True Scouting Troop Embraces Special Needs Boys

CONCORD (KPIX) All Boy Scouts recite an oath saying, "On my honor I will do my best." It's a promise this week's Jefferson Award winners have been fulfilling for more than two decades for boys who are often excluded by their peers.

The scouts of Troop 1994 moved into a circle in the falling light of the Concord evening. They fell silent as each raised his hand in the three-fingered Boy Scout salute. Like all troops, they repeated the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. They opened their weekly meeting with a rousing chant. Like many troops, that evening they tackled a building project.

But with Troop 1994, there are small differences.

"We have anywhere from non-verbal to extremely verbal. We have some orthopedic challenges. I would say many of the youth are somewhere on the spectrum for autism," said scoutmaster Sheila Rowntree.

"Since both of us had experience in scouting, we just took that experience and applied it to our new challenges working with the kids," added her husband and co-scoutmaster Dave Rowntree.

The couple started the troop in 1993. Their son and daughter had long outgrown scouting, but when someone told them there was no troop for boys with special needs, they couldn't let the idea go.

"We can do everything any other troop does," explained Dave Rowntree. "We go to camporee. We go to summer camp. We have advancement. We have everything."

Sheila Rowntree nodded. "Our goal when they come into the troop is to give them some skills and some tools so that when they graduate from high school, they can be productive citizens."

It's a formula that's working for Todd Allen's 13-year-old son Mason, who had a rough time in another troop.

"It was just a bad experience," Todd Allen remembered. "Kids were making fun of him and bullying him and they just kind of set him off to the side. It was really a blessing to find this troop because they really welcomed him with open arms and he just fits right in."

Allen described Mason as high-functioning autistic and very bright. In person, the teenager is a smiling blonde who is happy to speak on camera. "In my old troop I didn't make too many friends," he said honestly. "Here I met lots of nice kids and Dave and Sheila and I really like this troop."

Fellow Scout Joshua Hughes, 16, recently made Eagle Scout with his project ot build a gazebo as a reflection spot at a Pleasant Hill Church.

"This is a really loving and caring troop," Hughes said. "I feel like I'm with people that I can trust."

The Rowntrees lead the scouts on long hikes, lake swims, rock climbs, and adventures of all kinds.

Jeff Smith says his 12-year-old son Ben and the others get something they otherwise might not.

"I think it's a good opportunity not only for them, but for all the kids in the troop to feel like they belong, to work together to do things, and to do things that neurologically typical kids do," Smith said.

And seeing the kids rise to the challenge makes the late evenings and long weekends all worth it to the Rowntrees.

They'd like to see more boys join the troop, but they have an even bigger concern: they'd like to retire soon and don't want that to spell the end of Troop 1994. They're looking for someone willing to make the commitment to keep it going. To inquire about getting your son involved, or to explore the leadership opportunity, email the Rowntrees.

"I see kids that possibly could not be successful in a social setting being successful," Sheila Rowntree said. "To me, that's what it's all about."

"To see them when they're 11 or 10 1/2 and see them when they're 18 and see how much they've grown, that's probably the joy that you get out of it," Dave Rowntree added.

So for building a troop where all boys thrive in scouting and life, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Dave and Sheila Rowntree.