The Boy Scouts of Troop 912 of Tavernier define themselves by their environmental stewardship, community service, and good citizenship. When they’re not knee-deep in the water taking trash out of the mangroves, they can be found leading flag ceremonies at the Murray Nelson or the Elks Lodge, or serving food at God’s Kitchen, a meal service for community members in need.
With Thanksgiving approaching, Keys Weekly sat down with the troop to get to know them better and to reflect on what they’re thankful for. Ari Poholek, the scoutmaster for the troop, brags, “They’re all really good kids. They’re still kids – for sure – but they’re really good people.”
Poholek, Cindy Martin and Mike Donovan lead the troop together. Martin, who had never camped before becoming a leader, credits scouting with teaching her so much about the outdoors and each of her scouts. Looking around the room, she said, “I care about each of you. I know so much about you guys. I can’t wait to see what you become when you grow up – what you do.”
Brian, the youngest scout, said, “We all help each other and do things as a group. We have more fun that way.” Micah Carr, a 1st class scout in the troop, said they all try to be good citizens. “That means, we try not to let anyone down.”
The group is “really proactive” when it comes to community service and activities, said Poholek. “We try to fill needs. We look for opportunities to be involved with the community. Giving back is a great learning lesson.”
Get to know Troop 912!
What’s your full name? Age? School and grade? Rank in scouts? Do you have a nickname?
Brian Hurt, 12, 7th grade at Key Largo School. I’m a scout. They call me “8th grade math”.
Micah John Carr, 13, 7th grade at KLS. 1st class scout. No nickname, but my grandma calls me “bubbaloo.”
Ethyn Martin, 13, 7th grade at KLS. I don’t have a nickname, but my scout nickname is “Bulldog” because I just keep going no matter how exhausted I am. I’m a 1st class scout.
Aidan Aaron Austin, 14. I go to Coral Shores. I have multiple nicknames, actually. My old friends used to call me Dan to shorten my name. My other nickname is “AAA,” because my initials are all A. In scouts, I’m a tenderfoot.
Cynthia Martin, I’m the Assistant Soutmaster. I go by “Cindy.”
Tommy Cheung, 13. Treasure Village Montessori, 8th grade. I’m a scout. TC? — I don’t have a nickname.
Zachary Woltanski, 14, 8th grade at TVM, no nickname. Some teachers call me Mr. Woltanski or Zach. Tenderfoot.
Jordan Lubis, 13, 8th grade at TVM, Tenderfoot. A lot of kids call me “Genius Jordan.”
Pascal-Rene Zue Weisberger, 13 years old. Treasure Village, 8th grade. Pascal’s my nickname, I guess. I’m 1st class.
Ariel Poholek. Assistant Scoutmaster. “Ari.”
The troop was sure to include its absent members:
Devyn Nason, who’s a Life Scout. He’s 16 years old and in the 11th grade at Coral Shores.
Adrian Peterson, 15. He’s an 8th grader at Treasure Village. He’s a 2nd class scout.
Mike Donovan, Scoutmaster.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Micah: Think, “Nope!’”
Ethyn: I sit up in bed and make sure I wake up before I stand up. Because if I stand up too tired, I feel like I’m about to fall back over.
Aidan: I wake up and typically I snooze my alarm a million times. When I get up for real, I get up and get cereal and get up for school.
What’s your favorite food?
Jordan: Rice. Just rice. I eat it every day. In my Asian family tradition, if you haven’t eaten rice that day, you haven’t eaten at all.
Cindy: Do desserts count? Yeah? Chocolate pudding pie.
Micah: My favorite food is a cheeseburger. I love cheeseburgers, especially with pickles. I love a nice grilled cheeseburger. Melt that cheese on just right.
What’s your idea of a perfect day?
Zachary: Not go to school. That’s the only requirement for it to be a perfect day.
Ethyn: Really, a perfect day is if it’s cool enough outside so I can step outside without sweating. Me not sweating half to death just standing there.
Micah: A perfect day would be waking up nice, taking a nice warm shower, having pancakes or Cinnabons with my mom, have a nice breeze outside, go to school, and have a really easy day.
What’s your favorite thing about being a scout?
Ethyn: My favorite thing about being a scout is being able to do activities you wouldn’t normally be able to do on a normal day. I never camped before scouts, hiked before scouts. I wouldn’t be active without scouts. And, I wouldn’t have very many friends without scouts. This is most of my friend group. A lot of my friends are right here.
Micah: Family. Also, what I love about scouts is when I go camping, I wake up early and love to see the nice fresh breeze. The air smells so good. I like cooking outdoors, hiking sometimes — as long as it’s not really long.
Aidan: My favorite part of scouts is going on camping trips with these guys ’cause they’re very fun to be around. We always joke. It’s a lot of fun for me. I feel like these are some of my greatest friends.
What’s the most challenging thing you’ve learned to do as a scout?
Micah: Knot tying – that was the worst thing. When you get it wrong, you just have to untie it. Every time, I just untie it.
Cindy: It’s my hardest thing too.
Zachary: The amount of time it takes up, I guess. Because I have a lot of homework sometimes.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
Micah: I learned the scout ways. I learned never to leave a friend behind.
Brian: I’ve learned a ton of lessons. I’ve made a lot of true friends. I’ve learned about family and tying knots. I couldn’t say one specific thing, but I’ve learned a lot of morals and good rules.
Ethyn: Through scouts, I’ve learned to trust other people. It was hard for me to trust people before; now I trust people. I know I can trust people.”
Pascal: I like camping and outdoors a lot more. I can do more than I thought I could.
What does it mean to be a good citizen?
Aidan: Helping local communities, fundraisers to help people. A mixture of a ton of different things that all help. And we’re not old enough, but eventually we can get jobs to help people.
Tommy: God’s kitchen – we serve food to people in need.
Pascal: It includes being loyal to our country. The responsibilities that a citizen has like paying taxes, voting during elections and helping out in your community. Taking care of the environment around you.
Ethyn: A good citizen contributes to society, does responsibilities and obligations. Respects everyone’s political beliefs.
What badge are you most proud of earning?
Zachary: Probably the nature one because it had a lot of prerequisites that went along with it, that made it a hard badge.
Jordan: Rifle merit badge. At the beginning it was challenging, but then I learned to aim better.
Ethyn: Small boat sailing because I learned how to save a man overboard.
What makes you feel thankful?
Zachary: Thinking about all the things we have. People in the other (parts of the) world don’t have what we do.
Tommy: My family.
Jordan: Family, friends, personal possessions.
What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
Micah: I’m thankful for my family. I get to spend my baby brother’s first Thanksgiving with him and see my great grandparents. They’ll see him for the first time in New Hampshire, my dad’s hometown.
Pascal: To me, Thanksgiving means being able to spend time with family and see family and friends you don’t see very often. And being grateful for what you have and not taking everything you have for granted.
FINISH THESE SENTENCES …
Being a scout is …
Aidan: Being honest and truthful.
Pascal: Being respectful of others.
Brian: Being a Scout is a pleasure and an opportunity to learn and make friends.
My next badge will be …
Pascal: Dog care.
Aidan: Reading or sailing.
Brian: This isn’t realistic, but I really want it. Shotgun.
The Keys are …
Pascal: A beautiful place to live .
Micah: A small town that helps other people. My family runs Tower Pizza, and we opened right after Irma to help people. I like that.
Aidan: Going underwater. I believe the Keys is very valuable and biodiverse ecosystem. One of the best things about living here is just seeing the ecosystem itself. Most people come for the good weather but the ecosystem is incredible.
Helping others is ….
Ethyn: A pleasure.
Aidan: There’s a term in Scouts: ‘Do a good turn daily.’ It means, keep it in your mind to help people. The reason to help people is to spread kindness because it’s kind of infectious, and if you give it, they might want to spread it.
