The flames appeared, briefly, and the kids went wild. Briefly.
For the dozens of adults, many of them clad in the khaki uniform shirt of Scout leaders, it all was going according to plan.
“We thought let’s do something fun for our pack, and let’s have a STEM event,” said Public Relations Chair of Cub Scout Pack 432 Lonni Olson. “The way I look at it is: STEM is like skills for your future, and scouting is skills for your future.”
STEM—or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—is a trending term in educational and research realms. Olson said it also plays huge role in scouting.
“Kids love it,” she said. “It’s really great for them and it ties in with kids in general. And, scouting ties in with kids, too. They’re both a lot of fun.”
The pack asked the team from Mad Science, which provides on-site science enrichment and educational programs—to host a demonstration and staff booths alongside community sponsors at the first of its kind event for the Centerville community. Olson and other pack leaders hope it was a way to attract new members.
“We find that we’re often competing with sports, but so many of our kids that are in the pack are also in sports,” said Olson. “We don’t require kids to be at everything, but I think it’s a really good balance to sports. It gives (kids) a lot of hands-on, real-world experience and activities.”
As for recruitment, Olson said: “We have to keep the pack alive.”
Scouting, in particular the Cub Scouts and the former Boy Scouts of America, have re-worked their public images by welcoming in young women and girls. Olson said that change alone has made a personal difference to her and her family.
“We put our two boys in scouts, and it was kind of husband’s thing to do with them, and I was home with my daughter,” she said. “Then, slowly, I got involved, and then, slowly, I became part of the leadership and my husband became part of the leadership, and it’s literally now a family affair.”
As the kids enjoyed the booths from sponsors that allowed them to sort rocks and geodes and experiment with weights strung from ropes, among other things, Olson and other pack leaders could only hope they were encouraging more people in Centerville to get involved in scouts.
“It’s just a really, really great group of people and we have a lot of fun” she said.
