Martina Khurana

When it came to attending the week-long Camp Morrison in Idaho as Senior Patrol Leader of his Boy Scout troup, Troup 55, sophomore Rafael Treviño found himself in a sticky situation. Because the camp was rather pricey, Treviño, a Life Scout, had to be creative in finding a way to make the summer trip possible for himself.

“I’ve been going to these camps for about five years,” Treviño said. “Every year, I make it a point to sell Scout Fair Coupon Packs to raise enough money to pay my way to summer camp because the trip typically averages around a thousand dollars.”

Although the trip was a voluntary opportunity, it was a valuable experience for the scouts going. Activities at the camp ranged from hiking to rowing to earning merit badges.

“We go as a troop to the camps,” Treviño said. “In this summer’s instance, we are going to a merit badge camp in Idaho. On the first day we will be rowing and during the rest of the day, scouts go to different classes to work on earning different merit badges.”

Needless to say, Treviño reached and even surpassed his goal for selling coupon packs. These packs contained coupons to a plethora of entertainment, restaurant and shopping locations throughout the city. Treviño described the various tactics he used to try and sell the coupon books.

“Most of my days were spent going door-to-door,” Treviño said. “Other days, I would wait outside Kroger and sell to people as they walked in. I sold 245 books, with each one costing $10. Of that, 40 percent goes toward my account to go to camp. The other 60 percent goes to our council.”

Treviño had been selling the coupon books for several years and found that over time, he developed new and better methods in raising the money. He also described the added benefits that the business aspect of selling books provided.

“Selling so much over the past few years has helped me a lot with my people skills and learning what people like to hear and what they do not like to hear in that area of a business transaction, in essence,” Treviño said. “It has been interesting to see how my spiel for having to sell changes each year, and how each year is better than the last.”