2005 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree
Editor’s note: 17,949 Scouts earned the Geology merit badge during 2004, and 431,128 have earned it since 1911. More than 107 million merit badges of some type have been earned since BSA began the program in 1911. More than two million were earned during 2004.
BY RON HART
AAPG Geoscience Marketing Manager
Ed Gonzalez shows scouts how to plot
values on a subsurface structure map.
It was the single-most reason I am a geologist today,” remembers Mark
Gallagher, a geologist for Samson in Tulsa.
He’s talking about how his
Scoutmaster took boys from his Boy
Scout troop to attend three weekends of
Geology merit badge classes sponsored
by New Orleans Geological Society in the
mid-1960s.
“I was too young to officially earn the
badge, but I went along anyway and
worked the requirements,” he recalled.“It
changed me.”
Petroleum geologists have been in the
forefront of providing this resource to
Scout-age boys in America since the
earliest days. For years,AAPG maintained
a standing Boy Scout Committee – now
the Youth Education Activities Committee
(YEA) – and has been responsible for the
last several re-writes of the badge
requirements, allowing boys to learn
about shifting technologies and evolving
scientific process.
During his lifetime, Bud Reid's generous gifts to the AAPG Foundation made a big difference in the lifes of thousands of teenagers who, because of him, learned more about geology and the energy industry. Those scouts of yesterday will be the leaders of tomorrow.
You can make a difference, too, either by contributing to any of the funds and programs that were started by Reid specifically to support such efforts, or through the gift oof your time and talents.
Bud's legacy lives on. Yours can, too.
Most recently, the AAPG Foundation
has provided a permanent funding source
through the generosity of E.F. (Bud) Reid
that allows planners to take an
evolutionary, long-term approach to
delivering the merit badge program for
BSA.
“Because of the Foundation’s E.F. Reid
Scouting Fund source in place we can
commit to sponsor the badge program in
advance and direct our volunteers and
resources toward a long-term program of
improvement and awareness,” said AAPG
geosciences marketing manager and YEA
member Ron Hart.
Last summer, Hart and 12 others
traveled to the BSA National Jamboree at
Fort A.P. Hill (Virginia) to provide geology
programming on the Merit Badge
Midway. Support from the AAPG
Foundation’s E.F. Reid Scouting Fund
provided the program materials, shipping
costs and registration fees of the 13
volunteers offered to teach geology to
Scout-age boys (13-18 years).
The 2005 Jamboree merit badget staff:
Front row, from left: Sherman Lundy, Gary
Robinson, Dennis Low and Bill Underwood.
Back row: Nathan Presmyk, Chris Presmyk,
Dave Richards, Matt Brzostowski, Ben
Jackson, Mike Jackson and Ron Hart.
Not pictured are: Ken Wolgemuth and
Ed Gonzales.More than 600 Scouts completed the
requirements for the Geology merit
badge.
Foundation sponsorship amounts to
more than attending a Jamboree every
four years.
“Since I began working with teaching
Geology merit badge through the AAPG
Foundation-sponsored program, I’ve met
a lot of adult scout leaders at AAPG
Section meetings,” Hart said.“They’ve
heard what we are doing and they stop
to encourage us. Scouters have a way of
finding each other …”
Reid’s far-sighted generosity with
AAPG Foundation was all about creating
opportunities where they might not
otherwise exist.
Bud Reid found us – and left a mark.
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