Troop 12, BSA, of St. Luke Lutheran Evangelical Church in Williamsport, will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding at a special reunion and picnic on July 14th at the Eagles Mere Auto and Air Museum located at Merritt Airport between Eagles Mere and Laporte on PA 42. Everyone ever associated with the troop is invited to attend, visit the world-class museums, recognize the troop’s leaders, and share reminiscences and stories with old friends of the wonderful, fun and formative experiences of the scouts over those many years. The event will be hosted by Mark Stitzer, a former Troop 12 Eagle Scout. Information and reservation form is available on the St. Luke Spectrum newsletter, which can be downloaded at http://stlukeweb.com/spectrumcurrent.pdf, on the Troop 12 Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BsaTroop12StLuke/, or by calling the current Scoutmaster, Bill Piotrowski at (570) 321-6600.

The St. Luke Lutheran congregation has continually sponsored Troop 12 since its first charter in July 1918, which predated the organization of the local Scout councils. Pastor Harry W. Miller, J. P. Harley, George W. Stabler, and F. P. Fawcett were among the founding troop committee members, with Harry W. Compton as the first Scoutmaster. The first registered scouts included Carl H. Simon who later became President of the West Branch Council and a noted industrialist and civic leader in Williamsport.

Over the years, the troop has produced 69 Eagle Scouts and served as a formative leadership and outdoor experience for well over a thousand young men. Of the many Eagle Scout and community service projects completed by the troop’s scouts, some notable ones have been the construction of many of the local sections of the Mid State and Tiadaghton Trails in the Tiadaghton State Forest, a suspension footbridge over Kettle Creek on the Loyalsock Trail, the Rider Park pavilion, a pergola structure in Ways Garden, stream stabilization gabions below Heller Dam on Hagermans Run, interpretive nature trail markers for the Waterdale Education Center at the Williamsport Municipal Water Authority, improvements for the exercise area at the SPCA, placement of “no dumping” markers on curbs at storm drains throughout Williamsport area denoting that they discharge to Chesapeake Bay watershed, and numerous landscaping and refurbishment projects at St. Luke Lutheran Church, Pine Street United Methodist Church, and the Catholic Retreat Center in Brookside.

Leadership in the scouting organization and the local community has been a hallmark of the troop which is proud of the many members who have served on the BSA council executive boards, as officers and members of council and district committees, and as leaders of many community and professional organizations and boards of directors. Many troop leaders have been awarded the Silver Beaver Award, which recognizes the highest level of dedication and service to the scouting movement and local community.

Of all the favorite times which troop members fondly remember, the best were attending summer camps at Camp Kline on Pine Creek from 1920 through 1973, and later at Camp Karoondinha on Penns Creek from 1974 to the present. High adventure trips have been the troop’s specialty, especially in the 1970s through 1990s, which included winter overnight backpacking trips in the local state forests and Adirondacks in New York State, canoeing trips on Pine Creek, rock climbing and rappelling on the Loyalsock Trail, climbing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Mount Katahdin in Maine on the Appalachian Trail, biking trips on the Pine Creek Rail Trail, and mountain biking in Loyalsock State Forest. Biannual trips to important historical sites have included the Gettysburg and Antietam National Battlefields, Harpers Ferry West Virginia, and the C&O Canal along the Potomac River. Many innovative outdoor skill and leadership training events have been developed and carried out by its former scouts and leaders at the former Camp Kline High Adventure Base and Camp Karoondinha.