Seven-year-old Marlee Perez and her mom Barb are at a scout training at Camp Thunderbird. Someone stops to say hi and asks Marlee if she is in the Girl Scouts. “No, I’m a Cub Scout!” she says matter of factly.
With Lacey’s pack 007, Marlee Perez was one of the first girls in the area to join the Boy Scouts of America. As part of the new “Scout Me In” campaign, the BSA is now accepting everyone into the Cub Scouts, for kids in first through fifth grade. Starting in February 2019, the newly named Scouts BSA became open to everyone in all age groups.
“We’ve had a very positive response,” says Ralph Voelker, Executive Director at the Pacific Harbors Council of the BSA. So far they’ve had 55 girls sign up in the Cub Scouts. Plus, an additional 26 boys signed up too, most of whom are brothers of the girls. For Lacey pack 007, they joined four new girls including Marlee, and three new boys.
For busy, spread-out families, having their kids in the same activities really helps to simplify things for them, Ralph adds. “We’ve found that making this easier for the whole family really is working.”
Scouting is a family experience, and for Marlee’s family, that is especially true. Marlee has two older brothers also in the Scouts. Jacob is 13 and a Life Scout, and Stephen is a 23-year-old Eagle Scout. “We’re a scouting family,” says mom Barb. “It fits with our values, it fits with what we believe in, so therefore this just works for us.”
Marlee has been scouting with her family her whole life, but when the opportunity came for her to formally join the Cub Scouts, she did right away. “Now the difference is, when she builds that pinewood derby car, that’s her car that she can race as a Cub Scout. Not as a sibling or sister group,” says Barb, “Now she’s a Scout.”
Scouts learn fun and valuable skills while spending quality time with their families, giving parents the opportunity to influence their children’s growth in positive ways. With an emphasis on character development, confidence and outdoor activities, Scouts learn to be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent,” says the Scout Law. And to show this, Cub Scouts can earn more than 100 merit badges.
For Marlee’s pack, some of the older Boy Scouts who they call “den chiefs,” come to mentor the younger kids. “They get that adult association, as well as some of that older youth association, which is really great,” Barb says. The den chief group includes Marlee’s older brother Jacob. They’re able to attend Scout meetings the same night each week.
As a family, they’ve also attended some of the recent scouting events in the area. They went to the Friends of Scouting Breakfast, as well as Scout-O-Rama – a big outreach event open to the community and scouting families in the area. The event has different interactive games and activities, including the longest pinewood derby track in the state.
“That was fantastic,” Barb says, “Marlee had an awesome time.” Scouting families can look forward to a Memorial Day weekend beach camp out, and Cub Scout day camps during the summer.
Marlee is very excited to officially be a Cub Scout. So far, they’ve gone hiking, learned how to make first aid kits and even roasted marshmallows over campfire. “I want to do it again!” she says excitedly. Marlee says she’s most looking forward to “going hiking on a mountain.” As a new Cub Scout, Marlee is ready to have fun, grow and learn alongside her peers, both boys and girls.
