Students guide young Boy Scouts
Casey Cheney
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: News
Four college students lay on the gymnasium floor, while a small crowd of junior high and high school boys huddled around them to examine their injuries.
After a quick diagnosis, several of the boy scouts determinedly stepped toward one of the injured, tourniquets in hand.
The injury: a fractured arm.
This is the situation Hillsdale College junior James Wegmann and his crew of Eagle Scouts simulated for the Boy Scout troop for "Emergency Preparedness and First-Aid."
"Let's just say you never want to get hurt in the wilderness with these kids," Wegmann said jokingly.
Wegmann leads the boy scouts GOAL program, in which Eagle Scout students at Hillsdale College work with Boy Scout troops in Hillsdale County. Wegmann said he appreciates the chance to volunteer outside campus.
"I think it puts larger emphasis on building relationships in the greater Hillsdale County," he said.
The program has been around for five years. Wegmann took over when its previous leader, Jeff Brewer, graduated last year.
Students in the program originally only worked with Troop 211, but when Wegmann recently discovered a second troop in Hillsdale County, he recruited GOAL program members to start volunteering there as well.
He said he hopes to ratchet up the program's involvement with both troops this year.
Troop 211 Scoutmaster Kevin Gainer said he expects Wegmann to achieve that goal.
"I could see their involvement getting more intense," he said. "Since I've been scoutmaster, we have utilized them a lot more."
Wegmann and four other Eagle Scouts carpool to the meeting every Monday evening, where they spend an hour teaching the younger boys and running drills like first-aid simulation.
"Everyone brings something a little different to the table," Wegmann said.
Each Eagle Scout teaches a different subject. A political science major teaches about state government, for instance, and an economics major teaches on financial management.
Sophomore Mitchel Roman said the Eagle Scouts are at the perfect age for mentoring the younger boys.
"The kids respond a lot better to [the] scouts they wanted to be in five years," he said. "They're not too far out from where we are."
"I think it gets the scouts to thinking 'What can I get back when I'm an Eagle,'" Gainer said.
The Eagle Scouts' involvement extends beyond weekly meetings.
Several times over the semester, the troops take weekend-long trips which the Eagle Scouts can volunteer to attend.
"My goal is to attend one or two a semester," Roman said.
The Eagle Scouts will also initiate some of its own activities, such as rock climbing with sophomore Mary Petrides, a certified climbing instructor.
After a quick diagnosis, several of the boy scouts determinedly stepped toward one of the injured, tourniquets in hand.
The injury: a fractured arm.
This is the situation Hillsdale College junior James Wegmann and his crew of Eagle Scouts simulated for the Boy Scout troop for "Emergency Preparedness and First-Aid."
"Let's just say you never want to get hurt in the wilderness with these kids," Wegmann said jokingly.
Wegmann leads the boy scouts GOAL program, in which Eagle Scout students at Hillsdale College work with Boy Scout troops in Hillsdale County. Wegmann said he appreciates the chance to volunteer outside campus.
"I think it puts larger emphasis on building relationships in the greater Hillsdale County," he said.
The program has been around for five years. Wegmann took over when its previous leader, Jeff Brewer, graduated last year.
Students in the program originally only worked with Troop 211, but when Wegmann recently discovered a second troop in Hillsdale County, he recruited GOAL program members to start volunteering there as well.
He said he hopes to ratchet up the program's involvement with both troops this year.
Troop 211 Scoutmaster Kevin Gainer said he expects Wegmann to achieve that goal.
"I could see their involvement getting more intense," he said. "Since I've been scoutmaster, we have utilized them a lot more."
Wegmann and four other Eagle Scouts carpool to the meeting every Monday evening, where they spend an hour teaching the younger boys and running drills like first-aid simulation.
"Everyone brings something a little different to the table," Wegmann said.
Each Eagle Scout teaches a different subject. A political science major teaches about state government, for instance, and an economics major teaches on financial management.
Sophomore Mitchel Roman said the Eagle Scouts are at the perfect age for mentoring the younger boys.
"The kids respond a lot better to [the] scouts they wanted to be in five years," he said. "They're not too far out from where we are."
"I think it gets the scouts to thinking 'What can I get back when I'm an Eagle,'" Gainer said.
The Eagle Scouts' involvement extends beyond weekly meetings.
Several times over the semester, the troops take weekend-long trips which the Eagle Scouts can volunteer to attend.
"My goal is to attend one or two a semester," Roman said.
The Eagle Scouts will also initiate some of its own activities, such as rock climbing with sophomore Mary Petrides, a certified climbing instructor.
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