Each year around this time I write a holiday letter and try to capture the highlights of what has occurred over the prior year. I was recently thinking further back, though, and reflecting on how important Boy Scouts has been to me over the years. I was also thinking on how Scout leaders can have a major impact on the youth they interact with. Back in 1968, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life (well, I guess I still am, but in 1968 I was trying to figure out where to go to college.) One of my Scout leaders was Dick Horn, who mentioned his college, Clarkson University, WAY off upstate. I was pretty impressed that Dick had worked on things like the Lunar Lander for Grumman, so when Bill Throop (a Baldwin Senior High classmate from ’69) mentioned he was going to check out the school I tagged along. I’m pretty sure I would never have heard of Clarkson or considered it without the Scouting connection, but I ended up going there and graduated in 1973. I live in Los Angeles now and trying to convince a kid out here to brave the winters in the Adirondack mountains is a hard sell indeed, so I haven’t sent any new freshmen off to Clarkson myself, at least so far. I did want to find a way to encourage Scouts to consider the school, though, so I recently established a partial scholarship at Clarkson for Scouts who have shown leadership skills. It’s open to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from any area, so if you know anyone interested in an engineering degree please have them consider Clarkson. You can check out the school at clarkson.edu. And Dick, thanks again for the suggestion way back when!
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 07:11:53 +0000
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