Scoumaster's Minute

Thank You for visiting Troop 51 at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church. Troop 51 is a well established troop, originally chartered in 1921. We have been chartered by St. Martin’s since April 2, 1947.

While Scouting to most boys represents fun through camping and other out door experiences, this is not Scouting’s purpose. The purpose of Scouting is best summarized in the BSA Vision Statement:

The Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.

Through this vision Troop 51 seeks to instill character development and leadership training through outdoor activities, such as, camping, hiking, boating and rock climbing. The method we use to achieve this is youth leadership. The boys run the troop. With adult supervision the Scouts themselves are responsible for planning, preparing and participating in troop activities.

If you are looking for a perfect troop however, we are not the place for you. The meetings will be run by the boys and sometimes things don’t go as planned. Senior Scouts are given the responsibility to lead the troop and through their success and failure, true leadership is developed.

Does this mean your child will be let loose in the wilderness? No. Troop 51 has a long tradition of parent participation. We currently have 13 Assistant Scoutmasters to assist the Scoutmaster, as well as an active Troop Committee. Every parent is invited to attend every outing (space permitting) if they wish and all parents are encouraged to join Scouting as a volunteer.

Scouting can be a great adventure for your son. La Mesa and San Diego offer you many choices to join Scouting. Each Troop has a unique character and level of participation. Visiting several troops is important before making a choice.

I sincerely hope that you will make a decision to join Scouting and I believe Troop 51 is a great place to experience Scouting at its best.

Yours in Scouting,


Rich Woolever

Scoutmaster, Troop 51