Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Mark Hernandez' Eagle Court Of Honor A Life Of Learning
June 20, 2004
George Denise, Scoutmaster

I recently had the pleasure of introducing Mark Hernandez at his Eagle Board of Review. I was then allowed to sit quietly and listen and observe, as long as I did not speak. This, of course, is a test for a Scoutmaster. We all know that the term, Scoutmaster Minute is less a metaphor for what is to follow, less an exaggeration, than an out-and-out lie! Nonetheless, I committed to remain quiet. And to facilitate this unnatural state of affairs, I positioned my chair just outside the room, where I could listen, but not see or be seen.

Now I have known Mark since he was about two years old. My wife and I were in the same babysitting co-op with Mark's parents. As I stated in my letter of reference to his Eagle review board, "I have always observed Mark, first and foremost, to be a very nice person." And yet, when he first joined the troop, I did not really know him.

For the past seven years, I have had the opportunity to observe him for an hour or two each week, a weekend each month, and for a week each summer at summer camp. I have watched him develop and grow as a scout, as a leader, and as a person. Within the troop, he has done all the things a developing leader in scouting should do. He has served as Patrol Quartermaster, Assistant Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Chaplain's Aide, Troop Quartermaster, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Senior Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, and Instructor. Mark has attended summer camp almost every year since he has been in the troop. He has 36 merit badges and he earned his BSA Lifeguard certification. He attended International Rendezvous, and he attended the National Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, VA in 2001. He is a member of Venture Crew 325 and will be attending Philmont BSA High Adventure Base with Crew 325 this coming summer. Now, after almost seven years, I was beginning to know Mark.

I observed Mark working with the younger scouts on many occasions and assisting in numerous training programs for younger scouts. I observed these younger scouts clearly take to him. He was becoming an effective leader.

I watch for the "leaders" to involve themselves in activities outside of the basic scouting program. Outside of scouting, Mark played football for his high school football team, and he attends St. Andrews Church with his family. His Eagle project was making special hangers for the priests' vestments.

I ask scouts during Scoutmaster Conferences, especially Eagle Scoutmaster Conferences, how they are doing in school, extracurricular activities, hobbies, career ambitions, and their values. I am interested in the answers, both as a window to the sole, and in terms of how the scouting program may have contributed to their development. The answers are often enlightening, and they almost always make me proud.

One of the things I learned about Mark is that he became involved with supporting Special Olympics with his family at an early age. Later, in earning Handicap Awareness Merit Badge working with another one of our Eagle Scouts, Doug Benson (who happens to be wheelchair bound), Mark became more personally involved, leading to his becoming a coach for Special Olympics. Mark has coached handicapped athletes for Special Olympics for several years, now.

I also learned that Mark's experiences with Special Olympics and in working with younger scouts have led him to pursuing a career in teaching.

Sitting quietly in the next room, listening to Mark's Eagle Board of Review, I re-learned something I had once known and forgotten. One of Mark's grandfathers had been an Eagle Scout and a Scoutmaster. I then learned something else that I had not known, Mark expressed that he would like to be a Scoutmaster some day. Now that's the sort of endorsement a Scoutmaster likes to hear!

Scoutmastering is a form of teaching. Moreso, than other forms of teaching, however, it is passive. Patience is probably the most important attribute of a successful Scoutmaster. Patience and curiosity. We teach in scouting, at least when we do it right, by taking eight boys in a patrol, suggest some lofty goal, such as "Make dinner.", or "Set up camp.", or we simply turn them loose in the woods, stand back, and see what happens. Sure, we give them training, and a handbook that has everything in it a scout would ever want to know (and some of them actually do read it and use it). But the learning actually takes place in the doing. The key is to not say too much. I often find it helpful to walk away for a while, and then come back and see what happened. I learned this a long time ago from one of my early assistants who was talking about PLCs (patrol leaders' council - where the junior leaders plan the upcoming meetings). He said a PLC is a lot like sausage - the end result is OK, but you don't want to see it being made.

Martin Heidegger, a teacher, said, "Teaching is more difficult that learning because what teaching calls for is this: to let learn. The real teacher, in fact, lets nothing else be learned than learning. His conduct, therefore, often produces the impression that we properly learn nothing from him."

Anatole France, another teacher, said it more simply, "The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards."

Mark has attained the highest achievement in Scouting. Yet it will never be behind him. We refer to Eagle Scouts as Eagle Scouts all of their life. As Eagle Scouts, we recognize what they went through to achieve this distinction, what they have accomplished, and we do expect more of them.

Scouting, and moreso, achieving Eagle Scout, is highly associated with success. Nationally, one in four boys, 25%, become Scouts. Only 2% of those who become Scouts earn the rank of Eagle, Scouting's highest honor. Yet a nation-wide survey of high schools a few years ago revealed that 89% of senior class presidents were Scouts, 85% of student council presidents were Scouts, 80% of junior class presidents were Scouts, 75% of school publication editors were Scouts, and 71% of football captains were Scouts.

Former Scouts also make up 64% of Air Force Academy graduates, 65% of U.S. Congressmen, 68% of West Point graduates, 70% of Annapolis graduates, 70% of those who appear in Who's Who, 85% of FBI agents, and 75% of Rhodes Scholars.

In the general population, 83% have graduated from high school, yet of those who were Scouts, 98% have graduated from high school. While in the general population, 16% have graduated from college, of those who were Scouts, 40% have graduated from college.

Of the 214 former and present astronauts, 142 took part in Scouting and 33 achieved Eagle.

Of the twelve men who have walked on the surface of the moon, eleven were Scouts, two achieved Eagle.

Mark will be a success, because Mark already is a success. On that note, Mark, I would like to leave you with two more quotes:

Carl Jung, famous psychologist and teacher, said "A teacher must have an understanding heart, above all else and it, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."

W. C. Sellar said, "For every person who wants to teach there are approximately thirty people who don't want to learn too much."

Thank you, and God be with you.