By Sandra Lee
There is no bigger fashion statement than your necker.
Feel free to disagree with me, but it’s true. The necker is more than something you use to keep your neck warm. People can easily make assumptions by the way you do your hair up, what kind of shoes you wear, or judge how wrinkly your uniform looks; but nothing is more inviting than your necker.
Your necker can tell another Scouter where you’re from. This is helpful because if the necker looks special, other scouts might want to trade. It’s one thing to trade badges, woggles, and pins, but it’s so much cooler to trade neckers with another scout and see them representing your scout group. When you start trading neckers, you can understand the sentiment of having a whole drawer dedicated to all the neckers you have from other places and jamborees.
To celebrate the necker, we collected stories from various scouts and shared them on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Here are some of their stories:
Meet Scouter John.
His fondest memories of scouting come from his time as a youth at his first international #Jamboree in Greece (1963). Yep – He’s been scouting for a while.
Professionally, he was an executive consultant for his own business and was Vice President for TELUS International. He is now retired and spends his time advising Rovers in the 180th Pacific Coast Rover Scout Group (Us!). He is passionate about youth development and he thinks about it every single day.
We are extremely lucky to have him to advise us, encourage us, and share his knowledge with us.
This is Scouter Sophie years ago at her first winter camp with her troop.
From this experience, she learnt that you have to dig out snow to lower the ground level and build a wall around your tent to keep you warm at night and learnt that there are snow pegs and sometimes you need to make an X with the pegs so they don’t slide out. They also went to a place nearby to do ice skating on a frozen lake!
Here are Scouter Sam and Vivian all the way out in the Grand Canyon for #WorldScarfDay!
“My Malaysia and Singapore neckerchiefs will always remind me to keep exploring and meeting new friends.” – Scouter Sam
“This Mexican National scarf was given on me by a very special Scouter, Moises Ruvalcaba Ceja. He was our contact for our fourth international service project and went above in beyond in supporting us in our journey to Mexico. This photo was our last day in Mexico and it was an emotional send off – one that I will never forget.
Wearing this scarf reminds me of the mutual respect amongst fellow Scouts around the world that share a unique bond beyond borders, race, ethnicity or culture.” – Scouter Paul Leung
“After being on multiple International Service Projects, I realized that it’s not all about going to new places to meet new people. We travel to other countries to visit our friends who prepare for our arrival and welcome us with open arms.
We may speak different languages, but we interact as if we have known each other all our lives. We may wear different colours around our necks, but we all share something in common – to make this world a better place.
This is something so rare, yet so valuable in the#Scouting movement because our motives align as one. It has continued to open up my eyes that I actually belong to an organization much greater than just in Canada. Instead, it turns out that I belong to a huge family with brothers and sisters that I have across the world.” – Eli Chan (180th Pacific Coast Scout Group Rover President)
To see more posts from #WorldScarfDay, please visit our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages!