John Roux was recently appointed as SCOUTS South Africa National IT Coordinator. From joining the Scout Movement as a Cub at 2nd Rondebosch Scout Group in the Western Cape, to many years as a Troop Scouter and now giving back to the Group as Assistant Troop Scouter, John has lived the Scout experience!
“I joined Scouting as a Cub with 2nd Rondebosch and then moved up to Scouts. Scouting helped me quite a lot growing up. It gave me a lot of experience with leadership, both in terms of how to lead as well as how to be lead! I got stuck into various activities in leadership roles and that ended up snowballing into me being a Troop Scouter at 19, and professionally being in an executive role in my 20’s” he explains. “I have so many memories. Some of my favourites include numerous amazing Troop Camps, hikes up Suicide Gorge and in Riviersonderend, gruelingly long days in an amazing multi-day snow hike, caving adventures and some phenomenal weekly meeting where we were given a huge amount of autonomy and responsibility, we flourished and had an amazing time”, he reminisces.
Even though there were lots of other options for him as a young adult in Cape Town, John didn’t hesitate for a moment about joining his Group’s adult volunteer team! “Honestly? I think the biggest thing is a solid group of adults all supporting each other. Many people underestimate the amount of value there is in ensuring that your adult volunteers are having fun together. What keeps you around for a few years is fun, engaging. and impactful work. When you start having shared experiences with others that date back to 70% of your life, those bonds help for sure. But if your adults aren’t having fun and feeling like they are making an impact, you have work to do!
I went into adult leadership within the Group simply because there was a need. My year had 3 solid Scouts being keen to come back after our first year of university and help, and our existing Troop Scouter needed to step down. Being in adult leadership has given me amazing opportunities to hone and practice the leadership and adventure skills I gained as a Scout, as well as to experience things that I definitely wouldn’t have experienced otherwise! It’s always remarkable to me to compare a tenured Scout with a similar aged peer and see just how differently they handle situations. The difference is astounding! I feel incredibly proud of how impactful our Scouts are! I know which one I’d like to have as a kid, that’s for sure!
I think it’s pretty important that children and young people get the opportunity to be part of the Scout Movement. Quite simply, I think it makes them far better humans. There are undoubtedly other amazing ways to also grow as a person, but Scouting gives you a really fun environment where you learn useful skills and takes away the “chore” of learning. We’re not here for fluff, we’re not here for brownie points. We’re here to improve ourselves whilst having fun doing so.”
I feel incredibly proud of how impactful our Scouts are!
Within our current world, people ask if Scouting is still relevant. John knows exactly why. “If you think of Scouting as just being ‘outdoorsy skills’, then I think it’s more relevant now than it was in 1907. But if you realise that Scouting is actually an amazing opportunity for leadership development, and the skills you learn are just a tiny part of that journey. Then I think it’s as important as leadership. I can’t think of a time in human history when strong leaders were not needed.”
When not in Scouting, John is a fractional Chief Technology Officer and Senior Staff Engineer Consultant at RouxtAccess. He brings a vast IT and custom software development expertise to the team and has big plans to enhance our IT infrastructure and services! “Honestly, my main goal is to build a solid tech community in Scouts, to streamline some of our processes, and to modernise some of our systems. For members with limited access to technology, we should ensure that the core things we require from members can be done via a myriad of low-tech options, while at the same time building value add features and services for our members who do have access to technology. We should try our best to use technology to streamline processes, save valuable time and make the work of our volunteers easier.”
To achieve these objectives, John is keen to put together an IT team – community. “I’m actively looking for anyone who can give 30 minutes or more a month. If you’re a developer, a project manager, SRE, data scientist or involved in tech in any other way, please reach out. We would love to put any and all time you’d like to give to good use towards project management, infrastructure optimisation, data analysis and software engineering, and more. If you are keen to join a high impact IT team, respecting your valuable time, pop me an email (john.roux@scouts.org.za), join the discord and get stuck in to making our Scouts systems work for Scouts!”
Even the best leaders have their quirks, and so does our new National IT Coordinator! If you go camping with John, be sure to pack tea! “No rooibos though, just a full box of Ceylon tea!”