the project

(see sidebar).

AN ExTENSION OF THEIR PEGASUS EDUCATION

As a boy-led troop, Troop 911 depends on its older scouts to

lead and teach the younger ones. As a small troop, it offers its

members multiple leadership opportunities. Through their

activities, merit badges, troop responsibilities and Eagle

projects, scouts learn collaborative leadership, critical thinking,

responsible citizenship, and environmental consciousness

this respect, scouting becomes an extension of the boys gifted

education. Scouting will give Cameron a variety of outdoor

gets him out in the fresh air and learning beyond the classroom.

Through their experiences, Troop 911 scouts develop theirindividual giftsphysical, emotional, and intellectual. By getting

out and reaching the world, they further their future potential to

touch an even larger world. Even though Boy Scouting may seem

like an outdated organization, Jusuf concluded, we need it more

today than ever because no other organization can form the boys

of today into the men we need for tomorrow.

Nancy Fries is the mother of Eric (14) and Ian (10), a current Eagle Scout candidate.Her husband Joe is an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 911. Contact: [email protected]

Eagle Scout Cooper Hendri

Cooper Hendri

One of the many requirements to earn this award

help of over sixty volunteers who completed three

over 200 miles backpacked including an 80-mile

Trans-Sierra trek this summer where he summited

He attributes his success in the

the guidance and discipline he has learned

throughout his many years at Pegasus:

Developing and installing my

taught me a lot about myself and how to work with

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* Founding members of Troop 911

Q & A TROOP 911 EAGLE SCOUT

Eric is a freshman at Stanford

University. The recipient of Sage HillHigh Schools Balance Award, Eric is

an accomplished pianist, co-founded

Sage Hills jazz ensemble, and

played Varsity water polo, baseball,

swimming, and soccer.

Q: What are some of your fondest

scouting memories?

Falling out of the raft on the Kern River

in the middle of one of the rapids and

one of the rocks at the side of the

tight-knit troop seven boys that

were in my grade at Pegasus became

Q: How has scouting contributed to

your other successes, both academic

and extracurricular?

Scouting has made me a better

Scouting had given me the ability to

teach younger teammates and make

Q: What are some of the ways

scouting has shaped the person

youve become?

Scouting taught us to take

advantage of every opportunity to

the Colorado River and whitewater

experience would be a once-in-

trips resulted in some of my favorite

every meeting we were reminded of

our leaders urged us to become men

Q: How do you think the skills you

learned through scouting will help

you achieve your goals?

and inspire students the way my

is essentially a chain of boys passing

down lessons to younger boys through

Scouting has also improved my

project in terms of learning how to

feet of trail keeper fence at Crystal

* 04 Claremont McKenna College

*

*

Joey Puishys*

*

Zach Rabosky*

* 04 Orange Coast College

Zak Cole*

of Chicago

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