Explorers

Mr. Corder an many ocations stated that he felt extremely fortunate that he was accepted as a member of AT&T Bell Laboratories' Explorer Post 891. That this program became part the foundation for his professional career.

James D. Corder: I must admit that as a youth in High School I had no idea that this program was so unique. I assumed that every youth was in such an organization. Ok, I was in an Engineering Computer Information & Science group while my other friends where in a Law Enforcement, Emergency Medical unit, or such. In fact it came to me as a great surprise that other youth where not involved in computers to the scale that I was.

Many of Mr. Corder's friends where computer buffs, the Apple][ was just being reviled, many had an Apple or a TRS80s.

Mr. Corder has often must commend the Advisor of 891 for he introducing him to an operating system called "cbunix"!

They say that hind sight is 20/20: How true!

Mr. Corder had the rare oppertunity to work with the engineers who were working on the source code to the operating system that would take over the world and is the foundation for the "super-highway" [pre-divestiture]. Moreover, he was playing on the worlds largest computer network.

James D. Corder: I have to admit that I became a Toadie [pet] to many of the AT&T Engineers and some of the DMTS'.

At that time 891 was thought to be one of the 3 best Posts in the Country. At the age of 21 Mr. Corder was asked to become the second non-bell employee Associate Advisor to their mentor program. Mr. Corder felt this was ended an honor!

Explorer President's Association

As a youth in 891 Mr. Corder was introduced into the Explorer President's Association. Unfortunately, by this time he was 19 and he had no idea that this world had even existed. The youth leadership of the program was not limited to the unit level but went all the way up to National. Mr. Corder was asked to attend an Area Conference. By the age of 20 he was appointed to the Area Cabinet. Moreover, Mr. Corder was also nominated to be one of the voting delegates to the national Conference, where we elect our National Youth President to preside over 2,000,000 Explorers.

Mr. Corder served on the next two National Conference Staffs and one National Olympic Staff.

At the age of 21 Mr. Corder was appointed to the National Protocol Committee. This was the first time he got a look at "fund raising" on such a broad scale. Pepsi donated free soda and a lot of money, while Coke was donating "Bill Cosby" & "Rich Little".

James D. Corder: "We never wanted the CEO of Pepsi to see a Coke Machine nor the VP of Coke to see a Pepsi Machine. Ok, we had to make sure where ever the BigWigs went that "their" machine was in place. We would call ahead so that they could wheel out the one system and in the other. There where many close calls.

This is one of the first times that Mr. Corder got to work with some of America's Millionaires and Billionaires.

Explorer Post Contact Team

In an attempt to increase the numbers of youth within the Exploring Movement, the "Post Contact Team" was developed. The Team would go from Post Meeting to Post Meeting at the various sponsoring institutions and both train and update their Post Program. The Post Contact Team was a huge success.

Explorer Post 369

In the spring of 1994 Mr. Corder wanted a change in his life and left 891.

One Wednesday evening Mr. Corder came home to a number of people awaiting him on his front porch. Three youth and two mothers. Much to his surprise, they wanted Mr. Corder to form his own Post. He gave them an insurmountable task of finding 8 youth and a UNIX system. If they could pull that off Mr. Corder would find the sponsoring institution, Associate Advisors, Meeting Facilities, and Adult Committee.

Two weeks later they had the equipment, youth, and a Post!

Council was called to form a new unit. They asked him who the sponsor was, Mr. Corder said "me:-)~ The Exploring District was not interested. So he stated that he would go to the Boy Scout District instead of the Exploring District to start a new unit. The Exploring District granted a charter.

James D. Corder: I am so proud of our dinky little unit. We are one of the few Posts that I know of that owns its own equipment. All of the computers are owned by us. I have been told that we have over a million dollars of computer equipment [at new value]. Therefore, we do not have to ask our sponsoring institution for the right to use it:-) Moreover, we are the only Post that I know of to have an international monthly newsletter:-)

Mr. Corder has always been taught that a successful Scouting Program has three sides. This triangle is made up of Money, Numbers, & Program. It is Mr. Corder's philosophy that if you achieve the greatest possible program that the money and numbers will find you.

August of 1998 Explorer Post 369 was converted to Venturing Crew 369!



times.
This web site has served pages for Mr. Corder!