Jeff Spencer, the Scout Executive of the Chester County Council, Boy Scouts of America, spoke with VISTA Today about growing up in the 1970s in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, where he assumed that the Steelers’ were supposed to win the Super Bowl every year and where he became enamored of the outdoors and the different adventures he would go on with the Boy Scouts.

Spencer further discussed how much Scouting did for him when he was young, the path that led him into a career with the Boy Scouts, what drew him to Chester County, and all the exciting opportunities that lie on the horizon for the local Scout council.

Where were you born and where did you grow up, Jeff?

I was born the oldest of two children and spent the first six months of my life in Erie, Pennsylvania. My dad took a new job, so we moved to Pleasant Hills, a small suburb of Pittsburgh, where my mom had grown up. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents there. In fact, my parents still live in that same house we moved into in the summer of 1969.

What did your parents do for a living?

Up until I was born, my mom was a high school English teacher. She stopped teaching to raise my sister and me. When we started middle school, she went to work for the local library, and she worked there for over twenty years.

After his service in the Air Force after college, my dad started out in banking at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh and then became a data systems analyst for Rockwell International, for fifteen years.   He actually ended up working in a similar role Mellon Bank before he retired.

What kind of memories do you have of growing up in Pleasant Hills?

I have a lot of great memories, especially when it came to the ability to play outside all the time with my friends. We had a lot of pickup games – football, basketball, street hockey. We rode our bikes everywhere. Baseball was the structured sport that everyone played, and I played from tee ball to eighth grade.  Soccer was just starting to become organized, and I eventually played on the local travel team.

Did you grow up a Steelers and Pirates fan?

When I grew up in the 1970s, I thought the Steelers were supposed to win the Super Bowl every year.  The Pirates were very good back then, so I had great memories. Willie Stargell was my favorite player. I remember lying in bed listening on the radio as Omar Moreno caught the last out of the 1979 World Series, which was the last time the team won it. They got close in the early 90s but didn’t quite make it.

Are you still a Steelers and Pirates fan?

I’m a big Steelers and Penguins fan. It’s easy to root for them with all their successes. I don’t watch the Pirates as much anymore. They don’t give you much to celebrate, unfortunately.

Did you play any sports in high school?

Growing up, I played in many sports leagues in the community. I played baseball, soccer, and basketball every year. In middle school, I wrestled. In high school, I played a year of freshman football, and was on the tennis team my junior year. Not a lot of kids go from football to tennis. I intended to play football, but it didn’t work out after my coach benched me after missing a game to go on a Scout camping trip.

In the end, I really took to Scouting. It took me out of the suburbs and into the wilderness which I enjoyed.

Was it the outdoors experiences that drew you to Scouting?

Definitely. Being on the river in a canoe, on a trail with a backpack or at summer camp drew me in. The different adventures we went on once a month really appealed. I met a lot of friends, as well as learned how to be a leader. Scouting taught me so much.

Why did you choose Scouts over sports?

It was really something that I enjoyed immensely and got a lot out of. It’s the reason why I do what I do today. What it did for me and so many other people, I can help to share that with many other kids today.

It’s a program that is still proven year after year after it started well over one hundred years ago. Scouting gives young people opportunities to do things they wouldn’t normally do, as well as teaching them positive values at a young age. It equips youth with leadership skills, which helps them to reach their full potential later in life.

What kind of music were you listening to in high school and college?

The same music I’m listening to today – rock and roll! I loved the Beatles growing up and still do today. Their music is timeless. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, there was so much great music being made.

Where did you go to college?

I went to Penn State for my undergraduate degree. My grandmother grew up in State College and went to Penn State. My mother went to Penn State. But there was no pressure from the family to go there. I visited the campus, and it just felt like the place for me. I had a wonderful experience.   I earned my master’s degree in Human Services from Murray State in Kentucky.

Did you adjust to campus life quickly?

I started at Penn State Behrend in Erie, a branch campus, and transferred to Main Campus my sophomore year. I knew a few people from my high school and some from the Behrend campus. I joined Delta Sigma Phi fraternity there and eventually became an officer, being elected to serve as sergeant-at-arms. My fraternity experience, coupled with Scouts, provided great leadership experience.

Looking back, was Penn State a good choice for you?

I am still involved, have maintained those friendships, and have season tickets to the Penn State football games. Penn State is a perfect college-atmosphere experience. It’s unique in the sense that it is in proximity to New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, and Virginia. You get a small-town college experience in the middle of Pennsylvania that you’d have to go other areas of the country to enjoy.

After you graduated from Penn State, who gave you your big breaks and set you on your career path?

Before I went to college, I worked at my Boy Scout Summer Camp – Heritage Reservation in the Allegheny Trails Council. My time on the camp staff was a life-changing experience for me. I met most of my best friends on camp staff, who I still hang out with today, at that camp in the mid-1980s.

My camp director – Ron Gardner – was a very influential guy in my life. We stayed in touch during college, and after college, I worked on camp staff for another summer. From there, I was recruited into Scouting as a profession. He was instrumental in helping me do that. He’s the Scout Executive of the New Birth of Freedom Council in Mechanicsburg and hired me to be their Director of Development for a few years before helping me get my current job here in Chester County.

What do you think Ron saw in you all those years ago?

I think he saw that I was committed and willing to be part of what he wanted to accomplish with the Scouts in terms of building a strong team and organization. He kept giving me leadership opportunities, and I didn’t want to let him down. I would rise to the occasion when he gave me those leadership roles.

Camp staff was my first job. Scouting takes a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old and gives them a lot of responsibility. The Scouts learn to become an adult there while teaching others to do the same. It really tests them, as well as prepares them for more responsibility in life.

How did you find out about this role in Chester County?

We have a report sent weekly from our National Council which outlines opportunities that are available at certain levels in the Scouting profession- Scout executive, high management jobs, etc. I saw the West Chester position was becoming open and they were seeking candidates.

In Scouting, you inform your Scout executive and your regional area director that you’re interested in the job, they will then vet you internally, and put you in front of a selection committee made up of volunteers and board members.

There’s a selection process where they review your records.  From there, they usually select three or four candidates.  There is an informal interview at a reception for all candidates during the evening and then a formal interview the next morning.   I brought my wife Ann with me to reception and I think having her there certainly helped influence their decision to select me.  It was a package deal!

What was it about the Chester County opportunity that drew you in?

There was a lot! Ann and I found the area to be very appealing. I also did a stint in Delaware earlier in my career, and I knew all the great things about Chester County and the region.

There’s something extraordinary about Chester County, a very nice quality of life. There’s a great Scouting community here – good traditions and ample volunteers. With my parents in Pittsburgh, it’s not too far of a drive, so that is very appealing. Plus, I can still go to the Penn State games!

I’m very excited to be in this role. I’m looking forward to being out and about in the county, meeting business leaders in the community and forming relationships. I want to be able to talk with them about Scouting and all the amazing things we are doing for our youth.

You’re six months into the job, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead of you? What are your top priorities?

Funding and completing our PARC project, which is an acronym for Program Activity and Resource Campus. PARC has been in the works for almost ten years. It’s twenty-eight acres on business Route 30 just west of the Exton Square Mall.

I’m very excited about PARC! It’s going to be transformational for our organization. There will be a retail presence with our Outdoor Adventure Store, as well as headquarters for our council operations. We will do different programming there in terms of meeting space indoors, as well as twenty-eight acres outdoors. It’s the perfect place to have training, educational opportunities, physical fitness activities, merit badge work, and so much more. It’s centrally located in Exton, so it’s convenient and accessible to members of the county and beyond.

How much more do you have to go on the fundraising?

I’d like to get to about six million dollars, and we are currently just under five million. We have a lot of lines in the water, and there’s great generosity in this community, so I’m confident we’ll get there. Once people see the opportunities this campus will provide to our youths, in the Scouting family and the community at large, I’m confident they’ll want to be a part of it.

Why should someone consider contributing to the PARC campaign?

The PARC center gives us the ability to change more lives through Scouting. Our current headquarters in West Chester did not allow us to meet our expansion goals. By having PARC, we can attract a lot more interest and get more families involved. By being there, we can allow families to fully see what the Scouting program is all about.

In addition to our traditional programs, we are hoping to expand our Exploring program and attract older youth. Through this program we also want to focus on workforce development by training our members in STEM, skilled trailed, public safety, citizenship, sustainability, and environmental conservation training, as well as financial and business education. We want to prepare them for life. The upside and return on investment will be huge! We are very close in making this a reality in Chester County.

And you just moved Chester County BSA headquarters into the Exton mall!

Yes, we are at a point where we decided that our previous location no longer suited our needs. It was in major disrepair! We had an opportunity that we became aware of through the Exton Area Chamber of Commerce that space was available in the mall. Our temporary space is right near Sears, which includes our new Outdoor Adventure Store, as well as a sewing service for badges to be sewn onto uniforms or your Scout pants hemmed. It’s a very popular service!   I encourage everyone to visit us next time they are at the mall and check us out!

What’s behind girls coming into Scouting?

For the first time in the last year, we’ve opened all of our programs up to girls. In 2018, we began inviting girls into Cub Scouts, to make it available to the whole family, which we discovered was what families desired. Girls can now join the iconic program Scouts BSA, which was previously known as Boy Scouting. It’s been very well received. We have six troops in the county so far, and our goal is to double that before the end of the year. We are hoping to have our first female Eagle Scout soon!

What does Scouts BSA offer that other organizations don’t?

We offer girls the same program that Boy Scouts has offered to boys. All of the leadership, citizenship, preparedness, outdoor education and training, fitness, merit badges, service opportunities – everything that boys were able to experience and take advantage of our programs, now girls can do.

 How’s it going so far?

It’s going well! It’s a new thing to introduce, some are eager to jump in, and others who are hesitant. The more kids who experience it and benefit from it, the more children and young adults we think we’ll have. It’s been the most successful rollout in the Boy Scouts of America to date. I believe the last report noted 77,000 girls enrolled across the country.

Finally, Jeff, What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I went to a professional wood badge course, which is the highest level of training a volunteer can receive in Scouting, and the course director had a great saying. He said, “If it is to be, it’s up to me.”

That concept really resonated with me. It’s on me to accomplish what I want to achieve. At the end of the day, it’s on my shoulders to get something done if I really want to accomplish something.  When times would get tough, I would just say to myself, “it’s on you.” I’ve used that phrase throughout my management career and pass it along to many of our staff members.