I was eight and in it for the camping, I’m twenty now and in it for World Scouting

 I remember rushing home after school in September of 2001 after Pack 1465 recruiters joined us for lunch at Holmsley Elementary and they somehow convinced my eight year old self that I needed to be in scouting and now, years later, I am 20 years old and still active with the Boy Scouts of America.

Howdy, my name is Gus Sanchez, I am an Eagle Scout from Troop 901 in the Big Cypress District of the Sam Houston Area Council. I graduated from Langham Creek High School in 2012 and currently a junior at Texas A&M University, majoring in Animal Science with an International Development in Agriculture minor. Throughout high school I was involved in various extracurricular activities, which turned into a habit that carried into my college career. In the future I hope to work with International Agriculture policy and face one of the today's growing issues; ending world hunger. Besides my passion for agriculture, scouting is another passion that seemed to find its way back into my life. Growing up I was an active scout up to the age of 18 serving in many leadership roles at the local troop level from Patrol Leader and Quartermaster to serving as my troop’s Senior Patrol Leader several times. I could recite several Order of the Arrow ceremonies in my sleep and participated in many OA events. After obtaining my Eagle in 2011 I thought that chapter in my life was closed until my kids were old enough to be scouts, but I was wrong. After taking a couple months off to settle into the college life I received an unexpected phone call asking if I was interested in coming back to serve as the 3^rd Assistant Scout Master for Troop D-338, one of the SHAC National Jamboree Contingents. After that incredible experience I knew I needed to find my way back into scouting. A couple days after National Jamboree I interviewed for a position on the Bid Team for the 2016 Interamerican Region (IAR) Scout Conference & Youth Forum to be held in Houston Texas and three months later I traveled to Buenos Aires Argentina as one of the BSA Youth Delegates and came back with the winning bid. I am currently playing an active role in the development process for the next IAR YF and Scout Conference. My international experience continued during the Interamerican Leadership Training at Camp Strake in December 2013 and now in 15 short days I will be traveling to Slovenia for the 12^th World Scout Youth Forum & 40^th World Scout Conference.

World Scouting… one of those things that was unheard of to me growing up, and it wasn’t until I was standing in a crowd of 300+ scouts from all over our region singing/screaming scout songs in uttermost enjoyment that I learned scouting was live and well in all parts of the world. WOSM (World Organization of the Scout Movement) composed of 162 countries each with their own NSO (National Scout Organization). Here in the US, Boy Scouts of America is our NSO. Each NSO is also grouped into one of the six regions in WOSM, African Region, Arab Region, Asia-Pacific Region, Eurasia Region, European Region and the Interamerican Region. Each has their own conferences that all lead up to the World Scout Conference which we will be attending. BSA is apart of the Interamerican Region (IAR). IAR includes Canada and Chile and all the counties in-between totaling at 34 NSO’s. We have a regional office in Panama City, Panama, which governs our region. IAR host several regional scouting events besides the IAR Conference and Youth Forum like the IAR JamCam that will be held in Ecuador in 2017 and the IAR Scout Moot in 2017 in Peru.

After my experience in IAR scouting I’ve made several close friends, some of which I will be seeing Slovenia soon. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I am incredibly honored to be representing BSA at the world level. For the next couple days before our departure for this incredible scout experience, our delegation of 4 other extraordinary scouters from throughout our nation will each be posting their introductions/Bios with some fun international scout facts to help catch you up with the international scout events and terms. Feel free to comment with question and please continue to follow/share our journey throughout the next couple weeks. 

Yours in International Scouting,

Gus Sanchez