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Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.
I woke up in my soaking wet tent to the sound of amazed Boy Scouts. All around me I could hear, “Get out of your tent and look at this!” and, “Wow, that’s amazing!” I opened up my tent and saw water surrounding our campsite. All of the land around us had been flooded except for the small hilltop we were standing on. Everyone was thanking God for the life saving decision our scoutmaster had made the night before.
Earlier that weekend, after a long day of canoeing in the rain on a campout at Village Creek, we came across a large sandy bank with plenty of room for all of our Boy Scout troop’s tents, and everyone thought we had found the perfect spot to park the canoes and set up our campsite. Meanwhile, Mr. David, our Scout Master was rowing across the river. He was only gone for a short time and when he returned, he suggested that we move to a spot across the river to set up our campsite. He realized that we would be in a bad position if the rain caused the river to flood, so we trusted his instincts. As everyone began rowing across the river, it started to rain harder. I don’t think I will ever see it rain as hard as it did at that moment. We set up our campsite on a hill about a hundred yards from the river and tried to fall asleep in our soaked tents.
The next morning dawned with the sun gleaming through every raindrop on our tents. As we stepped out of our tents, we saw that the river was now at the edge of our campsite. All of the land around us had been flooded except for the top of the little hill where we stood. If Mr. David hadn’t thought ahead, as a boy scout should, we would have been in serious trouble.
Mr. David thinks in this way on every campout we go on. This is one of his many traits that I admire and hope to acquire. Mr. David, along with my involvement in Boy Scouts, has been on of the most influential and important parts of my life. I began scouting as a Cub Scout in first grade, and I later moved into Boy Scouts in 2007. I have been in Boy Scout ever since then. I have earned the Boy Scouts of America’s highest Scouting rank of Eagle. I am very proud of being able to reach this goal.
Boy Scouts has had such a large impact on my life mostly because of my scoutmaster. Mr. David was the scoutmaster of our troop for almost the entire time I have been in scouts. Mr. David is a true outdoorsman and has shared his many skills with the scouts in the troop. He became our scoutmaster during a tough time for our troop even with his own sons being nearly finished with scouts. In addition, Mr. David continued his role as the troop’s scoutmaster many years after his sons had left for college. The skills that Mr. David has taught me throughout scouts will be valued for the rest of my life. He has taught me how to be a good leader, how to work with my fellow scouts as a team, how to communicate and interact with people in various situations, and many more.
One example of the way Mr. David impacts my life is the way I apply what he has taught me to working as a team with my group members in projects at school and volunteer activity. Mr. David will help anyone with any of his or her goals, problems, or questions inside and outside of scouting. I have tried to develop Mr. David’s patient cooperation and friendly leadership when I am part of a team.
Another trait of Mr. David that I try to display is his friendliness towards everyone. Mr. David talks to everyone as if they have always been best friends. He seems to view everyone with the same great amount of positive feelings and respect, no matter what kind of relationship he shares with them or how he or she has treated him or others the past. I try to apply this to everybody I meet, including my friends, classmates, leaders, and other scouts.
Mr. David is a great leader, a great scoutmaster and friend to everyone, and has a solution to every situation. I think Mr. David represents every characteristic expected of a Boy Scout and is the perfect example of what he teaches the scouts in his troop to be. Mr. David has had a great impact on the way I try to live my life, and has given me the goal of what kind of person I hope to become in the future. Mr. David has inspired me to make the right decisions in life and use these many skills to produce the best possible outcomes in any situation I face. I have been in many situations where it would be easy to follow the crowd, however, I take great pride in being a leader rather that a follower and not conforming to the standard expectations.
I look forward to see how these lessons will apply to my future life. I see myself using these skills in my experiences as a friend, husband, father, professional, and perhaps a future scout leader.
