Diving into a great partnership

PADI2

Add another name to the lengthy list of partners who help
the BSA deliver a great program to America’s youth: the Professional
Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).

The two organizations made the alliance official last month
in a Memorandum of Mutual Support signed by BSA Chief Scout Executive Robert J.
Mazzuca (right) and PADI Americas Inc. president and CEO Drew Richardson.

Here’s an excerpt from the memorandum:

“BE IT RESOLVED that PADI and BSA
will work cooperatively with each other, within the policies, procedures,
safety guidelines, and regulations of each organization, to establish and
nurture Boy Scout troops and Venturing crews so that boys and young men and
women may grow in character, citizenship, responsibility, and with the personal
fitness necessary to achieve their greatest potential.”

Though the partnership has just begun, the two groups are
hardly strangers. The Scuba BSA program, a controlled introduction to scuba for
Scouts, already requires certification of instructors by one of several diving
organizations, including PADI.

The collaboration will simply allow the BSA to make even
better use of PADI’s resources as it promotes the benefits of scuba to young
men and women in local councils nationwide.

For more information on PADI, click here. For
details on the Scuba BSA program, click here.


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.