Monday, April 18, 2011
By MORRIS STEPHENSON – Staff Writer
A total of 360 Boy Scouts and 80 adult leaders from the Blue Ridge Mountain Council converged on Benjamin Franklin Middle School Saturday for the final session of Merit Badge College.
The opening session was held March 12 at the same location with an equal number of scouts attending.
The Blue Ridge Mountain Council is composed of scouts from Big Lick and V-Da-Li districts, which consist of 21 counties and nine cities.
Scouts attended merit badge courses taught by 34 professionals or leaders in their fields.
Each professional was presented a certificate of appreciation that was signed by Mike O’Brochta, Brenda Perdue, Randy Conklin and Andre Perry, who organized the event.
Awards went to John Hollinsworth, citizenship in nation; Ronnie Amos, electricity and plumbing; Art Cournoyer, aviation; Wayne Shephard, John Eure and Michelle Wallin, all instructors in citizenship in the world; John Allgauer, oceanography; Sue Ann Lumpter, communications; Travis Rivers, forestry; Sherry Kraus, pets and veterinary medicine; Rocky Mount Patrolman Joe Wooldridge, traffic safety; Bill Tucker, space exploration; Gail Abbott, family life; Cindy Barber, Sherry Tomley and Teresa Womack, personal management; James Richards, fire safety; Boyd Miles, emergency preparedness; Jim Shauberger, astronomy; John Alexander and David Hurt, citizenship in the community; Tammy Aeotzarena, public health and safety; Mike Cathy, citizenship in the nation; Randy Forehand, personal fitness; Bob Garst and Travis Rivers, forestry and bird study; Tanya Graybear, music; Lucas Grove and Joseph Moskal, first aid; Brian Lang, railroading and weather; John Mann, first aid; and Tim Carpenter, personal fitness.
Four mandatory badges for the scouts are citizenship in the community, nation and world, and family life. Other badges offered included architecture, art, athletics, chemistry, first aid, lifesaving music, plumbing and electricity, public health, scholarship and surveying.
During his opening comments, O’Brochta said some scouts earned as many as four badges during the college. He also pointed out that the well-qualified instructors were going to “teach you what you need to know” adding, “each and every one of us are all part of something bigger than ourselves.”
Prior to the closing ceremony, Trelease told the scouts that many of military personnel, who were featured in the power point presentation, “are no longer with us. They gave their lives for you, for all of us.”
The presentation closed with the words, “Your memory will never be forgotten.”
Nicholas Mattley of Troop 168 in Ridgeway gave the closing prayer.
O’Brochta said merit badges have been an important part of scouting since the organization began over 100 years ago.
All labor for the event was provided by volunteers who donated a total of some 2,500 hours, he said.
“All costs were covered by a $12 registration fee,” O’Brochta added
In recent years, the most popular merit badges have been first aid, with 6,361,479 participants, swimming with 5,776,804, camping with 4,242,599, cooking with 4,074,054 and citizenship in the community, 3,068,900.
The least popular include graphic arts, American labor, entrepreneurship, fly fishing and composite materials, according to O’Brochta.
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