Georgia Magazine - December 2010 - (Page 21)

grew up to become Navy tunity for these guys to talk pilots and have carried with about something they and I them the scouting dedicaenjoy, and really share some tion to country, service and thoughts they hoped would a well-honed taste for inspire other people and, in adventure. particular, the next generaThe 52,000 young men tion of Eagle Scouts.” who become Eagle Scouts These interviewees each year can be found in answered questions about Blue Angels and Eagle Scouts: While writing “Spirit of Advenevery community and every the significance of scouting ture,” Townley met with members of the U.S. Navy’s Blue profession. What sets them in its centennial, and the Angels flight demonstration squadron and crossed the Eastern apart is the discipline and results of these interviews Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. His adventures initiative they learned in became Townley’s first led to his third book, “Fly Navy,” due out in May 2011. scouting. book, “Legacy of Honor,” Today, programs such as published by St. Martin’s through the mountains of Hawaii Scoutreach extend scouting to a Press in 2007. He followed this with other young leaders. more diverse population, says acclaimed work with “Spirit of In the U.S. he met members of Townley. This program offers scoutAdventure” in 2009 after traveling the Teach for America program ing to urban and rural areas ranging around the world to speak with working in the nation’s povertyfrom the barrios of South Central Eagle Scouts in their 20s and 30s. stricken inner cities. Los Angeles to the small towns. “I really wanted to see how “I saw how the young men of Programs like these can make a scouting has affected the young men my generation are taking scouting’s tremendous difference in the lives of of my generation and, in turn, how values and going out and being young people facing the stresses of they are affecting the country’s view successful and being significant,” crime and fractured families. and the world’s view,” says Townley. he explains. Scouting not only teaches valuTo write “Spirit,” he traveled His experiences aboard an able life skills, it also provides around the world twice. In Australia, aircraft carrier led to his third book many young men with the father he went diving with a marine biolo“Fly Navy,” set for publication in figure they may never have had. gist studying the Great Barrier Reef, 2011, in honor of the Centennial of After thousands of miles and traveled through Africa with memNaval Aviation. Some Eagle Scouts many hours spent with the nation’s bers of the Peace Corps and hiked Eagle Scouts, Townley believes he’s found the answer to his questions. The qualities that scouting instills in its members are those that America sorely needs as it faces the demands of a rapidly changing world. Randy Southerland is a freelance writer living in Acworth. Details: To find out more about scouting, check out these resources: • Atlanta Area Council Boy Scouts of America: www.atlantabsa.org • National Eagle Scout Association: www.nesa.org • Eagle Scout Resource Center: www.eaglescout.org • Boy Scouts of America: www.scouting.org • History of Eagle Scouting: www.eagle scout.org/history/history.html • History of Scouting: www.historyofscout ing.com 21 More than 15 percent of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy are Eagle Scouts or Girl Scout Gold Award recipients. Townley met a number of them during a visit to West Point. December 2010 More online at www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.atlantabsa.org http://www.nesa.org http://www.eaglescout.org http://www.scouting.org http://www.eaglescout.org/history/history.html http://www.eaglescout.org/history/history.html http://www.historyofscouting.com http://www.historyofscouting.com http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - December 2010

Georgia Magazine - December 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Claus With a Cause
Soaring With Eagles
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - December 2010