Rotary Program: 2/9/05

Program Chairperson: James Glass

Speaker: Barry Goff, Boys Scouts of America

Barry Goff is a native of Nelson County and graduated from Bardstown High School. For most of his young life, he was involved with Scouting and in 1977, earned his rank as an Eagle Scout. He went on to get his B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Kentucky in 1984. Shortly thereafter he became the District Executive of the Bluegrass Council of Kentucky. He later married Karen Bailey, who is the daughter of Frank Bailey and moved to Pikeville. Here, he became involved with the Weeblos in Pack 12, sponsored by the Rotary Club, which most recently has become Troop 12 of the Boy Scouts. In 2004, Barry was named Scoutmaster of the Year by the Lonesome Pine Council of Boy Scouts.

Barry began his program by reminding us of the long and storied history of Scouting and the great impact it has had on so many lives of young boys. The character education that Scouting provides is to him the most important aspect of the program. Boys begin Scouting as early as age 5 as Cub Scouts and go on to become Boy Scouts from age 11 through 17. From there, many opportunities exist for young men to continue with Scouting by working as Pack Leaders, Scoutmasters, or volunteers. There are opportunities also for boys and girls to work together in the Explorers and Adventurers part of Scouting.

The new group that was organized this past year in Pikeville consists of 17 Scouts and 3 adults. Barry says he would like to get more adults interested in working with the group so that more activities could be possible. They have been very active for the past nine months, having had 30 camping nights, aquatic training, visits to the Perryville Battle Site, the Pikeville City Commission meeting, the Post Office and many other outings that give the scouts an opportunity to earn merit badges in computers and Indian lore. Barry also talked about some exciting things that lie in the future for the troop, such as a trip to Winterslope Ski Lodge in West Virginia, a trip to Frankfort to dig for arrowheads, and a tour of the United States Aircraft Carrier Yorktown, in Charleston, South Carolina. He expects that trip to involve between 200 and 300 scouts and the opportunity to earn a merit badge in aviation. He also talked about summer camp coming up in July and the many sports, climbing, and swimming that the boys will be doing there. Then in August comes the annual National Jamboree, which is the largest meeting involving Scouting in the year.

Barry says that being a Scoutmaster is the hardest work that anyone could ever do, but that there was nothing more rewarding. He closed the program with a question / answer session and thanked the Rotary Club for allowing him to come today and share this very important part of his life. - JMC