Scouting skills pay off for harbor crew members

More than a few Eagle-ranking Boy Scouts and a Gold Award-winning Girl Scout have been among the summer crew members at the Rogers City Harbor. Who are these Eagle Scouts and Gold Award winner? This year, they are Jonathan Brege, Mackenzie Grulke and Rachel Brege. In past years, they were Josh Brege and Dan Larson, who have since moved on. In Girl Scouting, the Gold Award is the highest achievement possible, just like the Eagle Scout rank for Boy Scouting.

Rachel will soon achieve this status. Her project will be the completion of a courtyard landscaping project at St. Ignatius School between the gym area and the school building. Only the late spring weather delayed its completion. Rachel is no novice at harbor crew work. She has held a position in the summer months for three years and will attend Alpena Community College in the fall to begin studies in pharmacy.

LAST WEEK Rachel began organizing the harbor desk, because Harbormaster Ken Rasche is ?kind of messy,? as she put it. ?See these little notes?? she asked as she held up a handful of small sticky notes. ?You can?t throw anything out…?cause these little notes are important,? as she carefully assigned them a spot on the desk. The harbor crew are all part-time employees and average about 35 hours per week, with a schedule that has them working five days on, two off, five days on, three off.

?I love working here,? Rachel said. ?We?re always outside…I don?t like working in a stuffy atmosphere.? Rachel is the daughter of Mike and Sandy Brege of Rogers City and part of a family that has long been active in Scouting. Her siblings are Jane Bielas, Jill Hopp, Ben Brege, and Eagle Scouts Josh and Jonathan Brege. Working at the harbor seems to be a family tradition, as Jill and Josh both worked as harbor crew members in the past as Jonathan continues to this year.

SCOUTING TAUGHT Rachel and the others in her family about service to community and how to get along with others. Lots of girls drop out of scouting when they enter their busy high school years, but Rachel incorporated it in her schedule and persevered to complete the scouting path. Habormaster Ken Rasche said, ?I?m really sorry that Rachel doesn?t have a little brother or sister left in her family,? he said. ?I?m not trying to tell her parents what to do,? he joked, ?but she had an older sister and brother and I don?t know how I missed getting them, but I did,? he said referring to the only two who didn?t work on the crew.

?This family is nothing short of phenomenal ? that?s all I can tell you…and each one is as good as the other. Her brother Jonathan is just amazing. ?I don?t know what it is about these Rogers City kids, but I am amazed at the quality of the young people. They have a work ethic that is second to none; they?re honest, they have integrity, and I don?t really know what the reason is. ?I gotta believe it?s a combination of the churches, the schools and some darn good parents,? Rasche added.

RASCHE SAID the crew can make or break a harbor because they are the first impression for boaters arriving in the community. One businessman to the area, Dick Larson, was so impressed with the crew he made arrangements to give a set of four tickets to a Red Wings game and scoured around to find four more so the entire harbor crew could come together from various Michigan campuses and their homes to meet and enjoy a game together this past season. Jonathan Brege has worked on the crew for about five years. ?I mostly take care of the boaters,? he said. ?We get them whatever they need.? Jonathan said the boaters are beginning to arrive more on the weekends now.

?WE?RE REALLY ambassadors for the city,? Jonathan said, very well aware of the importance of the crew?s influence on visitors. Jonathan built a playground for his Eagle Rank project at St. Ignatius School several years ago. He will be attending Central Michigan University in the fall after two years at Alpena Community College, where he was the commencement speaker and recipient of the prestigious Jesse Besser Award.

Jonathan studies chemistry and plans to work toward a master?s degree with the goal of teaching chemistry at the community college level. This will probably be Jonathan?s last year on the harbor crew as his studies will require some internship programs to obtain his degree, but he?d like to return to this area and perhaps secure a position at ACC in the future.

?I love it around the area, the out-of-doors, and my family,? Jonathan said. He also works at ACE Hardware and manages to schedule the two jobs without conflict. ?I recommend that those in Scouting stick with it,? Jonathan said. ?It can open your life to more opportunities. It helped me with skills such as knot tying, working with people, and first aid.?

MACKENZIE GRULKE, a RCHS graduate this year, is a new member of the harbor crew, but Rasche knows he?ll be able to count on him, with his Eagle rank background. He is the son of Mark and Pam Grulke of Rogers City. Mackenzie completed a new ball field at St. Ignatius School for his Eagle Rank project. After

only three days on the harbor crew job, Mackenzie was happy to report he hadn?t caused any major disasters and that no boats sank on his account. Mackenzie was being broken in on some of the more menial tasks such as painting curbs, power washing walls, closing jobs and paperwork in the office. There were no complaints, and no activities were beneath his dignity.

?I like it a lot. We don?t do the same thing over and over,? Mackenzie said. ?It?s nice to be outside…you see more animals here than you do in the woods.? Mackenzie was fascinated with the variety of seagulls, as well as the fish in the harbor.

THESE SCOUTING graduates have a common thread in that they begin a task and follow it through.

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