After 40 years in the Boy Scouts, Stephen Grosskopf was elected president of the Theodore Roosevelt Council of the Boy Scouts of America on July 27.
Grosskopf, a resident of Mineola, said he is honored to be leading the chapter established by former president Theodore Roosevelt.
“A number of our nation’s leaders have said the first test of democracy is that each individual shall have the opportunity to take that position of leadership in the community to which his or her character, ability and ambition entitle them,” Grosskopf said. “Thus, the progress of our country is directly related to the training in leadership we can give our youth. Scouting, time and again, has shown that it helps fill this role.”
Grosskopf, who has been the Scoutmaster of Troop 45 in Mineola for nearly 20 years, has been in scouting for 40 years and held numerous volunteer positions at the Cub, Troop, District and Council level.
Now he is the president of one of the largest councils in North America, representing more than 10,000 members in Nassau County.
As president he will be responsible for senior personnel decisions, strategic planning, crisis managing and ensuring the council’s financial stability.
Grosskopf said the Boy Scouts will continue to sponsor programs that foster ideas of citizenship, self-responsibility and self-esteem for its members in ‘an increasingly challenging world’.
One of his goals, he said, will be to ensure that all young men and women in Nassau County will have the opportunity to be scout — including members of the LGBT community.
The Boy Scouts of America lifted its ban on openly gay leaders and employees on July 27
Grosskopf said he believes the lifting of the ban on LGBT adult leaders and the religious organization provision will eliminate a source of friction in the organization.
“It hopefully puts the issue behind us,” he said. “We cannot keep our heads in the sand, that would be foolish.”
According to the Boy Scouts of America’s website, organizations will still be able to pick their adult leaders and religiously chartered organizations can still use its religious beliefs — including those regarding sexuality — when appointing leaders.
In his eyes, Grosskopf said, the Boy Scouts need to update their approach to meet the needs of its members.
He said he champions STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — initiatives that are in place at the Boy Scout camps in Wading River and Sullivan County and is set to convert a conference room in the council headquarters in Massapequa to a STEM lab featuring a 3D printer. He said the initiatives provide an educational supplement for boys and girls in the program.
Even while Grosskopf is trying to make the Boy Scouts more “progressive,” he said, he will still seek to maintain the moral education that is the foundation of the Boy Scouts program.
He credits the program with giving him leadership skills that he applies as vice president of Colortone Audio Visual in White Plains.
He said he has also seen the program influence his peers as they have entered careers as EMTs, police officers and plumbers because of the merit badges they received as children.
While the merit badges of today include more modern skill sets such as animation and welding, he said, he believes the principles of the Boy Scouts remain the same.
“I’m going to give it my best effort for the sake of the youth in the program and offer the best we can to develop their character,” Grosskopf said. “It’s our mission in life to leave the world in a better place than we came into it and the Boy Scouts is my avenue to do that.”
