{"id":592,"date":"2016-02-29T15:35:22","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T15:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/?p=592"},"modified":"2016-02-29T15:35:22","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T15:35:22","slug":"scouting-provides-confidence-in-midst-of-school-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/?p=592","title":{"rendered":"Scouting provides confidence in midst of school shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pauckex\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As gunshots barked in the crowded school cafeteria, students were quick to dive for cover. They all attempted to move away from the unexpected bullet-laced rage of a 14-year-old transfer student tormented by teasing.<\/p>\n

Everyone, that is, except for one.<\/p>\n

Brent Paucke emerged from under a table. Classmate Kimberly Marchese, 13, was nursing a gun shot wound to her shoulder. Elizabeth Bush, an eighth-grader, leveled her father\u2019s .22 pistol at her own temple saying, \u201cI don\u2019t want to live. I should commit suicide right here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paucke recognized Bush as someone who rode his school bus. He could tell she was close to pulling the trigger, and knew others could be in danger. Paucke advanced, talking to Bush as calmly as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to do this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be like this. It can be better. Just put the gun down and give it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Paucke was approximately five feet from Bush, she allegedly pointed the pistol at him. The principal walked in and told Paucke to move away. Instead, the freshman continued to plead with Bush, who finally put the pistol on the cafeteria floor. Paucke kicked it away from her.<\/p>\n

The scenario played out 15 years ago in Williamsport at what was then called Bishop Neumann. The school has since been renamed St. John Neumann Regional Academy.<\/p>\n

Paucke, a Boy Scout, was honored for his bravery by classmates, school officials and local police. He was named the first winner of Macy\u2019s \u201cGo to the Head of the Parade\u201d contest and was an honorary participant in Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2001. He was also featured in Boys Life magazine, a nationally distributed publication of the Boy Scouts of America.<\/p>\n

While many know that true Scouts try to live by a two-word motto, to \u201cbe prepared,\u201d it is the 12-word Scout Law that helps set the base for the character and leadership backbone that Scouting tries to teach young men. A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Brent tries to live by each point daily, and many of which were on full display 10 years ago in the Bishop Neumann cafeteria.<\/p>\n

A Scout since first grade, Brent\u2019s mother, Debra, was the one who first encouraged him to get involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrent\u2019s father left us when I was still pregnant,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to get Brent around other positive male role models doing manly things. I wound up helping out as a leader for the first several years until Brent moved up into Boy Scouts (from Cub Scouts). The experience had a major impact on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Including on that fateful day in the Bishop Neumann cafeteria. When asked if his Scouting career helped him handle the life-or-death situation at school, Brent admitted it did \u201c110 percent!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt taught me how to be a man, the difference between right and wrong, how to keep calm in any situation and the feeling of doing anything in the world that I wanted to,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gave me the confidence to stand up that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that, he concluded he really didn\u2019t have a choice when it came to intervening in the school shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that if I sat there and did nothing and someone else got hurt, I would regret that for the rest of my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The confidence has helped take him to places he never imagined. Brent was actively involved in the local Scout council\u2019s Order of the Arrow and was a staff member at Camp Karoondinha for several years \u2014 most recently as director of aquatics.<\/p>\n

Brent serves in the U.S. Navy and is stationed in Italy. During his various tours, he has been to China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, the Phillipines, Hawaii, Bahrain and Iraq \u2014 \u201cliterally everywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But for Brent, the journey started with a first step, and Scouting was the perfect springboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cScouting is a way of life that lasts for generations,\u201d he said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t just Boy Scouting. It\u2019s a brotherhood \u2014 a fraternity, if you will \u2014 that gives kids the moral foundation and confidence to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

For information about the Susquehanna Council of the Boy Scouts of America, go to http:\/\/councils.scouting.org\/Council533.aspx<\/a> or contact the council office at (570) 326-5121.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As gunshots barked in the crowded school cafeteria, students were quick to dive for cover. They all attempted to move<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[580,576,577,578,4,579,582,575,581,583],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoors","tag-bishop-neumann","tag-boy-scouts","tag-brent-paucke","tag-elizabeth-bush","tag-featured","tag-kimberly-marchese","tag-school-shooting","tag-scouting","tag-st-john-neumann","tag-tragedy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions\/595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crosshairscommunity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}