Poplar Bluff Boy Scout Troop 4166 looking to grow for the future

Boy Scout Troop 4166 is looking for fifth and sixth grade boys in Poplar Bluff to join their troop by having a pool and pizza party at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Huntington Pool.

Scoutmaster Bob Summers isn’t only the leader of the troop, he’s a successful alumni and one of the first three Eagle Scouts to come from troop when Mark Richardson helped start the group in 1989.

“I’m trying to get the word out to parents you know if you’re tired of your kids all they do is electronics and you’d like them to get outside. We’re the solution to that,” Summers said. “We spend a lot of time in the outdoors. We we learn to safely use shotguns and rifles, under instructors that are certified. We go canoeing, we go fish gigging, we go hiking. We winter camp, we summer camp, a little bit of everything. The point of all of this is to grow young leaders that can be the next generation of leaders and in our community.”

Summers said the group takes yearly trips which have included swamp boat tours to New Orleans, deep sea fishing in Florida and whitewater rafting trips in South Carolina. Monthly camping with hiking canoeing, fish gigging and summer camps are also possibilities for scouts.

Summers, along with Todd Richardson and Drew Brown, were the first three in a list that’s grown to nearly 100 Eagle Scouts over the long history of the troop.

Summers said he grew up on a farm and when he started scouts, it was a social event for him. A way to see his friends and interact in a different setting. Summers added he grew up before the days of computers but knows there is more to than just playing game or surfing the Internet all day.

“We are in a digital age and I’m not naive to believe that we shouldn’t accept that is what it is,” he said. “But I also believe that we’re producing an awful lot of youth that are not well rounded and connecting to the outdoors and conservation and hunting and fishing and camping. They’re certainly missing an awful big part a lot of what I’ve found enjoyable in life and scouts can offer that.”

Todd Richardson echoed his friend’s sentiment. He said when he was a young person in the scouts, it was to hang out with his friends and go on all the adventures he could but now that he’s older, he knows he was getting taught lessons during the fun.

“When I look at it now as a parent, it’s the leadership development, it’s the character development, it’s giving these kids the ability to be exposed to things that they probably wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to,” Richardson said. “Getting them outside and active and seeing some really cool places in our state and our country. Those are the things when you see it more from the lens of a parent and a leader you think about, but as a youth, it’s just a great program for kids to get outdoors, to experience some adventure and to make some lifelong friends.”

Another key for the duo is the development of their scouts.

Summers said he’s witnessed when some join the scouts, they have trouble listening and are bouncing off of the walls but then he sees the older scouts take them under their wing.

“It’s funny,” he said. “I’ve seen some of the wildest kids at 11 years old and are now some of the most responsible.”

Richardson agreed.

“You’re seeing them at a time when they’re learning those skills and qualities that they’re going to have the rest of their life,” he said. “It’s been really, really rewarding to get to see that development, particularly with some of them and to see their growth and their confidence and being able to speak publicly.”

Connections are something that Richardson has no problem finding but there is one connection that he, Summers and Brown still hold dear.

“That badge of an Eagle Scout still matters a lot to people,” he said. “A lot of times people in introductions would say he’s an Eagle Scout. That would be the thing they want people to know.”

Summers said Tuesday is about letting parents know what their child has at their disposal.

“It’s a way for new parents to come and check out who we are and to get more information about what we do, when we do it and how we go above and beyond the leadership and the things that we do,” Summers said. “Scouts has had a black eye nationally and that’s not a secret. The idea is to bring your scout out and we can tell you how we keep your kids safe. We practice to do adult leadership so there’s never a time where our scouts are ever one on one. Parents are always welcome to come. In fact, we wish we had a few more parents that would go on scout trips with us because we’d love to have the leadership but it’s really just a way to introduce parents to us and make sure that we are who we are who we say we are.”

Summers said with donors, there are even possible scholarships to help boys join scouts and help get them started in the program.