Boy Scout "Fun Facts"

A recent nationwide survey showed that:

Of Senior Class Presidents, 89% were scouts
Of Junior Class Presidents, 80% were scouts
Of Student Council Presidents, 85% were scouts
Of School newspaper editors, 88% were scouts
Of Football Captains, 71% were scouts
Of Basketball captains, 64% were scouts
64% of Air Force Academy graduates were scouts
58% of West Point Graduates were scouts
70% of Annapolis graduates were scouts
72% of Rhodes Scholars were scouts
85% of FBI Agents were scouts at one time

For every 100 boys that enter scouts:

Only rarely will one appear before a juvenile court judge
12 will be from families that belong to no church
6 of these will be brought into contact with a church and continue
3 will become pastors
45 will serve in the Military
1 person will use scout skills to save somebody else’s live
2 will report that they used scout skills to save their own lives
17 will later serve as adult volunteers
8 will find their future life vocations from scouting
30 will drop out the first year
4 scouts will reach the rank of Eagle Scout

Only 4 out of 100 boys in the USA will become scouts, but of the leaders of this nation in business, religion and politics, 3 out of 4 were scouts. Only 4 percent of our nation’s youth were scouts, yet 65% of all college and university graduates were scouts. 26 of 29 of the first Astronauts in NASA’s program were Eagle scouts, and 133 of the 233 Astronauts were scouts at one time.

So, 4 out of 100, make Eagle Scout. So what about the other 96 scouts who didn’t make it to Eagle. Is it just wasted time? The scouts have “Aims and Methods”. Things found in the Scout Oath and Law, the Patrol Method, Outdoors training, Personal growth, Leadership and So on. Advancement is certainly one of these, but only one. Just being part of the program gives the opportunity to “better and belong”.

Sure we know some famous Eagle Scouts like Sam Walton, James Lovell, Hank Aaron, Gerald Ford, John Glenn, Ross Perot, and Steven Speilberg. How about some “Not-Quite-Eagles” like John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Stewart, Harrison Ford, Merlin Olson, Richard Gere, Nolan Ryan, Jim Morrison, Joe Theisman, Bill Gates, and not-quite British Scout’s Queen’s Scout – Paul McCartney. The list goes on and on. Scouting makes a difference!