Boy Scout Troop 111 celebrates 3 decades

On April 12, Boy Scout Troop 111 in Kerrville celebrated its 30th anniversary at its headquarters at the OK-3 Ranch near Harper.

Formed with a group of 13 boys, the first meeting of Troop 111 was hosted at Notre Dame Catholic Church in January of 1995.

“The troop had its very first outdoor activity that year, which was a day hike at Lost Maples State Park with 100% attendance,” said former Scoutmaster Robert Collier.

By June, the troop had grown to 26 scouts and eight adults, and hosted its first summer camp at Bear Creek Scout Reservation in Hunt.

“This established a tradition of attending summer camp there every odd numbered year,” Collier said.

In 1996, the troop took its first High Adventure, a four day backpacking trip in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Dell City.

“This included an opportunity to tackle the Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,751 feet,” Collier said.

Troop 111 celebrated its first Eagle Scout in 1998, when Jacob Gold achieved the highest scouting rank.

In 2000, the troop registered its 100th member. By 2009, it would register its 200th member.

An especially noteworthy achievement was when three Boy Scouts from Troop 111 saved the life of their Scoutmaster in 2020.

The boys’ quick thinking helped save the life of Scoutmaster Collier after he developed heat stroke during a summer hike.

Troop 111 Scouts Clayton Gillen, Stephen Chapman and Massone Sirianni were awarded National Awards of Merit by the Boy Scouts for their actions.

As of today, the troop now boasts 96 Eagle Scouts.

“That’s 26% of the scouts who have been members of the troop over the years,” Collier said. “The current national average is at 4%, so we have even more to be proud of.”

Ethan Zobrist will soon become the 97th Eagle Scout for the troop.

“Our 100th Eagle Scout is in the troop at this very moment,” Collier said.

Over the past 30 years, the troop has concluded 1,305 day camps, 1,111 overnight camps, 285 weekend campouts, 30 summer camps, four winter camps, backpacked 450 miles, paddled 1,267 miles in canoes, spent 35 days at sea on sailing excursions and has contributed 15,850 service hours to the community.

The troop has earned the National Quality Unit Award every year from its beginning up to 2011. In 2012, the National Quality Unit Award was replaced with the new Journey to Excellence Award and the troop earned the Silver Award in 2012 for the previous year and subsequently earned the Gold Award each year from 2012 to 2018, and again in 2023.

When the Alamo Area Council introduced the new Baden Powell Award, the troop earned that recognition in 2017, 2022, 2023, and just recently for 2024.

“The story of Troop 111 continues to this day and this minute,” Collier said. “All I can say is, is this cool or what?”

“As future, past and current members of this troop, it is your character that you will be measured against, and it is that character that you develop as part of this program. You don’t even know it and it may not actually show itself quickly,” said Troop 111 Scouter John Harrison.

National NBC News correspondent Morgan Chesky — a Troop 111 alumnus and Eagle Scout — was also in attendance to help celebrate the troop’s achievements.

“In my job, unfortunately I have to meet people sometimes in their worst moments,” Chesky said, “I find that very often, the traits that we learned in Troop 111 are put into practice by Scouts and non-Scouts, and that the world is a better place for it.”

Chesky noted his experience covering the destruction Hurricane Helene left behind in the Tennessee River Valley last year.

“It’s these moments in time where you have to rely on the people next to you, you have to think ahead and try to figure out how you can best help those around you,” he said. “I had an opportunity to fly in on a Blackhawk and be dropped down into a town that was all but cut off as a result of these floodwaters. As we landed in a field near a high school you could see a small mountain of water that had already been dropped off to be delivered to those who had been cut off. Who was handing out the water pallets from one case to the next? A group of Scouts in a familiar shade of khaki. In that moment it hit me that this is why many of us do what we do. To have a chance to make a difference and help others in need.”

Boy Scout Troop 111 is for boy ages 11 to 18. It meets at 6:45 p.m. every Monday at Western Hills Baptist Church, 2010 Goat Creek Road.

For more information, contact the current Troop 111 Scoutmaster Kevin Marquardt at bsatroop111kerrville@gmail.com.

This article was originally published in the April 26, 2025 edition of the Kerrville Daily Times.