Troop 194 is located at Gesu Church, their website is https://www.troop-194.org/
Past Members, gone yet not forgotten
“The West Point of Scouting.”
Founded in 1922, the unit is Detroit’s oldest Scout troop, having served more than 2,500 members in its 98-year history. It has produced a roster of more than 150 Eagle Scouts, a Rhodes Scholar candidate, two graduates of the United States Naval Academy, and a dozen Catholic priests. Today there’s a 500-member alumni association, and almost every one of the unit’s adult leaders was once a Scout in Troop 194.
The elements of success
Part of the troop’s success stems from the strong foundation provided by its chartered organizations. The troop’s first home was St. Cecilia Church, where (as the official troop history tells it), “on a bleak winter evening in February 1922, a prospective Scoutmaster and 22 timid boys assembled in the parish hall to receive from the Boy Scouts of America a charter to organize Troop 194.”
In 1968, the troop moved from St. Cecilia to St. Gregory the Great in the adjacent parish. Today the troop is based at Gesu Church
A second key element in the success of Troop 194 is committed adult leadership. The troop prefers to groom its own leaders rather than recruit adults who are new to the community or unfamiliar with the troop. As as result, almost every one of the current adult leaders was once a Scout in the troop.
“It’s no secret,” says Joe Zwolinski of the approach to recruiting leaders. “We ask the boys to come back as leaders [when they are adults] with the goal that they’ll replace us someday.”
Michael Manthiram is one of six current adult leaders who earned his Eagle Scout rank when he was a Scout with the troop. Following graduation from Michigan State University, he returned to serve the troop as an assistant Scoutmaster and is now the current Scoutmaster.
“Our program hasn’t changed much over the years – because it works,” says Manthiram, who was the troop’s 145th Eagle Scout. “And being involved with Scouting has given these boys a better life.” As evidence, assistant Scoutmaster Joe Zwolinski notes that “more than 90 percent of our [recent] Scouts have gone on to college.”
A third key to the troop’s success is its philosophy that an effective program whose influence leads members to a better life requires a heavy emphasis on personal discipline mixed in with standard Scouting activities.
“We march, drill, and have uniform inspections at our meetings every Thursday,” explains Scoutmaster Dan Mitchell, who was the troop’s Eagle Scout No. 127 and has served as Scoutmaster for the last 16 years. By using this approach,” he notes, “we give the boys discipline, guidance, and goals.”
So dynamic is this emphasis that the troop officially calls itself
“The West Point of Scouting.”
Reference:
Cameron, L. (1999). The Motor City’s Magnus Opus. Retrieved on October 10, 2020, from https://scoutingmagazine.org/issues/9909/a-mcmo.html#:~:text=Founded%20in%201922%2C%20the%20unit,in%20its%2077%2Dyear%20history.&text=%22Troop%20194%20serves%20as%20proof,Council%20Scout%20Executive%20John%20M.
Older Troop 194 website https://sites.google.com/site/troop194detroit/
Gesu Catholic Church
17180 Oak Drive
Detroit, MI 48221
Gesu Catholic School
17139 Oak Drive
Detroit, MI 48221
W. D. Boyce, still concerned with the youth in America, turned his attention to boys in a rural setting, who were unable to attend troop meetings (remember, this is 1910-1911, there weren’t a lot of automobiles like there are today). Correspondence with Baden-Powell yielded information about Powell’s Lone Scout program, designed for just such a scenario. In 1912, W. D. Boyce incorporated the Lone Scouts of America and operated that program successfully through his publishing firm for a number of years. Boyce eventually merged the Lone Scouts with BSA in 1924, bringing 45,000 boys into the BSA program.
The third Silver Buffalo award, the most coveted honor which can be awarded to Scouters, was presented to W. D. Boyce (the first went to Baden-Powell, and the second to the Unknown Scout who assisted Boyce), with the following citation:
“William D. Boyce, publisher, and incorporator of the Boy Scouts of America, who materially helped to finance the movement after turning it over to the present organization. Through his perception and appreciation of the ability of Scouting to imbue the boyhood of the Nation with the spirit, courage, gentleness, good manners, and responsible citizenship, the movement was brought to America and organized on behalf of the boyhood of this country.”
In 1941, a memorial statue to honor the Founder of Scouting was erected near Boyce’s gravesite in Ottawa Avenue Cemetery. The statue, a copy of one standing in front of the Boy Scout Building in Philadelphia at that time, was designed by R. Tait McKenzie and authorized by the Boy Scouts of America. On June 21, 1941, a special dedication ceremony was held at the cemetery as part of the Thirtieth Anniversary of Scouting. The bronze statue, which sits on a granite base, was made possible by the contributions of Ottawa Scouts and thousands of Scouters all over America, former Scouts and adults who were active in Scouting at that time, who gave small sums for the memorial. With the placement of this statue, which I (editor) like to think represents the Unknown Scout, near Boyce’s final resting place, and that symbolically they are now forever together – the man and the boy who helped to start an American movement that has taught millions of boys to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
(NOTE: Reference to the Silver Buffalo information and the quote above are from a commemorative postcard issued June 21, 1941, at the dedication ceremony of the W. D. Boyce Memorial Statue in Ottawa Avenue Cemetery.)
.(nd) W. D. Boyce Council Boys Scouts of America. Retrieved on January 28, 2021, from http://www.wdboyce.org/about-us/wd-boyce-council/73845