Scouts pioneering new invention program for 2025 in St. Joseph

By Cameron Montemayor

Local Scouting America officials and leading experts in science are laying the groundwork for a new program aimed at developing the next generation of scouts as innovators.

Over the last few months, Pony Express Council members and longtime scouts Bill McMurray and Ed Stroud — two well-known community leaders — have been working closely with Rob Duncan, a longtime professor and President’s Distinguished Chair in Physics at the University of Texas Tech, to bring the program to life in St. Joseph next summer at Camp Geiger.

“I’m calling it 21st Century Scouting,” McMurray said with a smile.

Every summer, Scouts from more than a dozen states call Camp Geiger home for multi-week Scouting sessions from June to July in north St. Joseph.

Officials are deep in the early planning stages, which also include Duncan’s wife, Annie, a doctor in aerospace engineering and family practice with experience training medics for U.S. special forces. Benedictine College Physics Chair Ryan Maderak — also the director of its astronomy major — is advising with the creation of the program.

“We’re going to be one of the earliest councils in the country to promote this program,” McMurray said. “We have lots of technical expertise here … and Rob and Annie have given us a generous gift to get the equipment started.”

A $30,000 donation by the Duncans will help provide a variety of equipment that Scouts will operate and learn how to use at Camp Geiger, including resin and 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines and other technology. With close to 50 patents to his name, including a joint patent he and Annie were awarded last month, Rob Duncan has spent the last decade on the national board and as a fellow with the National Academy of Inventors.

“We had a great interest in innovation particularly for military medicine and treating people in rural communities,” Annie Duncan said. “We’ve always been engaged with innovation and helping young people.”

McMurray, Stroud and many others have high hopes for what the program could offer and see it as an opportunity to build upon the well-known and foundational components of Scouting like camping, cooking, nature study, swimming and hiking, among many others. Camp Geiger has already been incorporating areas of focus like electricity, plumping, welding and hydraulics over the years.

Now, camp leaders are determined to take it to the next level.

“I think it could lead to careers and I think it could lead to a lot of excitement at Camp Geiger,” McMurray said. “Even those who don’t become inventors. We’ll learn a lot about teamwork and working together and collaboration and all of these things that we teach.”

Rob Duncan, an Eagle Scout himself who first met McMurray through Scouts when he was a teenager, said the number of potential ideas that could result from development of young innovators in the program is endless. One new inventor, or invention, can have a profound long-term impact on communities and societies.

“There’s no age too young to start encouraging our youth to become involved,” Rob Duncan said. “Maybe we’ll find one inventor in say 500 Scouts … it’s really exciting to see what this can lead to.”

Like a hungry dog on a bone, Rob Duncan hopes the infusion of new technology at their disposal will inspire Scouts and innovators to stay on top of their creations and never abandon an idea.

In addition to the Pony Express Council, the Duncans are working to assist other councils across the region to help establish their own programs, which they hope could be the catalyst that eventually propels Scouts to create their own patents one day like he did.

“If I see an irrigation nozzle for a farmer wondering why the irrigation nozzle plugs up or maybe it’s some type of cover for a hospital gurney. There’s millions of things,” Rob Duncan said. “They can show and kinda convince them of the viability of their design.”

Officials are looking at housing some or all of the technology in a trailer at Camp Geiger that can be used during summer camp but also throughout the district for use during other seasons.

“We’ve got probably 25 different merit badges that touch within that innovation side. So it automatically is checking the boxes on several things that kids aren’t even working on right at the moment,” Stroud said.

Registration for 2025 Camp Geiger summer camps will last through the fall and is required for those looking to participate. Additional Scouting events will take place in September and October, including a Camporee event at Rosecrans that focuses on aviation.

As excited as he is to see the program spark a passion for innovation, Stroud also sees the program as a tremendous opportunity long-term to benefit St. Joseph and the workforce for local industries and trades like agriculture, medicine and engineering.

“Many businesses in our communities support us already, but I think now this is a piece that helps support them to be able to get kids at a young age learning things that they’ll need in these businesses in the community, Stroud said. “Our vision and Dr. Rob Duncan’s vision is much, much greater than that.”

More information on Scouting America, Pony Express Council and how to register can be found at ponyexpressbsa.org or by calling the local scout office at (816) 233-1351.