Conclusion

In many ways it's these small, seemingly unimportant achievements and the sometimes ridiculous ways we have of achieving them in Scouts which prepare us for the future.

As 1997 draws to a close, Troop 33 has over 40 members and remains one of the strongest, best Troops in the district. We are matched only by our Hmong friends in Troop 100, which is a troop composed of the children of Hmong immigrants, also run by Scoutmaster Dave Moore.

While my friends and I were busy having crazy adventures, the troop's leaders, Dave Moore, Bob Fulton, and Ted McLaughlin, were busy improving the roster through improved recruiting and actively seeking out Cub Scouts, stressing Troop 33's higher standards and greater number of campouts, which sets it apart from other Troops.

Troop 33 is strong right now. No matter what happens to it in the future, the Troop's impact upon hundreds of young men is too large to go unnoticed and uncelebrated.

Perhaps I'll send my children to Troop 33; perhaps my grandchildren. In writing this history I stopped short of thoroughly covering the seventies, eighties and nineties. Perhaps that is for a future Eagle project. The Scouts of these eras need to grow older before they can truly say what Scouting has meant in their lives.

In its 80-year existence, former Scouts attribute the following directly to their involvement in Troop 33:

-love of outdoors & camping

-good friends

-good citizenship

-leadership skills

-good philosophy

-good times

-good fellowship

-good experiences

-challenges

-self-reliance

-rise to the occasion - you have the ability to do anything.

-accomplishment throug hard work and desire

-self esteem

-perseverance, to see a job to completion

-good work habits and leadership skills

-a desire to serve others

That is merely a summary. Not a single letter came back to me which did not have something to say about what Scouts had given them. To write it all down would fill many more pages. Instead, I will close with a quote from Neil Swanson, a Scout during the 1930's, which seems to speak for all in seeing the impact of Scouting on their lives:

 

  • If I had not been chosen to be SPL, I would probably not have become president of the high school youth group at Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church . . . If I had not had that Camp Ajawah leadership experience in the summer of 1937 when I was 18 years old, I would probably not have been chosen to be the minister for a nearby Methodist church in the spring of my college sophmore year, not would I have organized Scout Troops in three different places where I served as a minister. . . . I felt then and I feel now that having the opportunity to have Kyle Cudworth as a Scoutmaster, and to work with him in various ways within the Troop and at Ajawah, is by far one of the best things that ever happened to me.

    • - Neil Swanson

     

    Good weather, watertight canoes, and good scouting!

     

    - Ty Michael Lilja

    Minneapolis, Minn.

    December 25, 1997

     

    Troop 33 History