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Vic Shelburne Ph.D. \u201988<\/b><\/p>\n
Scoutmaster Extraordinaire<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> By\u00a0Amber Hradec \u201922<\/b> Eleven days of backpacking in the New Mexico Rocky Mountains. Fifty miles of rubber kayaking on the New River in West Virginia. Cold-weather camping in Minnesota. All of these adventures are just a small part of Vic Shelburne\u2019s role as scoutmaster of Clemson-based Troop 235. Shelburne\u2019s impact has been much more than that of an organizer. His passion for Scouting has created a community of people who look up to him as a role model.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> In addition to his many other awards, like District Awards of Merit, Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, Silver Beaver and four-time Scoutmaster of the Year, Shelburne was recently honored for his many years of service. He received letters of recognition from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Congressman Jeff Duncan and U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott. One extra special part of the ceremony was a professionally printed book of letters and photos from former Scouts and leaders who know Shelburne. The book was in honor of Shelburne\u2019s own tradition of creating a personalized slideshow and photo album of every single newly ranked Eagle Scout. And Troop 235 has produced 231 Eagle Scouts under Shelburne\u2019s leadership.
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\nVic Shelburne Ph.D. \u201988, professor emeritus of forestry, has been active in Boy Scouts of America since joining in 1963 and achieving his Eagle Scout rank in 1970. As scoutmaster of Troop 235, Shelburne coordinates all the activities of the volunteers and older Scouts and leads Scouts during meetings, service projects and campouts. With a troop of about 55 to 60 Scouts, they do one major outing per month, one service project per month and a major high-adventure trip every year.
\nHowever, Shelburne\u2019s impact has been much more than that of an organizer. His passion for Scouting has created a community of people who look up to him as a role model.
\n\u201cVic truly cares about each Scout in the troop,\u201d says Robert Williamson, professor emeritus of environmental engineering and earth sciences and assistant scoutmaster of Troop 235. Williamson has known Shelburne since 1980 and began volunteering when his own son was a Scout more than 35 years ago. \u201cHe inspires the adults who work with him, and he has something akin to parental pride as Scouts leave the program and take their place as leaders in society.\u201d
\nShelburne says he has stayed involved with Boy Scouts for so long because \u201cScouting is grounded in the outdoors. My enjoyment in being outdoors and sharing it with youth is the driving force.\u201d He also takes his role very seriously because he values the impact being a Scout can have on a young individual. He says, \u201cScouting teaches Scouts to challenge themselves, to successfully work with others, to be prepared, to build character and leadership, and to foster citizenship.\u201d Above all, Shelburne believes \u201cpersistence\u201d is one of the most valuable lessons.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nBo Crader, a current leader in the Cub Scout Pack 235, affiliated with Troop 235, both of which are sponsored by Fort Hill Presbyterian Church in Clemson, gained Eagle Scout ranking under Shelburne\u2019s leadership. \u201cI am one of hundreds of Eagle Scouts who were encouraged, challenged and inspired by Vic,\u201d he says.
\nCrader also says that \u201cthe most significant aspect of Vic\u2019s leadership is his commitment to the success of each Scout.\u201d For example, he makes it a point to memorize everyone\u2019s names the first day he meets them and ensures that no Scout is unable to participate due to a lack of funds. Shelburne\u2019s commitment to Scouts has led to the fulfillment of various projects that help the community. \u201cSimply put, Vic leads by example,\u201d Crader says. \u201cHe sets a high standard for others and continues to be a role model for me, even as an adult.\u201d
\nWhile balancing all of the demands of being a scoutmaster, Shelburne also served as a faculty member of Clemson\u2019s Department of Forestry until he retired in 2012. He taught classes and conducted field research over the years, served as a faculty senator for seven years and in retirement was co-chair of the University Commission on Sustainability. He also co-wrote The Nature of Clemson <\/em>in 2005, a field guide to the natural history of the University.
\n\u201cMy professional forestry career and Scouting \u2018career\u2019 are very much intertwined,\u201d Shelburne says, a statement evidenced by the many Eagle projects he has helped facilitate on campus and in the Clemson community, including building and maintaining trails like the Waldrop Stone Waterfall trail in the Clemson Experimental Forest.
\nForty years of experience as an unpaid volunteer scoutmaster is no easy feat.
\nThe gratitude that floods in from those who know Shelburne and have benefitted from his leadership is immeasurable. \u201cHe has a deep-rooted love for his fellow humans,\u201d says Chip Egan, former dean of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities and an assistant scoutmaster who has known Shelburne for almost four decades. \u201cVic cares about [Scouting], like it provides the core meaning of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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Vic Shelburne Ph.D. \u201988, professor emeritus of forestry, has been active in Boy Scouts of America since joining in 1963 and achieving his Eagle Scout rank in 1970.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":24001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,8,18],"tags":[159,417,419,776,2171],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-24000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumniprofiles","category-my-clemson","category-web-exclusive","tag-alumni","tag-boy-scouts","tag-boys-scouts-of-america","tag-college-of-forestry","tag-outdoors"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/07\/Shelburne_Header-copy.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24000"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=24000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}