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VALLEY — Scout Executive Tonya Dobbins was the guest speaker at Thursday’s non hour meeting of the West Point Rotary Club. She’s with the Chattahoochee Council of Scouting America, which covers a 15-county area in west Georgia and east-central Alabama. The council has three districts, one of which is named for George H. Lanier and serves Chambers County on the Alabama side and Troup. Harris Heard, Meriwether and Talbot counties in Georgia.

Dobbins has been with the Chattahoochee Council for the past seven months and has had extensive experience in the Scouting movement in other parts of the country. “I got involved in Scouting years ago when my son brought home a flyer from school all about the Boy Scouts,” she said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed being involved in Scouting. It’s such a joy to be involved in something you love to do.”

Scouting embraces a quote from the late Prince Phillip of the United Kingdom: “Change does not change tradition. It strengthens it. Change is a challenge and an opportunity, not a threat.”

The mission of Scouting is to help young people develop into responsible citizens and self-fulfilled individuals by instilling values like integrity, respect and service. Its goals are to help young people

•develop academically, socially, emotionally, spiritually and physically;

•develop self confidence and leadership skills;

•to make ethical and moral choices. and

•to help them to help others.

Scouting is well known for such outdoor activities as camping, and the Council’s top two camping areas are in the local area. The Pine Mountain camp is located in northwest Harris County just outside West Point and Camp Fred G. Lumpkin is on West Point Lake in Troup County.

“Scouting is more than camping,” Dobbins said, “but we did have a freezearee recently at Camp Lumpkin. It got pretty cold at night, but it was a lot of fun for everyone who was there.”

Dobbins added that Scouting has long had a co-ed program with Venturing and has long worked with local schools and churches. Through Scouting, young people have the opportunity to gain experience in fields they may want to pursue as adults. It’s an excellent way to get into workforce development. “Scouts learn a variety of skills that prepare them to confront challenges throughout life,” Dobbins said.

Through Scouting’s merit badge program, Scouts test themselves with new obstacles across a variety of disciplines they will be using in life. They will discover ways to interact with the outdoors and to live out the Scout Law. They can learn how Scouting has made a difference in the lives of Scout alumni.

Today’s Scouts are learning robotics in STEM Scouting. “We can get them as early as the third grade,” Dobbins said. “They can see another side of education they can enjoy. We have has third, fourth and fifth graders in this at Camp Lumpkin. We have had youth-led and run leadership organizations where they can learn skills they will need later on in life. They can learn how to turn their hobbies into ways to make a living.”

Dobbins said the Troup-Chambers County area is an ideal place for a Sea Scout program. These are active in areas near large bodies of water like West Point Lake. Dobbins believes that the more time spent in Scouting, the better the outcome in character development. “Scouts are twice as likely to graduate from college than non Scouts,” Dobbins said. “They are twice as likely to earn an advanced degree.”

“We do rely on community dollars,” Dobbins said. “We are not dependent on federal grant funding. We are not the same program we were five years ago. We change with the times. We hope ups support us.”

As of May 2024, the Boy Scouts of America had more than one million active members nationwide. This includes more than 175,000 girls and young women. Membership has declined since its peak of four million members in 1973. Membership in recent years has been growing. The BSA dates to 1910. More than 130 million Americans have been involved in Scouting at some point in their life.