“I think I was just following in my father and uncle’s footsteps because they used to be in Scouts,” says 11-year-old Keith Dozier at the beginning of the documentary film “Boy Scouts of Harlem,” airing locally on WLIW/Thirteen (New York City) on Saturday, October 2 at 1:30 p.m. “So my goal is to become an Eagle Scout before I get to college…I think I can do it.”

Following the ups and downs of four young Harlem boys, “Boy Scouts” delves into the experiences of city kids who don’t normally experience the woods and other aspects of camp life. Members of Scout Troop 759 head from Harlem to Camp Keowa in Narrowsburg, N.Y., which is over 100 miles away from the pavement and housing complexes in Upper Manhattan.

Dealing with the trials and tribulations of camp as young people, some of the boys, especially Keith, have a hard time adjusting to the sounds of the various “creatures” that call the woods home. As the boys learn to become men, the documentary reminds viewers that, unfortunately, there’s some difficulty in dealing with ethnic minority males growing up in America.

“Every church in Harlem had its own pack and troop,” said Sondra Wheeler, a female scout leader. “And that’s kind of what’s missing right now.”

Wheeler goes on to say that packs and troops in Harlem that are run by women don’t help the boys of uptown too much. “They have women at home, they have women at school, they have women at church and they have women at Boy Scouts,” she said. “They should really have men there taking on these roles.”

Okpoti Sowah is the man teaching and leading many of the neighborhood kids in Scouts. Emigrating from the nation of Ghana in 1961, Sowah joined the Boy Scouts immediately and earned numerous awards and certificates, which still hang proudly in his room. Earning a master’s of science in urban planning from Columbia University, Sowah prides himself on showing local young men the right path to achievement.

It’s the perfect backdrop to once again show the country that the image of Black men and young Black males is distorted in America.

With many Boy Scouts are depicted in the mainstream as good ol’ boys from the suburbs learning how to be brave, “Boy Scouts of Harlem” reminds us that those stories can be found anywhere. It reminds people that the best and worst of preteen, adolescent experiences are universal.

For more info, visit www.harlemscouts.com. For more airdates and times, visit http://harlemscouts.wordpress.com/events.