It's about friendship, bonding and service to the
community 
2015-02-22
 Boy Scout Troop 36 aims to provide scouts
with experiences, knowledge, and practical life skills
that will help them mature into successful, well-rounded
adults. Our Troop offers boys a variety of benefits,
including friendship, education, development of
leadership skills and the opportunity to grow and thrive
in a safe, supervised environment. Troop 36 has
the greatly valued support of long-standing, caring and
experienced adult volunteer leaders who offer our scouts
a wealth of knowledge and resources.
Last year, I offered to serve as the Scoutmaster for
T36 because I wanted to make sure that our Troop was
able to continue its exceptional, 50-year commitment to
Scouts and to be able to offer our boys the incredible
experiences Scouting offers. To me, Scouting is
experiencing and learning to respect the great outdoors,
being able to see and appreciate areas of the wilderness
most of the population has not seen, and learning skills
that have been replaced by the age of electronic
diversion. Scouting is friendship building,
Scout-family bonding, and a belief in the importance of
service to the community. I see Scouting as a
means of building young men to be positive examples to
the community and top notch citizens as they grow to
become adults. Last but not least, I see
scouting as having a proven track record of producing
values of integrity and character, and building great
leaders in youth despite the current culture that can at
times devalue this organization. As the
current Scoutmaster with the support of equally caring
adult volunteer leaders, my goal is to be able to help
provide all these things for our Scouts.
As an active adult volunteer and parent of a Scout in
Troop 36, I am grateful for the opportunity Scouting
enables me to have with my son and his peers. As
an adult volunteer, being able to go on adventures with
my son and T36 Scouts enables me to share my passion for
being in the outdoors with him and others.
Finally, I enjoy seeing my son interact with and learn
from the experiences and knowledge shared by fellow
Scouts and adult volunteers.
— Glenn Aigner, Scoutmaster
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Things he never would have been able to on our own
2015-03-01
My son was a Scout in Troop 36 for seven years.
During that time, he was able to experience things he
never would have been able to on our own. I was
able to accompany the Troop on several of these
adventures as a parent leader. Here are a few of
our favorite memories:
- Annual Ski/Snowboard trip to Shaver Lake/China Peak
— Every President’s Day weekend, we packed up the snow
gear for a weekend of skiing and snowboarding.
Lessons and equipment were provided for Scouts who
needed them. We rented cabins in nearby
Huntington Lake or Shaver Lake, where the boys were
responsible for meal planning, cooking, and clean up.
- Camp Pupukea, North Shore, Oahu — A full service
Scout camp situated in a beautiful rain forest setting
on Oahu’s north shore. Not only did the boys
experience Merit Badge earning opportunities, but we
took side trips for world class snorkeling, a climb up
Diamond Head, and had a private tour of the USS
Missouri, as well as Pearl Harbor Memorial.
- Sea Base Sailing High Adventure Camp, Abaco Islands,
Bahamas — This was an amazing trip. We spent a week on
a 50 ft. sailboat, the Serenity; the boys worked and
learned how to crew the boat as we island-hopped
around the Abaco Islands, exploring, snorkeling,
swimming, and fishing. A very unique experience,
including international travel.
— Pam Orr
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Wholesome, safe, and always improving
2015-02-22
When my 11-year-old talked about joining the Boy
Scouts, I was in two minds. News reports painted a
picture of a rigid, holier-than-thou organization in
which children were unsafe and adults lacked
accountability. But that sounded too bad to be true. We
knew quite a few happy Scouting families. We decided to
see it for ourselves.
We got a warm welcome. “Take your time to check things
out, no obligations,” they said. We attended two
meetings as guests before my son signed up.
In the course of a year, I went from fence-sitter to
enthusiast. We experienced the generosity of some
of the nicest people in our community. Well-behaved
youngsters, and an impressively crafted structure in
which parents pooled their skills, and boys learned all
those skills, as well as values, discipline,
resourcefulness, teamwork and leadership. Troop parents
from past years, no, past decades, poured in their time
and talents. Older Scouts took care of the younger ones.
There were two instances in our first year when senior
boys dedicated time — a couple of hours in one case, two
days in another
— to help my son earn his stripes in swimming and
camping. There was no clever calculus of how many
community service hours they'd get in return (on both
occasions they got none). It blew me away to find that
great community values were still alive. More than the
skills of ski waxing and knife sharpening that my son
has learned, I believe that his exposure to this
selfless spirit, and paying it forward, are what will
set him up for a wholesome life. Of course, the time
we've been spending together will be among our treasured
memories of his childhood.
Troop 36 is ours to run. We characterize ourselves as
middle-of-the-road, not too this or too that, but
excellent — you don't last 50 years by being
lackadaisical. When we work together at the tree lot,
there's a fabulous team vibe that shines through. It's a
family-like atmosphere.
— Val Noronha, Committee
Chair
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