From One to Many: Sidney Palomino’s Path to Transforming Young Lives
By Rich Lankford, National Office of Development
At Scouting America, we know that exploration isn’t just about visiting new places. It’s about helping children and youth uncover new perspectives, unlock hidden strengths, discover the world and themselves with purpose, and inspiring a lifetime of service. Sidney Palomino, a passionate leader on the National Cub Committee, began volunteering in high school and has built a life dedicated to serving others and helping to inspire those very moments in future generations.
Mission Trips Spark Love of Serving Others
Sidney first volunteered during a high school mission trip to El Provenir, Guatemala. While other students on the trip headed to the pool or visited tourism sites in their free time, Sidney chose to spend time with children from the local village, reading books in Spanish and forming deep connections. When she realized the community had no access to books of their own or a library, Sidney stepped up. For her senior project, Sidney raised funds to build a library giving village children their own gateway to imagination, education, and exploration.
Since that first trip, Sidney has served on several overseas missions in Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. She has also studied and become fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and several Indigenous languages, including K’iche’, Quechua, Mapudungun, and Tz’utujil while living with host families, working alongside women weavers and immersing herself in traditions that span generations. Sidney helped preserve historical archives with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina and learned to weave traditional textiles in Chile. She’s lived with host families in Brazil, learned from Nobel Peace Prize laureates, and learned to show a deep respect for every culture she has touched.
Personal Challenges Reinforce Lifelong Commitments
Sidney’s journey hasn’t been without challenges: on one return trip to Guatemala, she contracted malaria and later became gravely ill with amoebic dysentery, a dangerous intestinal infection contracted from contaminated water. She was hospitalized in a rural clinic with failing organs and required an emergency blood transfusion, coming close to losing her life but later recovering.
While her malaria and dysentery experiences were terrifying personally, they gave Sidney even greater clarity: what was a rare medical emergency for her was a common threat for the families she had come to love. That realization deepened her commitment to walk alongside vulnerable communities, not as a visitor, but as a partner and advocate.
Not long after, a mudslide devastated the same village where Sidney had helped build a library as a high schooler. The families she had grown close to were displaced, and the land they had lived on for generations was seized; her beloved Guatemalan family had lost everything. That moment reinforced Sidney’s resolve to work in international development and disaster relief, focused on dignity, culture, and long-term impact.
Applying Key Life Lessons to Scouting
Now, Sidney brings that same passion and perspective to Scouting America, where her heart for children continues to shine.
At Challenge Camp, held at Camp Birch operated by Tecumseh Council in Yellow Springs, Ohio, she helps create life-changing experiences for children in foster care and protective services. Many of these young Cub Scouts arrive carrying far more than backpacks—they bring stories of loss, fear, and uncertainty stories no child should ever have to live.
One Cub Scout’s story stood out to Sidney: at just 9 years old, he had lost his mother and his father was incarcerated. He had moved through multiple foster homes, losing his toys, clothes, belongings, and sense of self and security along the way. In a matter of several years, everything in his world was gone—his parents, his home, and the only stability he had ever known. He didn’t feel safe or like there was a place for him in the world. By the time he arrived at camp, the Scout was quiet and withdrawn, carrying invisible wounds.
That’s when another Scout, Sidney’s son, sat beside him and showed him how to make a paracord keychain. It was a small, simple gesture, but when the other child gave the keychain to him, something shifted. For the first time in a long time, the Scout had something that was his. For him, the keychain wasn’t just a craft; it was a symbol of safety, care, and being seen. It marked the beginning of something new.
That Cub Scout is still involved in Scouting America programs. He’s not just surviving anymore; he’s growing and discovering that he’s capable, worthy, and never as alone as he once felt. He’s beginning to believe in a world that can love him back.
Building Strong Future Generations through Scouting
Sidney credits her drive and heart to her mother, an eighth-grade English teacher who poured time into students whom others had overlooked. That example taught Sidney that listening, empathy, and belief in young people can change lives.
Through Scouting, Sidney Palomino is helping to build strong children, teaching them they are brave, that they matter, and that their story is just beginning. Whether she’s guiding Cub Scouts, preserving cultural heritage, or helping a scared child take their first swim, Sidney is always exploring what it means to care, to lead, and to empower.
“I’ve had so many mountaintop experiences in my life,” Sidney says. “Now I want to spend the rest of my life creating those moments for children.”
Because with leaders like Sidney, every child has the chance to explore, grow, and rise.