Backing his son Craig and boosting his self-confidence

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In early spring of my 9th grade year of school I had applied unsuccessfully to be on staff at Steiner Boy Scout Camp the next summer.  Unknown to me, Dad went to Program Director doing the hiring to see if something could be done to get me on the staff.  He also got my scoutmaster to put in a good word for me. 

Dad worked out a deal with them that they would let me work on staff for just room and board, (room being a 2-man wall tent) and no pay if I would earn my Eagle Scout rank before coming the scout camp.  However, if a position opened up, I would get paid as well.

At the time I was about seven merit badges away from earning my Eagle and I needed to do my Eagle project.  I don’t know if I would have been motivated to complete these things otherwise, but now I was very motivated. I still remember telling my mom that I couldn’t attend my junior high’s graduation dance because I had to work on merit badges.  I not only got it all done, but I was so organized that I also got the highest grades I had ever achieved in school up to that point.

As it turned out, a couple of the staff were fired after the first couple of weeks so I was on the payroll.  The Program Director told me that summer that I did not make a good impression when I interviewed for the job, but because of my dad and scoutmaster they gave me a chance and he was glad they did.

In looking back, I can see my low self esteem at the time made it difficult to interview well.  But my positive experience on staff at scout camp I believe was a huge boost to my self confidence.  It was followed by a second very positive summer on staff at Steiner.  Then the next year I successfully interviewed and landed a job at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico which was another wonderful experience for me, made possible by my previous two summer staff positions.

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