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Beaver and Cub scouting activities to sharpen social skills

Stettler’s Cathy Dadensky, along with Jim Flack and Chuck Orlick were looking to recruit Beaver and Cub Scouts on Thursday, Oct. 13.
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Beaver Scouts and Cub Scouts

Stettler’s Cathy Dadensky, along with Jim Flack and Chuck Orlick were looking to recruit Beaver and Cub Scouts at their registration night on Thursday, Oct. 13.

“Even though there have been no active groups since 2013, we’ve still done a couple of events in town, serving hot dogs at the Canada Day in 2014 and manning a hot dog stand at Midnight Madness last year,” said Dadensky, treasurer of the group. “The three of us are just maintaining the hall and trying to recruit volunteers and get the group up and running again.”

Not a novice in this, Dadensky has been involved with scouting for about 20 years now.

“Starting as assistant Beaver Leader when my oldest son was just six-years-old, I’ve held many different positions in the group from Beaver Leader, Cub Leader, Scout Leader, treasurer to registrar,” quipped Dadensky.

Orlick has been involved for about 15 years, holding different positions such as Cub Leader, group commissioner, group committee member and area commissioner with Scouts Canada for a few years, while Flack has been involved for about eight years as a leader and group registrar and as a group committee member.

According to Dadensky, scouting is a great way to “improve social skills” and “develop the adventurer within you.”

“It teaches kids about getting along with one another, being prepared for outings and camps, peer involvement, socializing, community involvement, besides of course volunteering,” said Dadensky. “Being a scout, shows them how to work at fundraising to make money for the activities they want to do.”

Dadensky said how important scouting activities can be for social skills and if the kids start in Beavers, they learn a lot about cooperation and sharing.

“Learning about nature and the outdoors, how to prepare for camping and outdoor activities as well as earning badges and awards are all important,” added Dadensky. “And sometimes the scouts might be required to playing games and creating skits.”

Volunteering too is important, she said, and in past years the scouts have taken part in the Remembrance Day ceremonies handing out the programs and seating patrons, visiting Paragon Place during Christmas and singing carols with the residents.

According to Dadensky, kids have gone on summer camps as well as winter camps for Cub Scouts’ activities.

“The Beavers have had sleepovers at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller and Calgary Zoo and have taken many different field trips to some of the city and area attractions,” she added. “Besides field trips, fundraising is quite important for our group as this is how we fund our programs and field trips.”

Dadensky recollected that some of her favourite memories about scouting were the hours spent with the kids on field trips and camping trips.

“To get our group up and running we have to have parent volunteers,” Dadensky added. “To become a leader you go through a screening process and then you have to do the Woodbadge 1 course, which is online. There is no cost to you to become a leader other than your uniform.”

To be a Beaver Scout or Cub Scout, please call Cathy at 403-742-4918, for further details.