KERANG Scout, Jack Pilgrim has 100 reasons to celebrate earning the highest award in Cub Scouts.
The Kerang Christian College student, 10, was one of three youths to be presented the Grey Wolf Award last week by leader, Carmel Tyers after months of hiking, attending meetings, working on special interests and expressing leadership qualities.
The achievement is extra special for Jack because this year marks the 100th anniversary of Cub Scouts for boys and girls aged seven to 11.
It is also the 100th year of Scouting in the Kerang district.
Achieving badges and special interest awards was secondary to the fun of being a Scout.
“I enjoyed playing games like ice-hockey and sponge hockey,” Jack said.
The seconder, otherwise known as vice-captain of a group of Cubs, attended the 8th Victorian Cuboree at Gembrook in 2014, a week-long activity camp for Cub Scouts held every three years and attended by more than 3500 youths.
To achieve the Grey Wolf Award a Cub Scout must attend at least four outdoor activities, one of which must be an overnight camp, an inter-pack activity and a two-hour bushwalk.
Jack earned a badge for first aid, signals, nature, fishing, pets, neighbourhood watch, entertainment, craft, canoeing, Australian environment, swimming and gardening.
The bass guitar player said music was his favourite special interest badge to achieve.
Jack’s father, Shane, a prominent former district police officer, was a Scout in Jamboree Heights, Queensland, while his older sister, Emmer, earned the top award last April.
There is just one wish from Jack’s proud mother, Kristy.
“Wonder what I have to do to get him doing great stuff at home,” she joked.
Scouting is a tradition in the Pilgrim clan. Shane’s grandfather, Bill, was a Scout in England, the birth place of the founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell.
When Lord Baden-Powell created the Boy Scouts Association in England in 1907, he could not have predicted how popular it would become.
Today there are up to 40 million Scouts around the world.
And, Cub Scouts is booming in Kerang, with the investiture of five new members last week.
