Everyone has different hobbies, some do sports, others cook. Junior Hugh Adams was introduced to Boy Scouts, now known as Scouts, at 12 years old. Based out of Arden Hills, Minnesota, his troop takes on many volunteer projects ranging from counseling at Greywolf, a one-week leadership camp, to volunteering at Ruby’s Pantry.

In Boy Scouts, one starts unranked and works their way up through the ranks: Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and finally Eagle. Beyond the basic scouting ranks is the Order of the Arrow (OA), which is only for scouts at star and above. Inside troops, there are also ranks from Assistant Patrol Leader (APL) to Patrol Leader (PL) to Assistant Senior Patrol Leader (ASPL) to Senior Patrol Leader (SPL).

“Right now I do stuff with the OA, it’s like the honors society of scouting, it’s not [for] little kids, but rather for people who actually want to be there. So it improves the pool of people that are actually there,” said Adams.

Adams was the Senior Patrol Leader for his troop 9419 and recently stepped down to be the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader. When joining the scouts, Adams always had the preconceived negative bias that it would be filled with little kids who would goof off and waste everyone’s time. His previous bias was erased after reaching the two highest-ranking positions a scout can earn.

“I was not interested at the start, not gonna lie, [but] my dad would make me go,” Adams said, “Only after I did Greywolf, I started wanting to go [to service events].”

For him, the most significant part of community service is the community. A certain number of service hours are needed to rank up in Boys Scouts. In the beginning, most people who showed up to volunteer were “one-timers” who had no commitment or prior knowledge. However, as he moved on and entered the Order of the Arrow (OA) and became more close-knit with the community, the undedicated people were weeded out, and the ones that remained were those who actually wanted to volunteer.

“In the actual service planning in the OA […] I’m not high up on the train of command, like others in my troop, so I kind of just do what I am told [when I am out with the OA], so I kind of just show up with a smile and a can-do attitude.”

Adams encourages others not just to dip their feet into volunteering but actually to get involved and participate more. He shares that the more he worked, the better the experiences became.