Fulton Cub Scouts Pack 50 splashed away the summer heat Monday evening at Memorial Park to kick off upcoming scout recruitment events.
Instead of hosting a fun, pre-recruitment event at one of the usual places such as Bush School, Christy Harper, Cub Master for Pack 50 for the past two years, said she wanted the event to be held outdoors.
"We wanted to take advantage of the splash pad," Harper said. "It's a highly great aspect of our community, and community is an important aspect of cub scouts since we emphasize community service and community projects. The community helps build strong leaders."
Harper said about 25-30 boys in grades one through five will return to participate in scout events this year. She expects that number to increase since several boys signed up during Monday's event.
Harper talked about how the organization recently improved its method of communication to provide the latest updates on cub scout activity and upcoming events.
"We have a new system we're going to use called Cub Trails, which is an email and texting system," Harper said. "It shows how achievements are completed and tells committee members what they need to buy, and they can see where all the dens are at."
She said the new system will help scouts log their required achievements, called "adventures," from home, saving parents and scouts time from having to track down scout leaders.
"We used to lose a lot of scouts during sports season," Harper said. "I think this (system) will help more scouts participate."
Cub scouts are required to complete seven adventures before they can advance to the next level. Scouts can choose from several elective adventures after completing those required by the organization.
Harper said scouts should be excited about new changes and upcoming events.
"We want to focus this year on placing more responsibility on the boys," she said. "We want to have more camping events and try to include other packs in events we think would be fun for a large group of boys."
Specific additions to the cub scout program include visiting with a local elected official, emphasizing the budgeting and planning aspect of cooking as well as integrating cooking,
Harper said she is looking forward to continuing themed pack meetings that match the Twelve Points of the Scout Law. In particular, she mentioned plans for the meeting on being brave. Harper said the scout leaders will show the boys the "Kid President" video on YouTube, which she describes as a video about heroes. She also said she plans to contact a police officer to talk to the boys about how they can be everyday heroes in the community.
"We want to empower the boys to be confident and great leaders," Harper said. "They're our future. Cub scouts and boy scouts do a great job of planting and setting a seed of leadership qualities."
Harper said scout committee goals for this year include increasing public recognition, participating in more community service events and continuing the same community projects as previous years, such as the Fulton Clean Sweep, collecting cans and riding in the Christmas parade float.
"We want to encourage kids to come up with their own ideas for community service," Harper said. "Kids have the greatest ideas. Kids straight up inspire and they really do work hard."
Harper said the Fulton Cub Scout Packs will host recruitment events for boys interested in joining the scouts Thursday night at each Fulton public elementary school.
Pack leaders encourage those interested or reluctant about joining to attend one of the recruitment meetings to "see what all the fun is about."