World’s Best: Marcelo Guerra Hahn

Marcelo Guerra Hahn’s memories of Scouting in Uruguay revolve around camping, games and lots of singing and clapping.

“What you hear at campfires here we do there all the time,” he says.

Earning badges, which is so important to many BSA youth, was far less meaningful back home.

“There was an official set of ranks when I was a kid, but very few were following it,” he says. “The advancement was more related to how you moved from one group to the next.”

Hahn’s first BSA involvement was with the Soccer and Scouting pilot program in Chief Seattle Council. He then got involved in training, eventually serving on staff for Wood Badge, National Youth Leadership Training and Interamerican Leadership Training, based on the concepts in Wood Badge that’s run at the Interamerican Region of the World Organization of the Scout Movement level.

That’s not Hahn’s only international involvement: As president of the Interamerican Scout Foundation, he helps raise money to support national Scouting organizations throughout the Americas. He’ll also serve on staff for this summer’s World Scout Jamboree.

“There are very few organizations that have this culture Scouting has that allows you to connect with people from all over the world and understand where they’re coming from,” he says.