Our first superlative honor is for growth in Venturing, awarded to a crew member who has most demonstrated improvement in the past year, Please join me in welcoming this year’s winner, Lillian Burke.
Lillian is the last of the Burke sisters who have been involved with our crew almost since its existence. She has been a member for three years and has labored under Christine’s shadow until she left for USC last summer.
Lillian was part of our Sea Base expedition last summer and has been extremely active, not only in our outings but also in leadership.
She volunteered to be chaplain’s aide last summer and did a marvelous job. I will never forget her first devotion out on the beach with 25 youth gathered around her. In December she completed the Venture Leadership Skills Course and impressed the adults with her leadership there. She was elected secretary in March and has done a great job.
Keeping up with 40 plus youth is not easy, nor is keeping in contact with them. She has been extremely reliable, not only in keeping the crew informed but keeping minutes of officers’ meetings, taking attendance at all crew activities, and making shopping lists of groceries for outings, another of the crew secretary’s less popular chores.
Lillian, like Christine, is not the shy retiring type when it comes to opinions. We rarely have to twist her arm about what she thinks about an issue and she is quite willing to jump into a debate in officer meetings.
This year Lillian tried backpacking with us and liked it and will be joining us for our AT expedition in a few weeks. This also has been the year she has started running and now jogs I am told 4 miles per day when she isn’t suffering shin sprints.
One of my greatest pleasures as an Advisor has been watching youth grow. Not physically but emotionally and intellectually, into the fine young men and women they are destined to become. Lillian’s growth in the past year has been just such a treat. She is now an integral part of the crew’s leadership and she deserves some of the credit for our current success.
So I am proud to declare Lillian our 2010 recipient of the Growth in Venturing Award.
Congratulations!