“Leave this world a little better than you found it” Lord Baden-Powell

It’s hard to believe that in a matter of two weeks we will be flying halfway around the world to get define what scouting is on a global scale. Needless to say I am so excited to go back to Europe on another scouting adventure.

My name is James Michael Britt, but all of my friends call me Bear. I am an Eagle Scout and Silver Award recipient from Indian Nations Council in Tulsa Oklahoma. I have held many positions in the national Boy Scouts of America (BSA) program and trained future leaders of the region as a staff member of the Inter-American Leadership Training course that was designed to teach Scouts from Canada to the Cape Horn to be the best leaders the world has to offer. Currently I am an Electrical Engineering Major and Cheerleader at Oral Roberts University.

I have been very blessed in my scouting adventures. I have been all over the world, but one of my fondest memories will always be attending Kandersteg International Scout Center (KISC). Kandersteg is the World Centre for the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). The Centre began in 1923 with Lord Baden-Powell, who, after the first World Scout Jamboree, had a dream about a place where all Scouts from all over the world could meet: the Permanent Mini Jamboree.

In 2012 I went to KISC with a contingent from the Sam Houston Area Council, that changed my life forever. It was a two week excursion that can be best described as absolute rigid flexibility. Scouting programs in the United States usually offer an assortment of class based activities. Unlike scouting programs and camps in the United States, Kandersteg gives you a list of options and a timetable, and will let you build your own experience. While I was there I got to go whitewater rafting, climb a six level copes course, see some of the most beautiful places in Europe and experience a wide variety of cultures.  However, the pinnacle of the trip was international night. As with most WOSM activities there was a night that was set apart as an international exchange. It was a night full of fun and fellowship, and for a very brief  two hours all national borders were blurred. We were one group of scouts that wanted nothing more than to do a very simple task, change our world for the betterment of humanity.

Now I hope you are wondering, “How does this help me?” Well, it is my pleasure to tell you that the people that I was privileged to go to Kandersteg with will be going again in the summer of  2015, and I would love to answer any questions about how you might get involved with such an exceptional group of scouts.

It is truly awe inspiring to see scouts from all over the world come together under one purple and white fleur-de-lis. I am so excited to be one of five scouts representing the United States, and I hope that, together we can leave this world a little better than we found it.