Jeffrey Brewer
Hillsdale College has begun offering a new scholarship for members of the Boy Scouts of America.
"We had a very limited amount of money available, so we have only one recipient at this time," said Connie Bricker, Director of Student Financial Aid.
Shannon Van Horn, Director of the President's Club, said the goal is to have a $300,000 endowment, which would provide two half-tuition scholarships, by the end of the 2004-2005 school year.
"I think it's a very realistic goal that we'll have it by the end of the year," Van Horn said "There seems to be quite a bit of interest."
Some friends of the college are former Boy Scouts, she said.
The college has already received two challenge grants from two President's Club members: One in the amount of $100,000 and the other in the amount of $50,000. As of May 30, the college had received over $51,000.
Van Horn wrote in the July 2004 issue of The President's Club that, "Young men whose character and leadership skills have been developed through Scouting will benefit highly from-and excel in-Hillsdale's rigorous and traditional academic environment."
Van Horn said Hillsdale shares the values of the Boy Scouts and appreciates their character and their leadership skills.
Freshman Jeffrey Brewer, an Eagle Scout from Plymouth, Minn., was this year's chosen Boy Scouts scholarship recipient.
18-year-old Brewer joined the Boy Scouts when he was 11. He became an Eagle Scout in April of 2003.
In order to become an Eagle Scout, he had to earn 21 merit badges, hold various positions of responsibility as a Life Scout, and complete an Eagle service project. For his project, Brewer sent 70,000 meals to Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
Brewer, who is interested in government and political science, said he looked at numerous schools before choosing Hillsdale.
"I really like the philosophy of Hillsdale," he said. "A lot of colleges advertised things I wasn't interested in...and Hillsdale seemed like it would give me a good base."
Brewer's father is the missions pastor at a large church in New Hope, Minn. The church supports missions in nearly 40 countries, and Brewer has traveled all over the world with his father to visit the missions their church supports, including ones in China, India, Pakistan, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Germany and England.
Brewer himself is interested in someday working in missions.
"Wherever I go, I'd like to do work internationally," he said.
One of Brewer's friends is sophomore and fellow Eagle Scout Hans Zeiger, founder and president of the Scout Honor Coalition, which, according to its Web site, "is a grassroots network of Americans dedicated to preventing and countering politically correct attacks on the Boy Scouts of America." Zeiger is also the author of the book "Get Off My Honor: the War on the Boy Scouts , " which will be released next April.
Zeiger said Hillsdale already has a number of Eagle Scouts, which he believes is a "good sign."
"I think the Boy Scouts of America are symbolic of what's at stake in preserving traditional morality in America," Zeiger said, citing the values contained within the Scout Oath.
According to a June 28, 2000 article on CNN's Web site, the Supreme Court ruled in June of 2000 that the Boy Scouts were allowed to exclude homosexuals from being troop leaders, based on their "constitutional right of freedom of association and free speech under the First Amendment."
The Boy Scouts exclude homosexuals because they believe that homosexual activity goes against the Scout oath, which calls for members to be "morally straight."
Since then, various organizations, including some chapters of the United Way, have cut funding to the Boy Scouts.
This year, there are nine freshman Eagle Scouts at Hillsdale.