This evening we held the last Troop meeting of the scouting year, which corresponds to the school year. Although my Ad Altare Dei scouts received their medals last week, they had yet to receive their religious emblem patches (or pins, for those who had earned the patch earlier with a Cub Scout medal). I presented the emblem patches and pins to them during the meeting, as the last step in their year-long program. (Bruce H. also presented for one scout who completed his religious emblem for the Lutheran Church.)
After the emblems had been awarded, I said some final words inviting those interested in future AAD medals to see me or Mr. Farhat (our religious emblems coordinator), and I was preparing to step aside. However, W — not my son but one of my AAD scouts from this year — stepped up and made a brief speech about all the time I had spent teaching them in the course, and he presented me with the gift pictured above — an icon of St. George, slaying the dragon. The plaque reads “With Appreciation / 2018 Ad Altare Dei Scouts”. I also got a signed card.
This was really cool.
Truly, I wasn’t expecting either the gift or the thank you speech, so I was very touched. I had received the gift of a Swiss Army knife last time, which was also unexpected and very nice. This time, I was just so focused on presenting them their emblems that I didn’t think of anything else.