 We're back we're live for the two o'clock block. I'm J. Fidel. This is think-tech more specifically. This is community matters Okay, and today we're talking about the scouts And I call this show on a zoo could day brings out the scouts Indeed on a zoo could day is the 27th of April at the Blaisdale exhibition hall Okay, and we have two representatives of the scouts with us today. We have Taylor mower He's the executive director of the aloha council. I'd say oh, welcome Well, I am not the executive director of a little hot council, but I am the district executive East side of a lot who but okay, okay, I mean Executive directors I glad they take the title. So no worries there. Yeah, well, I just you know promoted you. Yeah, thank you Sometimes it's a good thing. Yeah, exactly We also we also have a Christy Wetzel. She's director of family Scouting she's the only director of family scouting for aloha council. All right. I am the only director of family scouting Yes, you ever see Taylor say hi We sit pretty close to each other. So sometimes I make my way over to him Where's your office? Our office is right at the poly right behind Queen Emma's right on 42 Poo Eva Road Oh, yes, we Queen Emma the summer palace. Yes summer palace right next to the summer Very well. Yeah, but good for you guys. So, um, how did how did you get into this Taylor? I mean what what drove you to get into the scouts and being one of the many executive directors and although Well, I was a scout I grew up in the LDS church And so kind of scouting was just kind of something we did and it was part of our program in the church And so my dad was a huge believer in scouting as well. And so I followed in his footsteps. I'm a third-generation Eagle Scout That's my next question. Yeah We like Eagle Scouts But yeah, and so when I graduated school about two almost three years ago now I kind of took the opportunity. I saw the job posting and I figured I should learn more about what a district executive does and little did I know what I was getting myself into and Here I am like it. Yeah, it's fun. It's something different every day. So something's always changing. We manage a lot of different Moving parts of the Boy Scouts that most people don't really understand. Oh, yeah What's an executive director do? So I specifically oversee a lot of the fundraising from our individual troops impact As well as community outreach community awareness As well as the kind of like day-to-day operations and programs so program being events camps that we're putting on Yeah The programs and participate in the programs correct. Yeah exciting. Yeah. Okay. All right. Let's go to you Christy All right, how did you get into the scouts? I did not grow up in the scouts because I'm a girl and back then girls could not be in scouts Okay, at least the Boy Scouts of America program. So I actually I was working for another Non-profit for kids here on the island. It's called Camp Agape. It's actually serves Families of incarceration. So I was a director of camp. It's a camp and then actually has mentoring programs all year round So similar to scouts you have your camp in the summer But you have things all year round Okay, and so I was the director of that for several years and then it was about the time to just take a break from that and I was working a regular job on top of volunteering and I came I found the Drit I used to be a district executive as well. So I found that opportunity and Applied and I saw it. I'm like, that's everything I do right now as a volunteer Why don't I get paid to do it? And so About three years ago. Yeah. Oh, okay like it Yeah, it's great. It's great. You get in the community and you know the last the last year. We've had a lot of changes Mostly for the female gender which has been a really amazing opportunity to Provide that to the families that have been wanting it. You're offering more of that now And do you have you have scouts of girl scouts that came over? Do we have girl scouts that are in our scouts program from the from the girl scouts from the girl scouts You know, I have heard of a couple of families who they used to be part of the girl scouts and their Troop kind of had dismantled and they were not part of scouting But they wanted to be and their brothers were and so we have a couple of them that have Transitioned because they were not part of I guess they weren't part of the girl scouts anymore but now they are part of our girl troop out in Eva and Really excited about that and they're excited too. So family scouting. What is family scouting? And how does your job differ from that of one of the many executive directors? Great question So my job differs because I'm a little more focused. He was very humble He does all kinds of things like he takes phone calls because you don't know how to do your training To like yeah running an event for 500 people. So the director family scouting my job mostly It's incorporating the entire family. So for the past hundred and nine years Scouts was only available for membership to be boys But quite often you're seven-year-old and you have a five-year-old one's a boy one's a girl You're taking both of them to the program, but the girl had to sit on the side So now it's just kind of helping everyone rethink that like oh, I can take the girl and she can now be part of the program She can earn the ranks. She can learn how to use a pocket knife She can learn how to start a fire just like her brother did so it's just really trying to retrain Our brains that they were doing it anyway, and now they just get Accredited for the work that they've been doing, you know, it reminds me the whole question reminds me of a a friend's son of ours a few years ago came in the Eagle Scout and there was a big Celebration and it was at a school and a lot of people came and it struck me that the parents were there in force I mean and I thought well, you know we're hearing you talk about it and hearing your title Seems to me that that's that's an evolution in the Scouts a Perceptible sea change where you're trying to draw the families in you're trying to draw the parents in the place This particular ceremony was filled with parents. Yes, they were you know like five times parents as children as kids as scouts And so I say to myself, you know, it's probably a good idea if you to do that Yeah, I need to do that. It's it's just been awesome because the parents don't have to go to different places You know the family they get up in the morning They go to work the kids go to school they come home, and then they're still not home They're going everywhere so now once a week they can come together or maybe they're going camping and for our elementary age kids Family scouting you can camp as a family, you know when you get older than the girls and boys It's not as much. It's still family, but the girls over here in the boys Exactly they're ready to leave the parents at home at that point But yeah, but it's still great because now the moms who traditionally, you know once Taylor became 13 14 years old The mom had to just say goodbye while the dad and Taylor now the mom can stay with her daughter and continue to Program so when you set up these programs with 500 people and all that you're you're trying to get the parents to come down, too Yeah, definitely. So parents are a huge aspect of how our program actually is structured and how it works All of our troop leaders are volunteers and they dedicate their time and you know their resources and their talents to the program Which makes us such a cool community Organization that we literally draw from all aspects of life and all different backgrounds and really teach the kids values and All that kind of aspects of the program so it's kind of a cool opportunity to I like to say it You know Whereas you drop your kids off at sports You kind of just let them be let the coaches do what they do This is an opportunity for the family to come together and to go camping together as a family Yeah, you know participate in STEM activities together as a family and to do all that kind of stuff As a family and really just say this is something we do as a family instead of you know This is your activity you go to so it's it's really cool but there's another element to it too because if you put The scouts together with their families and you put all the scouts and families together in one big group one big event Then the families are getting to know the other families, right? Exactly, then you have a whole network of a community happening where they would not otherwise know each other Exactly, and there are benefits in that right? Yeah, definitely. I mean You see it all the time, you know where kids may have been a little more shy or And they see their older brother talking to someone and then they realize oh that I has a You know as a little brother's friend has a little brother It's you know, maybe a little bit shy too and so they start hanging out and you know The parents get along really well, and they see all that interaction and it's you know It's one of those things scouting is you know, you're all there to Basically help instill values into our community and to our younger generation And so everyone's there kind of for the same purpose, and so it's a really cool experience to see people Really take that step forward and kind of commit to the community together. Yeah, right building community Yeah, it's also building as you alluded to it's building confidence. Yeah, yeah for sure And that and that takes me to the merit badge Idea, which is a hundred years old the merit badge. Nothing new about that However, there are a lot of merit badges that are that that are really very modern High technology Appropriate to the Allison on a suit on a Zucca day because that's all about technology So I remember I met some he was a senior scout Last year at the Allison on a Zucca day and he had so many merit badges You couldn't tell me a sash of them Dozens and dozens and dozens and I really must be expanding them all the time So how do you handle that? It must be very hard to keep track of all the merit badges On the other hand these kids are having their gaining confidence in more and more skills That would be useful for them in the real world or the adult world or the working world as a case may Yeah, yeah, so I mean kind of how we sell that or I don't know way to approach it, too Is that we have I think over a hundred and forty different merit badges currently? You know, we're always adding new ones sometimes taking old ones off And adding a content to the actual merit badge program So each merit badge is designed with a booklet of kind of requirements of what they should pass off in order to earn that merit badge Now I mean you have everything from wilderness survival to coding and website design to Engineering to you know agriculture and the scout decides. Yeah He picks the ones he wants exactly so there are some that are required to earn the ranks Of you know of Eagle so you have to do certain ones that require that but then you have a bunch of electives And so then the scout gets to choose all those. Yes a little bit about school But it's that we're doing it in a way that is a little different a little different structure You know the scout is really has the opportunity to kind of be creative and see what he's interested in I mean, I always approach it You know the kid always gets to figure out what he wants to have his major be in college before he gets to go To college instead of wasting his parents money before he goes to college. He doesn't know what he wants to do Exactly so it's kind of a it's it's a really cool and neat program to be a part of and to see kids really kind of Find that stride once they find something they really like Was your favorite merit badge? Oh Of your hundred and forty women. Oh gosh, I think I have like sixty-two merit What happened to the others? Oh, I Well, you can you I mean you could have all the time to do all there are a few people a few scouts that have done all the merit badges It's rarefleet I mean my favorite marriage. I was super into sports when I was younger. I still am I did a snowboarding merit badge water Our merit bags life-saving was a really cool one And I always had the opportunity, you know, I have life-saving skills that I actually eventually Later down the road got to utilize Because I had that knowledge I was able to save some of his life and water So things like that, you know, you learn along the way that you don't really realize What are the ones that are required for Eagle Scout? I can tell you off the top of my head. Yeah General areas. Yeah, so there's like first aid wilderness survival And I probably could be saying he's wrong, so I'm just gonna quote that now I mean, but you have sustainability sustainability Community service is one of our community outreach civil Civil service probably a finance one personal management personal management Basically anything that you need to do to live your life balanced. All of those are included Fitness decent citizen. Yes, exactly. Yeah, so are there different merit badges for the for the girls? Absolutely not same thing same thing every everything that the boys can take the girls can take. Yes, they do It's exact same program. It's exact same handbook. They just have words Let's say she and her instead of he or him and Pictures with girls instead of boys. So, yeah, but yes So how about the teaching part teacher surely it's not a matter of just you know opening the handbook Somebody has got to actually To the person who wants the merit badge and explain it and to my right Are you doing merit? We call them merit badge counselors. Okay, you have to organize them Do you do it also? I actually am not a merit badge counselor I probably could be when you're older, but I work enough that I just stick to the my job actually Yes, so the merit bouts counselors you could be one we have one for radio and what would you call this? communications and you could become a merit badge counselor basically anyone that has an expertise and Wants to serve whether it's just once a year you put on a merit badge counsel session And so that can be a merit badge counselor could say hey I'm only going to do this one I can have 15 people and I only want the girls, you know Or they could have the girls and the boys just like any teaching environment train them you counsel with them To make them good merit badge. Yeah, we make sure they're certified. Yes. Yes How long do you take to get a merit badge? Is that a big long process? some of them are Very intuitive and you have to write essays and all kinds of stuff But you can go at your own speed. Yeah, you can definitely take your time if that's what you want You could take a week. I mean sometimes so at summer camp We have a lot that you can earn just within the one week So you're literally going to like classes kind of like a last schedule You'd normally go to like in college where you go from period to period So they can earn a merit badge within a week a lot of times A lot of the merit badges require, you know, a lengthy time for like the agriculture merit badge You know, you're supposed to grow something So obviously you have to wait for that whole plant to grow in order to pass off that merit badge And so you kind of document it and all those kind of things. So there's definitely a different timeline for every single one Some requirements are easier than others. It's just how you manage your time and how you What what really drives you to finish that merit badge? Yeah, so girls in scouts BSA launched February 1st and by the end of February I believe the first merit badge that was awarded to I believe four girls was actually at pro-harbour aviation museum And they received the aviation museum I think there was about 25 of them that went through the entire day packed full and then four of them were girls And it's pretty cool because if you look at the picture of all the mayor badge counselors that were all there instructing There were I think six girls about my age, you know in the Air Force and whatnot teaching But now there's actually four girls that were scouts are able to receive it not just the boys Well, this actually reminds me of my time in the service. Oh, yeah, and you took they call them correspondence courses in the naval service Okay, you selected them that would help you get promoted to pick, you know to finish them And you could do it at your at your leisure And there's a lot of reading but you could also, you know contact people contact your peers and they would help you understand and And it brings back the whole point that the the Boy Scouts Came out of the military way back when it was it was fashioned on the notion of a mill That's why the khaki uniforms and and these courses and merit badges is it has a flavor of The military and I hadn't thought of that ever before and whenever I have a new thought like that I I feel like I have to take a break. So that's what we're gonna do now. All right. We'll take a short break Christie and Taylor would be right back for more about the 27th of April. Yeah, all right. Thank you. Thank you Aloha, I'm Cynthia Sinclair. I'm Tim Appachella We're hosts here at Think Tech Hawaii a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness Hawaii We're a Hawaii non-profit that depends on the generosity of its supporters to keep on going We'd be grateful if you go to think tech Hawaii comm make a donation to support us now Thanks so much Aloha, this is Winston Welch I am your host of out and about where every other week Mondays at 3 we explore a variety of topics in our city state nation and world and Events organizations the people that fuel them It's a really interesting show. We welcome you to tune in and we welcome your suggestions for shows You got a lot of them out there and we have an awesome Studio here where we can get your ideas out as well So I look forward to you tuning in every other week where we've got some great guests and great topics You're gonna learn a lot. You're gonna come away inspired like I do So I'll see you every other week here at 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon. Aloha Okay, we have Christie and Taylor here from the aloha council of the Boy Scouts of America and During the break we we had a revelation here Taylor brought out his very own belt of merit badges. Am I right? Oh, well, this isn't mine But yeah, this is one of our scouts that actually left it at the main office or yours will be much bigger Actually, it would be but yeah, so this is a these are a bunch of different merit badges here. You have fly fishing you have firemanship You have criminal background physical fitness a hamburger That is basket weaving Traffic and then you have judicial system. You got a bunch here personal management motorboating or water sports You got shotgun shooting camping first-aid Citizenship of the nation and wilderness That's great. What's a little wheelie over there? What is that? This is a pilot derby car So this is for our Cub Scout aged youth which are arranged from five to ten years old But this one's actually glow-in-the-dark. Believe it or not But basically they race these down a track they get to build them and kind of shape them and customize them Whatever way they want actually to race them They're actually going to be doing this at our onezuka day event next week So you got all the finalists from all the scub Cub Scout packs around the island And they're all going to race to see who's is the best. That's kind of what this is Well, that's a great segue actually Taylor We want to talk about the onezuka day event on the 27th that at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall So so you talk about one race car exhibit, but there must be 10,000 race car or exhibits rather at Blaisdell that day. Can you name the other? How many boots do we have so currently I think we have 52 scouting booths and then we have some other outside sponsors that have come in like Hawaii energy art so the transportation system as well as Wild Tiki we got They may have robotics Of course, you have type of box. Yeah, exactly. So we got a bunch of different vendors. We got um, yeah Cub Scout packs doing like a Magnus Flytrap thing like a homemade Magnus flytrap The Da Vinci bridge. Oh, I remember that that was so interesting. Yeah, not everybody can do it You know, yeah, it's hard. It's definitely you have to understand the physics of it You have to set up just right or else it'll all collapse. So it's really cool We have a bunch of different Activities for you know the family to enjoy and all the kids to get their hands on With all their stem stuff. So underwater robots. So like little underwater drones Well, this is heavily weighted toward technologies. That was the whole idea. Yeah So it's kind of a way to branch out into the community and to really share With the community. It's kind of like a service event actually as the scouts We say it's a service event to the community to, you know Make it aware what the scouts actually do not just wilderness stuff But we also have a huge emphasis on stem related activities And so that's kind of what this event is for is to celebrate stem It's actually the largest stem event in in the state in the country in the state in the state I wish the country that'd be pretty cool. Maybe one day One day. So what is family scouting do at the Ellis Ellison Onizuka day event? What is family scouting doing? Well, I know some of the girl troops actually since they just started They're not some of them will have a booth other ones are still getting their feet wet and learning how to do that They're actually going to be at the recruitment station We're gonna have a mock campsite set up and they're just gonna be talking with families most every family if they have a boy They have a girl and they can just share what it's like to be part of a scout as a female Also the Onizuka the last two years it was a themed base on space It is like astronaut Onizuka astronaut and then this year the name is saying the same but the theme is on ocean And so we are having a lot of different ocean vendors come in Noah's gonna be there doing an hour presentation And yeah, the family scouting. I think it's basically just awareness The girls girl troop 11, which is right out of kind of the Punahoe area Manoa area They will be doing they'll be our color guard. So they'll be doing the open ceremony So if you're not doing anything flags and all flags, yes, they've been practicing, you know, and for the past All right, and so I just told all the other we have six girl troops on the island And so I just told all of them yesterday, please be there be sharp be ready because you know the media will be there And we want to represent well, so we're excited to have the honor to do that You know something Taylor said, you know reminded me that there's another element of the family Approach to this and that is that Even though families presumably know what their kids are doing in the scouts to go to this Onizuka day event will Give them a greater level of awareness They go with thousands of others and they get to see what all the kids are doing with all the exhibits are and now They have perhaps a greater depth of understanding about exactly what the aloha council is doing Yeah, I think I think so since I didn't grow up in scouts sometimes it can be intimidating You know, they have the uniform. They have all the patches and they have all this stuff Well, I don't really know if I could fit into that really scouts is just kids Having fun and learning while they're doing it, you know, and so that's what happens We're gonna have a climbing wall and there's going to be a lot of fun things You're I think you're gonna be one of the first ones I yeah, I used to do that you used to do I used I used to climb the rope You having a rope you're in that were you in the Marines? I know it's in high school. Oh and high Climbed it all the yeah, so I climbed it in an L position. Do you make them do that? You're an athlete, you know, you stick your feet out in L position. Oh, yeah You're using your arm strength. Good arm strength. Yeah, so yeah, it's a free event And then we're gonna have fun and then there will be tons of education stem related Ocean related wrapped all around that. Yeah. Well, there's a million things to do and you haven't mentioned the noise level Do you want to comment on the noise level, Taylor? Noise level of last year's event. Yeah Well, I think it was just a matter of a noise level of excitement. I mean you had kids literally just Eyes as wide as you can see and like just kids just really just Grasping how much or how cool technology can be or how cool Math can be or how cool, um, you know, different science aspects. It's all it's all calculated to engage them Yeah, there's nobody just showing them stuff. Yeah, there's always it's always hands on hands on come and try this Let's try that. Um, and you learn a lot kids learn. I learned a lot and I'm not a kid But then maybe you can learn it, you know things when you're not a kid. Yeah, yeah, exactly I learn a lot like they had the white energy They had you like pump a wheel and turns the light to a light bulb on compared to like an efficient light bulb Or how much order you have to work? Right exactly. So it just makes the kids realize this is why I need to move To a different standard of light bulb because it's less energy, you know Or even like Ben Franklin has been a big sponsor the last several years and and they have stuff in their store The original yeah Well, yeah Exactly, but it's just like a lot of times you don't think of like all their science projects We should go to ben franklin and they have a whole booth in the station You do I saw them last year and I saw a hawaiian electric there in force. They were there in force I mean it's something every minute, you know, it's like it's really bristling with activity and bristling with interest And bristling with kids and bristling with this kind of fun competition sort of thing It's a great place to spend the afternoon Does this help you raise money by the way? Is this something that's part of your fundraising initiative? Yeah, so definitely We obviously have corporate sponsors come in and help fund this event And so it is a tactic to use and to support our program But this is a completely free event open to the public So that's the one thing we want to emphasize too is that it's a free completely free and open to the public to come and explore and to engage with us and For us to teach them kind of what we do and Vice versa where we bring outside companies in to teach us what they do and so We have yes, we have corporate sponsors But the whole idea of this event is really to just engage the community and to show what That thing really does for the community. Well, it is that According to my experience anyways, it's really totally engaging and it's very interesting walking Through it's excitement, but it's also excitement that touches you. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We have time for closing remarks Why don't you go first christie? All right. I guess face the camera Smile smile big smile. I guess my closing remarks are if you haven't checked out scouting come out on next Saturday from nine to three Come find me. I'll be the headquarter location. We'd love to meet you We can talk about family scouting if you have girls and you just want to know how that's working Totally come out. We'd love to talk to you. Yeah, okay and a message from one of our executive directors District executive, but yes, I'll take the title any day. Um No, yeah, come out to the Onizuka day. We are excited to have you guys We're expecting about a crowd of like 12,000. It should be Totally fun. We have the space to accommodate that many Come learn about volcanoes. Put your hand get your hands on dissect a pig's brain um I mean you can learn anything from how to build an underwater robot to building You know, uh, la Vinci bridge. Um, so a bunch of different things that you can learn how to do It's going to be exciting a lot of fun. Um a lot of noise, but it's all it's all good noise. It's all good fun Yeah, thank you j. Oh, thank you christie. Thank you taylor and thanks to neil adobaro Who was one of the big forces in putting this together? Uh, thank you guys. We'll see we'll see you on the 27th