Greetings, fellow Eagle Scouts and NESA members,
The BSA’s 100th Anniversary year is half over. What a wonderful celebration it has already been, and the best part is yet to come: the National Scout Jamboree. I’ll be there, as will many of you, but for those who are not able to join us, please plan to watch the Shining Light broadcast on Saturday night, July 31. Can you imagine: Times Square in New York City is going to be blocked off to traffic that night and turned over to the local BSA council for a celebration of Scouting, with the Shining Light broadcast on the big video screens.
For those of you who are going to the jamboree and can stop by for a visit, you will be impressed by NESA’s presence there. It’s never been like this before. Shawn Briese, a member of the national NESA Committee and a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, is chairing our tent, or exhibit, there. However, calling it a tent or an exhibit does not do it justice. It will be a huge, 30-by-60-foot tent with lots of activities, including a live bald eagle with which Scouts can have their photo taken, a different celebrity Eagle Scout every day, and a long list of other events. The NESA exhibit will be a centerpiece of the jamboree.
If you are not a member of the National Eagle Scout Association, please join us. Not only will you receive four issues per year of Eagle Scout Magazine and benefit from the many social networking features of our online members section, but you will be supporting the fine work of our association, which includes awarding nearly 150 college scholarships per year to Eagle Scouts, and much more.
If you are a NESA member, I highly recommend that you take advantage of the online services available to you. Only 16 percent of our dues-paying members are making use of the many online services sitting there ready for them.
Does your council have a NESA committee? If not, it should. See the guidelines for forming one by clicking on Council NESA Committee Resources on this home page and then Guidelines for Creating a NESA Committee. Perhaps you could be the catalyst in your council for creating one.
Your fellow Eagle Scout,
Bill Steele
NESA Director