Margueritte Jackson and Mark Milhollin spoke to Rotary Club on Tuesday to share their passion for scouting and announce the future of cub scouts in Bainbridge.

Both lifelong scouts themselves, Jackson and Milhollin are bringing cub scouts to Bainbridge, allowing for both girls and boys in kindergarten through fifth grade to get involved. They will be in separate dens, and both will come together once a month or so for family gatherings, said Jackson.

“Girls need to be in separate dens than boys, because they have different personalities and different abilities and different rates of maturity,” said Jackson. “I promise to you, in scouting in Bainbridge, the girls will be in girl’s dens and the boys will be in boy’s dens. But my overall goal is we have family scouting in Bainbridge.”

Milhollin shared some studies made by Harris Interactive in 2005 that showed just how important scouting is to a young child’s life. The study said 83 percent of men who were in scouts or scouting at some point in their life agree that the values they learned in scouting continue to be important to them today.

That same 83 percent said there have been real life situations where being a scout helped them be a better leader. I am one of those. Another 87 percent who remained in scouting for five or more years attribute some of their confidence in the workplace and their careers to having been a scout.

What is the purpose of being a scout?

“To prepare young people overall to make ethical and moral choice through their lives through the scout oath and scout law,” said Milhollin. “You want them to be this way as children and carry it on into adulthood.”

The four main pillars of scouting are adventure, leadership, learning and service, all of which have been a key part of Bainbridge’s scouts for 99 years. In 2019, Bainbridge will celebrate 100 years of scouting in this community, and Jackson and Milhollin want to make sure it’s honored and celebrated right.

“These kids that are saying the scout oath and the scout law, they have a delayed reaction when they can make a bad choice or a good choice, and these are the kids making the good choices,” said Jackson. “I want to deliver it here in Bainbridge, and I know that I can. It’s going to take an army. I’m going to have to raise an army of youth and raise an army of adult leaders.”

Jackson asked for the community to get involved any way it could.

“You all have skills and passions, and we need to introduce those kids to those skills and passions,” said Jackson. “The adventures that we offer in cubs can create a career path or a passion for a hobby for a lifetime.”

Jackson and Milhollin will hold an information session on Tuesday, Aug. 21, at the Jones-Wheat Elementary cafeteria at 7:30 p.m.