Marcos transforms Mariano Matamoros through projects.

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Volunteers that have been part of Scout Experience have left lasting and positive marks in the communities were the project takes place. They have accomplished this by carrying out activities that benefit the communities that surround the scout centers, or have contributed directly with the beneficiaries’ personal development, but in Marcos González Franco´s experience, it is different, since he achieved both through projects during his time as a volunteer in group 101, Mariano Matamoros.

Marcos is a rover scout from the Jalisco province that dedicated a month to assist Scout Experience. Since his arrival, he was eager to share his strengths with the project, specifically in group Mariano Matamoros. Within the community he perceived certain needs, a lack of sense of community and hopeless faces, however, when he reached the scout center he saw completely the opposite, he saw young people and parents with a sense of hope, of transforming their situation, a true scout spirit.

Marcos implemented an emotional education program focused on developing empathy, with a methodology and interactive material created by professionals. The objective is that children and parents learn how to name emotions and feelings, that they can identify their source and the emotional diversity in other people in order to achieve healthy interactions with others; all of these activities were carried out through games.

As part of his development, Marcos completed tasks that were part of his “Scouts of the World” project, a worldwide program in the scout organization where high impact projects are implemented with a focus on environment, peace and development; “protecting my park” is the name of the chosen initiative, focused on reducing environmental impact by separating and correct waste management. To encourage this environmental culture, he developed many activities with the scout members of Mariano Matamoros, which included a family rally, artistic recycling workshops, setting up infrastructure in the scout park, community compost and the installation of trash cans to facilitate waste separation.

Marcos returned to his home a few days ago after leaving an amazing impression in the community and in return, they gave him the strength to continue working towards a better world.

Scout experience volunteers work towards a better health in Camino Verde.

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In this present time, one of the biggest problems worldwide are bad eating habits that affect people´s health. This is a significant problem in Mexico, where public health programs are implemented in order to raise awareness within the population about the importance of a balanced and healthy diet and exercise, activities that seem simple, but are complex to fulfill. Aware of these issues, a group of rover scouts decided to start “Healthy Diet Week” in group 102’s scout center. This initiative was leaded by Grecia Bárcena, a volunteer from Guanajuato that joined the project and identified this need in the communities and included it as part of the Scouts of the world program. The healthy diet week consisted of workshops and activities about the main theme. Some of the mentioned topics were: eating disorders, knowledge about food that is consumed, nutritious food, no utensils meals and how to create a balanced diet. Everyone at the scout center was weighed and measured in order to learn about their body mass index and setting optimal and realistic goals. Blood pressure levels were also registered and it was emphasized that besides a healthy diet it is important to exercise daily to have a better life quality. Everything that was learned by the young people and parents can be shared with friends and neighbors, and with these they can help this important campaign to reach a greater social impact.

Ricardo returns to school as part of his advancement trail.

Ricardo Escárrega is a 15 year old Venture Scout from group 101 in Mariano Matamoros. “Rica” as he is known by his friends, is young man that has grown significantly since becoming part of the Scout movement.

One of the highest points in his scout life was returning to his studies. Ricardo had abandoned school a few years ago after being expelled because of bad behavior from the elementary school he attended and he had not made an effort to return.

What does the future hold for a young man that has not completed elementary school? Facts prove that there are not many options of personal development, or social integration, which is the reason why Scout Experience, Ready for Life became an amazing opportunity for Ricardo; a place where someone is able to interact in a friendly manner with other peers and have other ways of personal development.

Ricardo has had an important advancement as a Venture scout. Nowadays he is at the pathfinder stage which leads him to ask himself, what is his role as a young man in his community? Being witness to Rica´s growth, the leaders of group 101 decided to give him a challenge, to return to his studies and finish elementary and middle school through the Instituto Nacional de Educación para los Adultos (National Institute of Education for Adults), which has a program for regularization and reception of education certificates for people who did not attend school in a traditional way.

A few months have gone by since Ricardo has been studying for the exam that he will present in the coming weeks. If he passes them all, he will receive the necessary certificates to be able to enroll in high school. Rica has the confidence that he will achieve a high score during the test since he has made an enormous effort and has also received support and tutoring from one of the project’s volunteer, Polly Rakshi.

This is a big step for Ricardo, who is close to entering the next phase of his advancement trail, which ends with the Summit award, the stage of completion within the journey of the Venture scouts, where next to his peers; they will be ready to live their own adventure, well prepared for life.

Cub scouts in Mariano Matamoros receive the ecology award.

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World Environment Day was celebrated on June 5^th with initiatives and activities, training and raising awareness amongst people about the importance of taking care of our planet.

Caring for the environment is not an unknown subject for the scout movement. One of the skills that are offered to children is ecology and in order to receive the award, projects must be implemented or efforts must be made towards helping the environment.

The three groups that originated from Scout Experience, Ready for Life carry out different ecology related activities in their day to day activities to improve their community. An example from that is what the cub scouts, part of the Impessa pack, from group 101 Mariano Matamoros are developing.

25 children from the Impessa pack actively participate in reforestation programs in the scout park of Mariano Matamoros and have also implemented a recycling program.

An additional motivation in ecological topics for the children has been the participation of Alianza Kawi that has guided and trained them in numerous ecology matters; therefore, scouts in Mariano Matamoros will continue to create social impact.

Saúl generates financial and environmental sustainability within his group.

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On a previous newsletter edition we presented some of the fundraising activities that groups originated from Scout Experience, Ready for Life have accomplished to participate in camps and to achieve their financial sustainability. In this article we are presenting Saul’s story, a member of the Dragons troop from Group 101 in Mariano Matamoros, who decided to make an additional effort and not only to raise money but also to contribute to the environment in his community.

Before learning about the transformation Saúl has gone through in this year it is important to mention his background. In the beginning of 2015 his parents decided to take him to the scout center expecting that Saúl would improve his social skills and would make new friends, he was a quiet and introverted young man with little interest in becoming involved in other activities, but was also creative and responsible.

The first few weeks with the scout group were not easy for Saúl, he struggled in relating to his peers, but with the support of the group’s chiefs he became more and more outspoken. His scout mates accepted him as a member of the Dragons patrol in return of him becoming more social; it all came together in a natural way. Nowadays, Saúl is a young man who has many friends, which has helped his creativity and many ideas create a bigger impact.

While observing the group´s fundraising plans, Saúl saw the opportunity to combine taking care of the environment, a subject his enthusiastic about, with raising money for his group, which is the reason why he started recycling aluminum cans, plastic bottles and other disposable materials that he sold in order to obtain money for group 101. He also made a presentation explaining how the rest of his peers can raise money by doing this type of activities. He received an ecology badge in return for his efforts.

Saúl has set an important example for the financial sustainability in his group and the environmental sustainability in his community. He is also friendlier, confident in his leadership skills and keen in searching for information to solve problems and to set an example for his peers. He also motivated his parents into becoming more involved with the group by promoting training in environmental care within the members of the group. He is considered another case of youth development and social impact that Scout Experience, Ready for Life has accomplished.

Víctor, an example of outstanding educational growth.

One of the main objectives of Scout Experience, Ready for Life is having young men and women that have dropped out of school return to their studies, but also, having those that are at risk of dropping out be able to continue with their education to achieve a better outcome in their future.

One of these young people at risk is Víctor Guerrero, a member of the scout Troop in group 103 in Granjas Familiares. He is currently enrolled in his first year of middle school at Telesecundaria 37, Salvador Novo, (telesecundaria is a middle school where students learn at a distance mode and prerecorded lessons are usually transmitted on a monitor in place of a teacher). Víctor’s grades were not good; he was failing some of his classes and was barely passing others. In Mexico it is common for a student that fails all of his classes to become disheartened and quit school, which is why he was at risk of dropping out.

The telesecundaria’s principle had recommended Víctor’s mom to take him to the scout centers since other students had improved their academic performance because of the academic mentoring program it offers. Víctor was also invited to go by a classmate that was part of group 103, Edward Vizcarra, and is the reason why he was persuaded to join the movement.

Just like his peers, Víctor received academic support in subjects such as mathematics, language and logic. This helped his grades to improve from failing to having the highest scores. His academic performance had radically changed.

Víctor thought that his story could be repeated by the rest of the members of group 103; therefore, with the help of his friends Edward and Edgar, they have created a homework club, where they help each other solve academic doubts. Cub scouts also participate in this club, led by the group and section chiefs in Granjas Familiares.

Just like Víctor, many other young men and women from Scout Experience have acknowledged the importance of helping each other and staying in school, to have a better future and build a better world.

Venture Scouts from the Baja California Province develop their leadership with “Punta de flecha”.

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The world organization of the scout movement is one of the organizations with the biggest number of young participants; it is the main reason why their participation is vital for decision making. They have the most resources and opportunities to transform the communities they live in.

Asociación de Scouts de México, A. C. (ASMAC), is fully aware of the importance of youth within the scout movement, therefore, every year an event called “Punta de Flecha” (Arrow Tip), is carried out to promote youth leadership by convening all of the committees from all Venture scouts, so they are able to develop the necessary competences for a productive leadership.

Punta de Flecha is a leadership and youth empowerment course, in which participants are provided with the necessary tools to become an active part of their community and also to dynamically improve the scout movement based on the decisions made by their section.

The objectives of Punta de Flecha are similar to the ones in Scout Experience, Ready for Life, where through educational emphases in education, character and leadership, young men and women develop up to their maximum potential to play an active role in their community. Having young Venture scouts from groups 101, 102 and 103 join the course is an additional reinforcement into forging leaders of the present and future.

Punta de Flecha course is divided in three main stages. The first took place on May 1^st with an introductory course. There are two more sessions that will take place during May and June.

The participation of Venture scouts from the entire Baja California province is quite important to build better communities; the young men and women from Scout Experience groups will continue to participate sharing their experiences and leadership skills developed with the project.

Outdoor living focused on sustainable development.

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For Scout Experience, Ready for Life, it has become a tradition to transform vacation days into opportunities for adventures, friendships and knowledge, where special activities take place during the spring, summer and winter camps.

The 2015 Spring Camp that concluded a few days ago was created during the two weeks of Easter break. On this occasion the theme for the activities was promoting sustainable development within the children and young people, members of Scout groups 101, 102 and 103 in Baja California.

The camp lasted for three days and it took place at “El Carrizo” dam, one of the most important dams in northwest Mexico, located in the city of Tecate, Baja California, which also provides water to the city of Tijuana. It is also an ideal place to enjoy outdoor living, practice sport fishing, amongst other activities.

The events during the camps were based on three topics environment, peace and development (one for each day of camping); where children, young men and women participated in activities that made them aware of the importance of these aforementioned topics in order to improve the way of life in their communities, while recognizing themselves as citizens of the world. An exploration of their environment was encouraged and they learned about how it provides tools that can be used to solve day to day problems.

Traditional outdoor living and scout activities were also completed, such as campfires, swimming, archery, abseiling, amongst others. A total of 120 people participated, this included young scouts, volunteers, all of them people with a broad vision on how to generate sustainable in order to reach a greater social impact.

Scout Rally for Education, learning in a fun way.

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A learning process becomes more significant when it is done in a fun way. Under this premise the Scout Experience, Ready for Life team created three Rallies for Education, one in each one of the zones where the project’s scout centers are located.

Each rally consisted of a race by different teams; these teams were formed by young men and women from the Scout Troop and Venture Scouts, who had to complete a total of 10 bases. In some of the bases they had to overcome fun physical challenges, in others they had to complete language, logic and math puzzles, all in relation to the educational focus areas within the project.

A special element during these rallies was the participation from fellow scouts and friends of the project. During the event in Mariano Matamoros we had the participation of group 7 of the Baja California province; during the rally in Camino Verde we had the assistance of the Karen and Tom Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness and Social Action (CASA) from the University of San Diego. Our guests had an active participation in the teams; they joined efforts in order to have a better outcome. There were a total of 120 young men and women participating.

A ceremony took place at the end of each event, during this ceremony the three teams with the best scores were awarded with prizes that were useful for the outdoors and others had symbolic value.

Besides encouraging the importance of education with the participants, the events facilitated the interaction between parents and neighbors from the scout centers with their children, as well as the joining of new young people ready to live the Scout Experience and contribute together towards better education in their communities.

Scout Experience at the National art and expression Scout 2014

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The National Art and Expression Scout  (EEAS, Spanish acronym), one of the yearly main events from the Asociación de Scouts de México, A.C., took place from November 15^th through the 17^th at Meztitla campsite in the Morelos state.

The EEAS is an event where different activities take place in stands that are set up for participants to show their skills and abilities in different artistic expressions, such as, dancing, singing, presentations, literature, gastronomy, arts and crafts and others.

The scout members’ participation is an important one in every EEAS. At the 2014 event there were around 3,000 members from all over the country, with participants from every section within the movement.

During the time of the National EEAS, various provinces held out their own versions of this event in their home states. One of them was the Baja California EEAS, organized by the scout province of the aforementioned state, from November 15^th through the 16^th.

Scout Experience attended both events. At the National EEAS there were a couple of stands set up for promoting the project and inviting people to participate in it as a volunteer or by donating through the crowd funding platform. Our stand was well visited just as the year before, because it represents an ideal alternative for all the young rovers that wish to continue their personal journey by causing a social impact supporting youth from vulnerable communities.

The three scout groups from Scout Experience participated at the Mexicali event and had an outstanding performance in different disciplines. The Cub Scout Packs, Scout Troops and Scout Ventures from Camino Verde, Granjas Familiares and Mariano Matamoros prepared for weeks, showing their interest and hopefulness of being part of this important event and camping with their peers from other scout groups. The achievements came easily, group 101 from Mariano Matamoros received first place in dance, group 102 from Camino Verde received awards in dance for the Cub Scout Pack and Scout Troop, while group 103 from Granjas Familiares won the contest in survival cooking.

 Scout Experience continues to be an innovative project which presents different development alternatives not only to its beneficiaries, but also within the community interested in achieving a social impact.