Area Cub Scout Tiger pack members enjoy a night of learning, creativity at GPI

Monday, Feb. 7, was a night of snowboarding sharks, pirates and sunken treasure at Graphic Publications, Inc. (GPI) in Millersburg, but this story came not from the headlines, but rather from the imagination of a group of youngsters visiting the publishing company.

Members of Cub Scout Tiger Pack 355 of Holmesville and 350 of Berlin joined together to tour the company, where they learned about how advertising is sold, how the ads are created, and how editorial stories go from note-taking to the front page.

The Tiger scouts visited GPI as part of their obligation to earn a Go See It badge, which rewards the scouts for visiting a communications business to see how it goes about propagating the news.

"One of the main things we want the kids to do is to be very active in their communities," said Matt McFadden, troop master of Pack 355 of Holmesville. "Part of what we do is earn badges, and one of the things the kids must do is visit a business in the communication field. Down the road we will take them to a historical place like the Victorian House."

On their visit, the young Tiger scouts visited both levels of the GPI business, seeing how advertising was sold, where ads are made, how the editorial is written and how it all comes together to create a newspaper.

In addition, the scouts then sat down and put their collective heads together to fashion their own story, created from ideas that they had while sitting in on a brainstorming session. What transpired was a story set on a beach in Florida, that included a superbly crafted submarine, a pirate, a sunken ship complete with hidden treasure and some really rad snowboarding sharks.

While earning a badge for visiting a communications company was foremost on the evening's slate for the scouts, McFadden said that events like this actually serve to promote another important part of what scouting is meant to teach.

"Anytime we get out like this in a different setting than we are used to where we are dealing with people we don't know, it helps the kids to learn to be polite and to interact with adults," said McFadden. "They learn little things like saying thank you and excuse me, and it's all about learning the right way to behave. Scouting is designed to help kids become productive individuals, and there is a lot more to it than just earning a badge."

The scouts make-believe journey ended up on a mock front page, where they made headline news, and each scout took home their very own copy. Read their inventive story now!