Eagle Scout & CERT

Citizen Corps would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Robert Taft McConkie who successfully passed his Eagle Scout Board of Review! Taft ‘s service project was centered around the Boy Scout Motto “Be Prepared” and having taken the Community Emergency Response Training, he thought this would be a benefit for Goldey Beacom College, where he attends school and lives. The Board was impressed that it involved emergency training--a perfect fit with the Scout Motto, "Be Prepared”

Taft took on this project and coordinated all efforts with the State CERT team which included recruiting, logistics and support. Prior to the training day, Taft organized a group of seven volunteers to assemble approx. 100, two-pocket, training folders at Delaware Emergency Management Agency in Smyrna (31 July 2007). The folders were used for the Goldey-Beacom CERT training and will be used in other classes throughout the state.

The result was a CERT training day (22 August 2007) for ten College employees (all of whom reside on campus). Taft stated, “while most of these employees had received basic first aid and fire safety training, preparation for natural or man-made disasters of a larger scale, such as a hurricane or terrorist attack, had not been provided. CERT provided each participant with a backpack of supplies (gloves, mask, flashlight, whistle, radio, etc.) to be kept on hand for emergency use and training in triage, disaster preparedness, terrorism, cribbing, weather disasters, search and rescue, and utility safety.”

A few weeks after the CERT training, Taft noted “we had a shooting incident on campus, it was a vivid reminder that awful, unexpected events can and do happen, and that it is critical, as Scouts know, to “be prepared.”