 |
|
 |
|
|
|
August 1, 1997 |
|
|
|
Career, adventure: Explorers focus on interests |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
By Rob Jeffs |
|
|
|
As national president for Exploring, Shana McElroy of Calvert City, Ky., leads an organization of some 24,000 posts with a membership of more than 400,000 young adults. McElroy said Exploring is for men and women ages 14 to 21 and provides them with opportunities for experience in six key areas: social, outdoor, career, service, fitness and leadership. Within these areas, posts develop programs in which they are interested. The implementation is mentored by adult advisers working in a career or other field. The most popular programs are high adventure, with more than 85,000 registered Explorers; medical and religion, with more than 50,000 each; and law enforcement, with more than 30,000. McElroy, who plans to be a doctor, belongs to a medical post and has observed 80 operations. A Life Scout, Chris Kanyr, 16, also is president of Post 105 in Arcadia, Calif. At the jamboree, he is working as a motocross bike mechanic at Action Center C. "Exploring provides me the opportunity to learn social and leadership skills," he said. The 45 men and women in his high adventure post work as a team to plan and take hikes in the Sierra Madre mountains. A recent trip included using compass skills to hike to former aircraft crash sites. He would like to become a search-and-rescue pilot for the Coast Guard. The Sea Scout unit is a ship, and its youth leader is a boatswain. Carla DeRamus is boatswain of Tennessee Valley Council Ship 666. The 18-year-old from Huntsville, Ala., has already earned her Gold Award as a Girl Scout and is working toward Quartermaster, the highest Sea Exploring award. Her career plans include seeking admission to a service academy and serving as crew on the sailing barque Eagle. Besides staffing action centers and exhibits, Explorers with dual BSA registrations are here as Scouts. Others serve on jamboree staff in security and health support areas or in troop leadership roles. |
||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||
WEB EDITION |
||||||||||
The daily newspaper |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
Issue One Index |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Issue Two Index |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Issue Three Index |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Previous story |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Next story |
||||||||||
Top of page |
||||||||||
