Raymond Boy Scouts forge leadership legacy in community

By Doug Banks

The Raymond Boy Scouts Troop 800 has a rich history of community service and helping kids and young adults build characteristics to become smart and caring people. Through the hard work and dedication of Scoutmaster Mike Nadeau, Assistant Scoutmasters Matt Engleman, Bill Diffenderfer, Troy Potter, and their fellow Scouts, Troop 800 continues to be a place where boys and girls come together with the common interest of making themselves and their community better.

Members of Boy Scouts Troop 800, based in Raymond, 
reach the top of Mount Katahdin during a trip there last
summer. The group meets weekly at the Raymond Village
Community Church in Raymond under the direction of
Scoutmaster Mike Nadeau. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Meeting on Mondays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Raymond Village Community Church, scouts and scoutmasters use the meetings to catch up on how scouts are doing, what current activities they are doing, what community service they are participating in, and to coordinate summer camps and projects to work on in the future. Although the meetings are usually filled with team building and development toward their goals, sometimes the troop goes fishing instead. For instance, at one of their last meetings that took place, the scoutmasters and scouts went to their local pond to spend the evening fishing and enjoying each other’s company.

To join Troop 800, children must be at least 10 years old and currently in the fifth grade and no more than 18 years old.

Mike Nadeau has been the Scoutmaster of Troop 800 since 2020 as well as earning the rank of Eagle Scout in 2012 as a member of Troop 800.

Nadeau says that one of the core pieces of information he and his fellow Scoutmasters try to teach their scouts is leadership.

“We like to consider ourselves a completely scout-led troop,” said Nadeau. “This in-turn lets them experience all kinds of different things as far as: planning their meetings, their outings, what kind of merit badges they want to work on, which summer camp they want to go to. Pretty much everything about their experience, I want them to be able to choose, and they do very well at it.”

The freedom for Scouts to make these decisions has led to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for Troop 800.

“They’re not hesitant to lead themselves in the direction they want to go in terms of what Scouting has to offer,” said Nadeau.

Scout trips which they planned themselves have been to Camp Hinds in Raymond, Mount Katahdin, Gulf Hagas in Northern Maine, Camp Roosevelt in Clifton, the Allagash Wilderness Waterways, and more. Right now, they are planning a three-day backpacking trip across the Presidental Range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and another Scout is planning on attending the annual Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree in West Virginia this July.

The rank of Eagle Scout is one of the most difficult feats to accomplish in the Scouts. According to Northern Star Scouting, since 1912 only around 6 percent of Scouts across the country have earned the Eagle Scout rank, making it only 2 million scouts out of an estimated 110 million.

According to Assistant Scoutmaster Matt Engelman, during his five-plus years being a part of Troop 800, he has attended eight Eagle Scout ceremonies for Troop 800 scouts and two in this year alone. The process to become an Eagle Scout is strenuous, but one of the key factors in becoming an Eagle Scout is completing a community project.

“Their Eagle Scout projects included a kickback wall at the Raymond Elementary School soccer fields,” Nadeau said. “The other scout project completely reworked the whole parking lot for Loon Echo Land Trust in Casco. He trucked in equipment and materials which made it easier for people to go use that kind of property.”

Although a community project is something that a Scout performs to obtain the rank of Eagle Scout, the project the Scout chooses comes from their own personal interests and genuine care about helping their community.

“Most of these scouts have things that are important to them,” Nadeau said. “I have scouts that love sports and scouts that love to be outdoors, and they try to help when it comes time to create an Eagle project.”

Community projects are something Troop 800 has a real passion for. Even if it doesn’t involve working toward an Eagle rank, the Scouts of Troop 800 are dedicated to their community, especially in a tight-knit community like Raymond. For example, recently Troop 800 worked with Camp Hinds, the local Boy Scout Camp in Raymond, on a winter event for the entire district's Boy Scouts. They are also highly active with the churches in Raymond by helping them out with hot suppers, clean-ups, hosting events, and more.

When not working on community events or projects, the scouts work on accomplishing goals as a group and for themselves. Assistant Scoutmaster Matt Engelman says that self-development in Troop 800 is something they take pride in.

“Most of our weekly meetings we will focus on group advancement,” said Engelman. “We try to get outside as much as we can, but we will also work on specific merit badges together, or we’ll learn outdoor skills to get ready for upcoming outings. Recently we’ve been focused on light-weight gear selection, light-weight tent setups to get ready for our backpacking trip. Since this kind of outing will be different for us, we’re wielding skills to get ready for that.”

Troop 800 is always looking for new scouts to join or to meet with individuals who are both interested and take pride in what the scouts can do for a community like Raymond. For more information, contact Scoutmaster Mike Nadeau at mikenadeau800@gmail.com or message Troop 800 on their Facebook at Troop 800 Raymond Maine. <