MT. APOKIDS HISTORY
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Facts: |
1. MT. APO KIDS is an acronym which stands for Montgomery Training and
Advancement Program Of Kidapawan Scouts.
2. Mt. Apo is the Philippines' highest mountain at 10,111 ft. ASL where Kidapawan
City is the gateway and where scouters take their venture.
3. Kidapawan City is from a manobo term tida + pawan which means City of
Highland Springs.
4. Montgomery is a family name by the late Lewis Montgomery of Maryland
USA, who went to Mindanao, Philippines in 1960's, manage the Firestone Rubber Plant
and has trained young students to the
world of scouting. SCA Rex N. Toledo was one of the recipient of
training by Lewis. |
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 During the
start of the School Year 2000-2001, SCA Rex N. Toledo, SCA Jovin Salcedo,
RS Joven Cabalum and RS Aries V. Panes- Scouters from
University of Southern
Mindanao- Kidapawan City Campus (USM-KCC), decided to organize a Senior
Scout Outfit coming from the University Laboratory School. The objective was
to train them to represent the University for the Cotabato Council
Jamborette. Thirty-five scouts then submitted for training.
After the Jamborette, despite garnering only two skills contest
awards (all second runner-ups), the USM-KCC Senior Scouts decided to
continue their training, but the advancement lasted only until March. Nobody
re-registered the following School Year.
In SY 2001-2002, the four scouts finally organized the USM-KCC Rover Circle now Mt. Apo Rover Circle.
In August 2001, the advancement program started when the Rover Circle adopted the Kidapawan City Pilot Elementary School Special Education Center (KCPES-SPED)
Boy Scouts as the recipient of their community extension program. After an initial talks with the Principal, Mrs. Emelda J. Victoria and
the School's Institutional Representative, Scouter Juanito B. Mendoza, Jr.,
the Circle was allowed to conduct Advancement Training for Boys Scouts.
Eleven Boy Scouts had their investiture by mid-August. Eleven Senior Scouts
from USM-KCC then re-joined the program.
Sca. Rex N. Toledo, Sca. Jovin Salcedo and RS Aries V. Panes, became the
core group of trainors. Needing some logistics and assistance from other
sources, Sca Rex N. Toledo called up and met with several former Rizal
Scouts (equivalent to Eagle Scout) and co-trainees of the late Lewis Montgomery
and members of the USM-KCC Rover Circle.
After an informal consultation with the Rizal Scouts and
Cotabato Scout Executive Wilfredo B. Granada, the decision to name the program
and to extend it to other neighboring schools was conceived. MT. APO
KIDS became the best choice for a name of the new program. The acronym was
very significant because the program's host city is Kidapawan, and the city
is located at the foot of
Mt. Apo, the
tallest Mountain in the Philippines. The KIDS made it more significant
because all the trainees were residents of the city. After the approval of
the family of the late Lewis Montgomery to use the name, the MT. APO KIDS was born.
MT. APO KIDS trainors are all volunteers. It caters to the
advancement needs of any interested Boy Scout from the City of Kidapawan and
nearby municipalities.
The founders of the organization are quite optimistic that with
their zeal and dedication to the tenets of the Boy Scout Movement, they will
be able in their own little ways to contribute to the development of love
for nature and for work and inculcate in the minds of their trainees the
precept of duty to God and country, to others and to self for a better
Filipino citizen of the next generation. |
