For 100 years, they’ve been prepared.

The Boy Scouts of America began 100 years ago today, and the centennial celebration will go on the rest of the year, nationally and locally.

To mark the occasion, the Kenosha News interviewed a number of people in Kenosha County involved in Scouting, some for generations.

Lifelong friendships

John Frost, 55, recalls growing up as a Boy Scout in Kenosha.

“In my generation of Troop 32, there were about 18 Eagle Scouts. We still get together. We were on our 41st annual snowmobile trip last weekend. We started all the Scouts doing this, and we’ve been doing it 41 years.”

As adult Boy Scout leaders, he and his brother camp every month with their troop somewhere.

“I think friends and an interest in outdoor activities keep you involved. It’s a constant learning process, but it’s fun,” Frost said. “I think somebody looking from the outside in and not knowing anything about (Boy Scouts) might think it’s not cool. Some might think it’s too tough and not for them. But then they get into it and find out they love it.”

Staying power

Now an Eagle Scout, Anthony Arcoleo, 16, recalls learning to tie all manner of knots; myriad camping experiences, learning teamwork; becoming a patrol leader; teaching younger Scouts; his high adventure week last summer canoeing Minnesota’s boundary waters. He considers the latter both a high point and one of his biggest achievements so far.

He had a hard time naming his favorite badge among the 41 he holds.

“I liked a lot of them, but the cool thing about them is they got me interested in doing them,” Anthony said. “They’re all just tidbits of each thing. But I got into snowboarding from doing the Snow badge. I got into trap shooting from working on the Rifle and Shotgun badges.”

Over the years, Scouting helped provide Anthony and his father quality time together.

“It’s hard to describe Scouting in a few words because it’s so cumulative, the things that affect you,” Anthony said. “A lot of kids drop out. But I can’t say anything bad about Scouting. You make a lot of friends. Whenever you see another Scout, you know they’re going to be good people. I don’t know what I would have done without Scouting. It really changed me.”

Anthony is one of 35 local Scouts selected by Southeast Wisconsin Council 634 to represent the region in the 100th anniversary jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Va.,

Robert McDowell III, 16, attained Eagle Scout in October 2008.

“It’s really cool looking back at all the things I’ve done and all the friends I’ve made,” he said. “All my friends have known I’ve been a Scout since I was young, and they’re really cool about it. Plus, a lot of my friends are in Scouting. So, nobody makes fun of me or anything like that.”

Generations of Eagle Scouts

Ken Arcoleo, 44, of Trevor, retired as an Air Force pilot in 2007 and now flies for Southwest Airlines. He credits his participation in the Boy Scouts, which included earning Eagle Scout, with preparing him for the career he chose and the life it required.

“Part of the Scout Oath is ‘duty to country.’ That’s something that led me to serving my country,” he said.

Ken’s son, Anthony, earned Eagle Scout in 2009, 26 years after his father and 55 years after his late grandfather, Richard Arcoleo, who died in September, shortly before Anthony earned the ranking.

“Being an Eagle Scout is a real honor. You’re an Eagle Scout for life,” Anthony said.

Anthony now is set on getting elected into the Boy Scouts’ Order of the Arrow.

“My dad was in it, and he made the highest rank, which is really cool,” Anthony said.

Just as Ken’s father got him into Scouting, Ken encouraged Anthony to join. Today, Ken is an assistant Scoutmaster and a merit badge counselor.

Frost was an Eagle Scout along with his three brothers. Today, six of their sons are Eagle Scouts in Troop 544.

That gives them a common bond, Frost said.

“It’s a level of respect between generations. I know what they’re working on, and they know I’ve been there before. So, it’s a common bond in two directions,” he said.

Like Ken Arcoleo, Frost cites the Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared,” as a lifelong guidepost.

“Absolutely. It’s changed my life everyday,” he said, recalling how he used the lifesaving skills he learned in Boy Scouts to aid people both in the water and out of the water over the years.

“I have had times in my business where people got hurt, and I had to use my first-aid skills immediately. I’m still pretty conservation minded, and it’s kind of cool to go to camp and see the trees I planted a million years ago are now full size pine trees,” Frost said.

Challenge and adventure

Bob McDowell, 48, of Kenosha, is a special investigator for an insurance company. He is a commissioner for the Southeast Wisconsin Council’s Gateway District, a merit badge counselor, a Scoutmaster, leader for Venture Crew (boys and girls 14-22 years old), and a Cub Scout pack trainer.

“When I was a kid, I was a Boy Scout in Illinois. I never advanced really far,” Bob said.

Nevertheless, he saw the value of Scouting. His wife Peggy, 55, is an assistant district commissioner, merit badge counselor and Venture Crew leader. Son Robert McDowell III, 16, is an Eagle Scout with five palms, who has earned more than 45 merit badges. Another son Michael, 11, is a 1st Class Scout. Daughter Stormy, 17, is in Venture Crew.

“Boy Scouts is such a great program,” Bob McDowell said. “We met a lot of nice people in Scouts, a lot of families, a lot of kids. We watched the kids grow through the years.

Peggy said she has enjoyed their kids “getting so many wonderful experiences.”

“They are outdoor kids. In this day and age, that’s fabulous — the rock climbing, camping, fishing, canoeing,” she said. “Robert ... went on two high adventures in a month. ... He went scuba diving the year before in the Bahamas. Incredible outdoor experiences. They never would have got that without Scouting.”

Working on merit badges and doing community service to help others forced them “to step out of themselves and see that the world is bigger than them,” Peggy said. “I’m completely, completely proud of them.”

Changing times

“My Scout career as a youth was nothing like it is now,” Bob McDowell said. “That was back in ’75, ’76, ’77. Back then our leader took us out by himself. Six of us would jump in his van and go do something.

“You can’t do that anymore. When we go on an outing, youth protection guidelines require two-deep leadership, two adults. If I have to talk to one of the Scouts for a leadership conference, I have to do it in the same room with the rest of the group present but off to the side.”

Nowadays Scouting competes with virtual reality in the form of cell phones and video games.

“I’ve got these 10-year-olds coming to meetings with cell phones. It blows my mind,” McDowell said. “We make them leave all that stuff at home when we go on campouts. It’s amazing: Kids actually will talk if they don’t have their earphones on.”

Frost said so many new merit badges have been added since he was a Boy Scout that he can’t keep them straight without a list for referral.

“Today, Scouts can earn badges in nuclear science, scuba diving, space exploration, computers, you name it. I don’t know how many there are. New merit badges are added as times change,” he said.

What hasn’t changed is the excitement scouts experience when they earn one, something still fresh in Frost’s mind more than three decades after he earned his last one.