Hudson Life Magazine
August 2017
by John Benson
HUDSON — Kindergartners around the nation have a reason to roar now that the Boy Scouts of America introduced the Lion rank, which allows early entry into Cub Scouts.
“It makes sense, kids have a lot of different activities they’re exposed to or available to them nowadays,” said Pack 3322 den leader and Hudson resident Greg Banig.
“Personally, when my son was in kindergarten, he wanted to join Cub Scouts and it just wasn’t an option. You have first-graders and second-graders now that are buried with their activities of soccer, basketball, baseball.
“Giving the kindergartners exposure to Cub Scouts gives us an ability to bring them and their families in earlier and see if it’s something that’s a good fit or activity for them. Really, I think it was time to expand, as it is a family model.”
“Our family already has two boys involved with Cub Scouts,” said Ryan Kowalske, who will be the Lion den leader in 2017-2018.
“With our youngest son starting kindergarten this fall, it’ll be nice to have activities and experiences that they can all share together.”
With kindergartners through fifth-graders being included, Cub Scouts are broken up into different dens, each representing
a grade level – Lions in kindergarten become Tigers in first grade, Wolves in second grade and so on. Overall, the entire Cub Scout experience provides a positive influence on youth and community.
“We do activities such as camping, hiking, shooting of model rockets, fishing derbies and canoeing,” said Banig, whose second-grader son Mason, 7, is in Pack 3322. “Also, we do some charity events. We’ll raise food for homeless shelters around the holidays. We do bell ringing with the Salvation Army.