Wood Badger, Nate Chavez

It is not often that one gets invited to a Wood Badge beading of a former scout.  But just recently, I did!  Nate Chavez and his wife, Lauren, both members of my Post and Crew back in the 1990's invited me to Nate's Wood Badge beading.  Nate had been a member of my Troop before joining the Post. Lauren was already a member when he joined the Post.

Attending was a real pleasure, as both young adults were scouts that I had maintained contact with over the years. Only one other scout has kept in touch, George Lanz. Nate and Lauren want to have a reunion this coming year and I hope to see several my other early Post/Crew members. Those members include George, Diana, Heather, Karen and my Associate Advisor, Gary Wilson.

Nate had been a scout in Troop 777 where I was the Scoutmaster.  He tells me he really enjoyed the activities we had, but was not very interested in advancement.  I told him that to join the Exploring Post, he had to be a First Class Scout.  At that time, he was a Tenderfoot Scout, and in the next few months he worked hard to obtain First Class and joined the Post.  I was happy to hear that earning First Class was his motivation to become a member of the Post.

In the early years of the Post, we went to jamborees in other countries.  You can see the activities of the Post/Crew by visiting  sageventure.com/crews/files/SuperAct.pdf.

Traveling to the Canadian Jamboree

The first jamboree that Nate joined with the Post was our trip to the 1997 Canadian Jamboree.  It was a good trip as we visited units on our way to the jamboree who would also be attending the jamboree. Plus, we visited Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, both the Crazy Horse monument and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  We crossed over three or four provinces in Canada, and made so many memories.  An article about the jamboree can be found here:  thunderbay.ca/en/city-hall/scouts-canada-jamboree--1997.aspx.

Nate also went to the Australian Venture in 2000.  A Venture is an 8-day activity with the first four days joining others on an activity that everyone has selected.  The activity that Nate and Lauren joined was sky diving.  That is an activity that scouts in Australia can do.  As an Advisor, I let my Crew members join in activities that were allowed by scouting in the country we visited.  Of course, the only jump they made was a tandem jump with a trained person.

As we did in all our out-of-country trips, we traveled the country for several weeks, staying with other scouts along the way.  On New Year's Eve, we arrived in a small town.  When we arrived, Nate was sure this was going to be an uneventful New Year's for the year 2000.  As we left on January 2, I was told that everyone had a great time.

As the contingent leader for the Venture, I got to have lunch with the very friendly Michael Baden-Powell, the grandson of Robert Baden-Powell.  As an aside, Gill Clay, Robert Baden-Powell's granddaughter and I are both Gilwell Fellows (fundraising.scouts.org.uk/gilwell-fellows). 

The 1990's were wonderful years with the Post/Crew.  I am glad to share some of what we did.