Los Altos resident Stephen Wu, a lifelong Boy Scout and adult leader, discussed “The State of Scouting in America” at the Rotary Club of Los Altos meeting April 13.
Wu served as Cubmaster of Pack 74 and Scoutmaster of Scouts BSA troops 37 (boys) and 201 (girls) in Los Altos. He is employed as an attorney at Silicon Valley Law Group in San Jose and serves as chairperson of the American Bar Association Artificial Intelligence and Robotics National Institute.
The Pacific Skyline Council of Boy Scouts of America is scheduled to honor Wu May 18 with its 2023 Distinguished Citizen Award. Council CEO Brian Curtis joined Wu at the Rotary Club meeting to tout the growth of Scouting after COVID and thank the club for sponsoring troops 37 and 201.
Scouts BSA – formerly Boy Scouts of America – now includes troops for girls. Troop 201 was the first girls’ troop in the Pacific Skyline Council, which covers a broad area from Daly City to Los Altos/Mountain View and west to the Pacific Ocean. Last year, 180 Scouts in the council earned the rank of Eagle, including 17 young women.
Leadership skills
According to Wu, Scouting programs encourage youth to get outdoors, build friendships and develop leadership skills through Cub Scout packs, Scouts BSA troops – which are either all boys or all girls – coed Venturing crews, Sea Scouts and Exploring units. More than 4,600 local youth benefit from such programs in the Pacific Skyline Council. Cub Scout packs for ages 5-10 offer activities for boys and girls, while older boys and girls ages 11-17 participate in Scouts BSA.
Scouts BSA activities offer extensive leadership opportunities. Under the guidance of older Scouts, first-year troops start camping almost immediately, learning basic outdoor skills such as administering first aid; tying knots; using knives, axes and saws safely; and starting and extinguishing fires safely. In addition to the merit badge program, Scouts learn outdoor skills on monthly camping trips.
In a program unique among Scouts, new Scouts in troops 37 and 201 build kayaks out of wood and canvas. During the summer, the troops run their own summer camp in Lassen Volcanic National Park, where they use their kayaks on a lake and climb the 900-foot Cinder Cone volcano. Activities for older Scouts include backpacking, canoeing and scuba diving at Scouts BSA’s high-adventure camps, as well as snow camping in the Sierra, back-country backpacking and trips to National and World Scout Jamborees.
Both troops perform community service at the Downtown Los Altos Easter Egg Hunt, the Rotary Club’s Fine Art in the Park, the Memorial Day flag-planting event, the Glorious Fourth of July celebration, the Los Altos Fall Festival and the Festival of Lights of Parade. Eagle projects and environmental sustainability activities also benefit the local community.
Fundraising from this year’s Pacific Skyline Council’s Distinguished Citizen Award dinner will support camperships so that Scouts can attend camps they otherwise couldn’t afford.
The council’s ScoutReach program offers Scouting activities and provides camping equipment in underserved communities, such as radios for camp safety, electricity and Wi-Fi in merit badge activity areas, shelving in the Camp Boulder Creek kitchen and new campfire pits.
To attend the Distinguished Citizen Award dinner, email Ron Chang at [email protected]. To donate to council programs, visit pacsky.org/giveDCAD.
