Work Smart and Hard-

Mike Rowe at the National Jamboree – Work Smart and Hard Mike Rowe at the National Jamboree telling scouts to “work smart and hard” encouraging something I have been trying to tell Scouts headed to college for years – find something you love and don’t ignore the idea of working with your hands as a career. Mike hardly needs any introduction; he’s a distinguished Eagle Scout best known to most of us as the host of the show Dirty Jobs. (The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award acknowledges Eagle Scouts who have received extraordinary national-level recognition, fame, or eminence within their field, and have a strong record of voluntary service to their community.) Mike has a non-profit organization profoundlydisconnected.com to raise awareness and promote the idea of skilled trades as a career: A trillion dollars in student loans. Record high unemployment. Three million good jobs that no one seems to want. The goal of Profoundly Disconnected is to challenge the absurd belief that a four-year degree is the only path to success. The Skills Gap is here, and if we don’t close it, it’ll swallow us all. Which is a long way of saying, we could use your help… Mike also offers scolarships to students pursuing a trade through mikeroweworks.com : The mikeroweWORKS Foundation announced its partnership with Scholarship America to establish the mikeroweWORKS Foundation Education Scholarship Program. The 2013 fund has been set at $250,000. The program is set up to award individual scholarships to applicants who want to pursue a career in the skilled trades. All successful applicants meeting the eligibility requirements may be awarded up to $2,500. Most carpenters, electricians, and plumbers will tell you that there is little in the way of formal training and apprenticeship these days, that the trades have become devalued as a fall-back option for those who can’t afford or aren’t interested in the more highly touted jobs that require some sort of academic degree. Some of the most intelligent, resourceful, happy people I have known work in the trades; it’s a great career path. Mike Rowe epitomizes the idea behind the Eagle. An affable, contributing, generous, and down-to-earth individual who seeks to help others find their way in life. As Mike is fond of saying ; “A Scout is clean, but he’s not afraid to get dirty”.

Summer Camp at Woodruff Scout Reservation

SM Minutes at Summer Camp I had a couple of reminders for the boys. The first was about 2 young men that wanted to go out west and make their fortune. See the west was covered with coyotes and there was a bounty posted. So they hunted for several days and did not see a thing. Then late one night, one of the boys woke up and saw that they were surrounded by hundreds of snarling coyotes. He quitely shook his buddy awake and said.... "Get up we are RICH!!!". You see it is all about attitude. So have a good one. The next was about a lazy eagle that only did what he had to do to get by. He saw a plump rabbit floating down a stream on a block of ice. He thought to himself, "easy kill". So he slowly swooped down and pounced on the rabbit. Instead of taking the rabbit back to the nest to share, he decided that he would eat it there on the ice. So he floated along for several minutes enjoying the rabbit. He looked up and saw there is a waterfall ahead but he was in no rush. Finally, he had waited until the last minute to leave only to realize that his talons had frozen to the ice. He plunged to his death over the falls because he was lazy. So don't wait, get your work done early. That is all.