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Scout leaders earn awards

By Staff | Mar 26, 2010

Assistant Scoutmaster Mike Murdock, BSA Troop 33, holding his Statuette Award in the Auditorium at Sherando High School in Stephens City, Va.

STEPHENS CITY, Va. – Shepherdstown area Boy Scout leaders received important Leadership Awards at the Shenandoah Area Council’s Annual Recognition Dinner held Saturday, March 13, at Sherando High School.

J. Michael “Mike” Murdock won the Shenandoah Area Council’s Statuette Award and Anthony F. Gentry won the Southern Region, Boy Scouts of America, Venturing Leadership Award during the 82nd Annual Recognition Dinner.

The Shenandoah Area Council’s Statuette Award is unique to the Shenandoah Area Council, and has been presented to volunteer Scout leaders for the past 64 years to leaders in recognition of their outstanding leadership and service to youth.

They are nominated by fellow leaders and selected by a panel made up of the four District Commissioners. This year, Shenandoah Area Council presented ten Statuette Awards.

Murdock has actively and effectively served as a Cub Scout and Boy Scout Leader in Shepherdstown for the past 11 years. Currently, he serves as both an Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 33 and the Cubmaster of Pack 33. Last summer, he led Scouts and other Leaders on a high-adventure canoeing trek in Adirondack State Park in New York State.

Venturing Leader Anthony Gentry holds the frame certificate of his award, with his mother Goldie M. Gentry, of Luray, Va. (The actual award is the round medal suspended on a green-and-white ribbon around his neck.)

The Southern Region, Boy Scouts of America, Venturing Leadership Award was presented to Gentry by the leadership of the BSA Southern Region for exceptional contributions to the venturing program of the region and for exemplifying the venturing code and oath. Only two such awards were given this year throughout the entire 13-state, two-territory Southern Region.

Venturing is a co-educational youth development program of the Boy Scouts of America for young men and women who are at least 14 years old (and have completed the 8th grade) through 20 years of age. Venturing’s purpose is to provide positive experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults.

The Southern Region extends from Texas on the west to the Atlantic Coast on the east, and from Kentucky and Virginia on the north to the Gulf Coast on the south, plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Within Shenandoah Area Council, Gentry has served as a Venturing Crew Leader, as the Council’s Venturing Roundtable Commissioner, and as the Assistant District Commissioner of the Potomac District for the past 10 years.

Beyond the bounds of our local Shenandoah Area Council, he served leaders of several adjacent Scout Councils as a leadership trainer, and as a “trainer of trainers.”

During this Summer’s upcoming Centennial National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., he will be serving on the Venturing Program Administrative Staff, and as one of the two National Chaplains for the Venture Scouts attending and participating in the Jamboree.

– Submitted by Tom White, Scouting Coordinator, New Street United Methodist Church, Shepherdstown