Fatherhood and Leadership
Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the country.
BSA has given generations of young men and women opportunities to develop leadership and outdoors skills.
Butler County boasts several Cub Scout dens and Boy Scout troops. The leaders of these troops are usually just some of the scouts' parents.
While the scouts move through the program earning merit badges and learning skills, the parents who are involved have the opportunity to watch over all the kids, seeing their progress firsthand and spending loads of time together.
In Troop 400 is Hunter Mycka, 16, whose father, Joe, served as the scout master of the troop for three years.Joe just recently stepped down as scout master because he wanted to give Hunter a bit of space to grow by himself.Hunter started in a leadership position where he would have been reporting to Joe as the scout master. Joe thought Hunter would get more out of the experience if he had to report to someone else, other than his father, and so stepped down as scout master.
“When he started in this leadership role, I kind of wanted to get out of his way and let him do it,” Joe said.Joe thinks that the leadership opportunities presented through BSA are some of the most important skills scouts can learn.“Some of the leadership experience, he would never get that anywhere else,” Joe said. “It's very rewarding to watch the things he was learning that he wouldn't normally be exposed to.”Likewise, Hunter himself said he has already seen the value of being a leader.“It's been keeping me on my toes,” Hunter said. “I have to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, because there are now 30, 40 eyes on me.”Hunter, who is moving into 11th grade at Mars Area High School, started in Cub Scouts when he was six years old. Now almost a full Eagle Scout, Hunter said having his dad involved has been nice but it has also pushed him to work harder than the other scouts.“I always made sure to work hard so people knew it wasn't just because my dad was involved,” Hunter said. “(Having my dad involved) was a really enjoyable experience.”Joe, who is still serving on the Moraine Trails Council board, said he purposefully pushed Hunter a little bit harder than the other scouts.“I was honestly a little harder on Hunter because I didn't want anyone thinking he was getting special treatment,” Joe said.Hunter is working on his final project to become an Eagle Scout and said it was the relationships with his fellow scouts and troop leaders that kept him involved for so many years.“All the little events, the brotherhood and fatherhood-style relationships make it fun going to the meetings,” Hunter said.
Aaron Best, one of Troop 400's assistant scout masters, is just now making the move up to Boy Scouts with his 12-year-old son Gavin.Gavin became a Boy Scout last May, but he and Aaron have been involved with BSA since he was in first grade.From his very first meeting, Aaron said Gavin was hooked on the scouts.“He went in the vert first day dressed to the nines,” Aaron said. “He was very into wearing the uniform.”Aaron, who did not do scouts as a kid, said he got involved at that very first meeting and has been active ever since.“I went to the first meeting, and the leader came and asked if anyone wanted to help out,” Aaron said. “I looked around and realized he was talking to me.”Aaron said being a scout leader has been almost as fulfilling for him as being a scout has been for Gavin.“It's really been very fulfilling,” Aaron said. “It's taught me to be a better dad and given me a lot more patience. Since he's an only child, I don't have any other kids to compare him to. With Scouts, I can see other boys his age and understand that different kids are motivated by different things.“It's been a wonderful experience. I was sort of reluctant to start, but of the 11 fifth-graders we had cross over (from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts), eight started with me.”Aaron said Gavin most enjoys going camping, going nearly every month.“He got to sleep in a tent by himself for the first time recently, and I was real proud of him,” Aaron said. “I remember being a kid and thinking camping was scary.”To celebrate Father's Day this year, Troop 400 is holding a bring-your-father to camp event this weekend, where scouts can bring their dads for a weekend of camping.
Scott McBride, Scout master for Troop 400 in Mars, said being involved with the Boy Scouts allows him and his 15-year-old son Hunter to spend a lot of time together.“It's one of my biggest thing right now because of the time that I have with him,” McBride said. “I lean into it hard, because this is the time when he's still in high school and before he gets his driver's license and all that.“I recognize I'm blessed to have this time to spend with him. (Boy Scouts is) the perfect thing to be able to spend time with him.”Scott said he was a Boy Scout himself for a short time when he was a child, but has been involved as an adult ever since Hunter joined Cub Scouts when he was 7.“I volunteered his first year, and then the second year I became the den leader,” Scott said. “From there, I've done pretty much every job.”Hunter, who will be a 10th-grader at Mars Area High School in the fall, said he most enjoys the community work that the Boy Scouts do. He has also enjoyed being able to spend so much time with his father.“I spend time with him outside of Scouts, but we spend a lot of time together in Scouts too, which is nice,” Hunter said.
Scott, a former Marine, said he sees a lot of value in what Hunter and the other scouts are able to do and learn through BSA.“It's awesome because it puts us in the outdoors and keeps us active,” Scott said. “It reduces screen time and gets us out in the community. It teaches very similar leadership skills (to the military) at a very young age.”Scott said he has been surprised at times by how much Hunter has actually learned while progressing through scouts.“It's crazy because we have these moments where he does something, and I ask where he learned that, and he says he learned it two years ago,” Scott said.Hunter has recently taken on a leadership role within the troop as a den chief, helping to teach younger scouts. He is also working to become an Eagle Scout, which he is planning to finish in about 18 months.“To see it come to fruition and see (the scouts) take on these leadership roles and actually succeed is great,” Scott said.Recently, the McBrides and some other scouts set out on a 12-day backpacking trip in New Mexico. The trip has taken two years of planning and a full year of training to prepare for.“It's a pinnacle event for a scouting career,” Scott said.“It's probably going to be difficult, but afterward, I'll be proud we did it,” Hunter added.
