Lakeland frat takes Scouts under wings

[fgoodwin]

Lakeland frat takes Scouts under wings

 

http://www.sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070418/SHE0101/704180539/1973

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Joint effort of fraternity, Cub Scouts may be a first

 

By Janet Ortegon

Sheboygan Press staff April 18, 2007

 

Every other week, 8-year-old Izaiah Annis heads out to Lakeland College for a meeting.

 

Izaiah, of Glenbeulah, isn't a prodigy attending college-level economics classes. He's a Cub Scout and a member of Pack 3845, the first known collaboration of a college fraternity and the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Izaiah is one of five boys the other four are from Sheboygan in the pack. The Scouts are also littles in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Sheboygan County, and fraternity brothers are their big brothers.

 

The idea to combine both groups came from Brian Collins, 27, a Lakeland graduate and former member of Zeta Chi fraternity. As a nonprofit administration major in college, Collins became familiar with many organizations like Boy Scouts and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

 

Once he took a job as district executive of Manitowoc and Calumet counties for the Scouts' Bay-Lakes Council, he started to think about ways to use what he knew to reach more kids.

 

"You get to a point where doing things a certain way only serves a certain group of people," Collins said. "I knew the fraternity one of its main goals is service. I brought it to them and they were really excited about it."

 

Working with the Boy Scouts and with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the fraternity chartered the Cub Scout pack for the boys who were "little brothers" to members.

 

Chris Wray, 21, a Lakeland junior, was already Izaiah's lunch buddy, going to Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah Elementary School once a week to have lunch together when the Cub Scout idea came up.

 

"I was already planning on becoming a regular big brother over the summer so I could hang out with him during the summer too," Wray said. "I was in Boy Scouts when I was a kid."

 

When the group gets together, they do activities outlined in the Cub Scout handbook, including much to Izaiah's delight making balsa wood Pinewood Derby cars.

 

"You get to make a demolition derby car," Izaiah said. "It's gonna look like a car with a little slant and with a number on it. We're still working on it."

 

Wray said that while the pack adheres to the spirit of Boy Scouts, it's not identical to other Scout troops.

 

"We've kind of worked around some of the stuff," Wray said. "The kids right now don't have uniforms. It's the program, the learning, the atmosphere. The learning you get from Cub Scouts. It's more looking at the big picture."

 

Jake Kraus, Bay-Lakes Council district director in Sheboygan, Manitowoc and Calumet counties, said the collaboration has been a plus for everyone involved.

 

"The fraternity even sold popcorn it was hilarious," Kraus said. "They sold $3,000 in popcorn on campus."

 

Collins said he'd like to see more fraternity brothers sign on as big brothers so more kids could join the pack.

 

"I realized that Big Brothers/Big Sisters all over the place have long waiting lists (of kids)," Collins said. "The hardest thing for them is to find volunteers that are young and male for their little brothers."

 

And getting a group like the Zetas to charter a Scout pack has whetted his appetite for other, similar pairings.

 

"There are only so many people in one fraternity," he said. "There are other fraternities, sororities A lot of student organizations that I think might like to get involved."

 

And for his sales pitch to those organizations, Collins might consider bringing Izaiah along.

 

"We just have fun," Izaiah said. "That's it."

 

Reach Janet Ortegon at jortegon@sheboygan-press.com or 453-5121.