Re: (Fwd) Exploring
settummanque, or blackeagle (blkeagle@DYNASTY.NET)
Thu, 27 Nov 1997 23:31:39 -0600
Jan had three questions:
>1. Is there an Exploring List like Scouts-L? Being the computer
>illerate that I am, I do not know where to start looking.
Yes, there is an Exploring list, but I don't know how active it is or who
holds the list presently. Commodore Bruce, can you please help out??
>2. Does anyone out there know of a single gender Post that is
>not career orientated? I'm especially interested in locating an all
>female Post.
You can create an all-female Explorer Post if that's what you are interested
in. This isn't impossible, and it has been done many times before with
regard to Exploring. Single-gender Explorer posts have been created for
Exploring Childcare (when it was a national program emphasis), within female
correctional institutions, and as extensions to Girl Scouting Cadette
programs. Single-gender programs also exist to support several career
fields which have been "traditionally male" such as chemistry, engineering
and electronics.
>3. What type of support does your council provide for the
>non-career Posts at the Cpouncil and District levels?
Support to "non-career" posts at the District/Council level, Jan, depends on
several factors, some or all which you've probably observed within your Council:
*the number of non-career posts (they are called "general-interest",
"varied-interest", or "general posts". This DOES NOT INCLUDE "outdoor",
"high adventure" nor "camp promotions or council promotions" Exploring
units, which are considered part of the Outdoor Cluster, and which is
supposed to be supported nationally through the Outdoor Adventure and
Programs Association (OAPA) ).
OAPA, which has been supported nationally through a series of grants by the
Coleman Corporation and other outdoor-equipment companies over the years,
provide program support to local Councils to share with posts (and those few
Ships) which are chartered with a speciality in one of those areas. Program
support includes representation (up until recently) by youth officers
supported by professional Scouters and a volunteer subcommittee chair to the
National Exploring Committee. This has been laid to rest by National
Executive Board action back in the later 80s to virtually eliminate national
youth reps back downward to the five or so that the Charter and Bylaws say
we should have. This trend is returning, as Sea Exploring, Medical
Exploring and Law and Government Exploring will be gaining national youth
representation to add to the Law Enforcement representation which over the
years never went away....
....I'm drifting from the point here. The point is that there's NO
REPRESENTATION, no national support to "general/varied-interest" posts nor
to "general posts" (which are the mainstay of LDS and other churches that
use Exploring as an extension of their ministries and as a natural
"graduation" for older boys in their Troops).
Generally, the larger the number of Exploring units in your District or
Council with this "speciality", the more support your District or Council is
going to give.
*The level of professional support your Council gives to Exploring. In most
local Councils, there's one or maybe two professionals giving coaching and
administration to Exploring. One of them, either a senior District
Executive, a mid-level District Executive or District Director, or in some
Councils, an Exploring Executive or Director, is the Council's "point
person" for Exploring. He or she is supported by a junior Exploring
Executive in the larger Councils; in smaller ones, or one with less of an
emphasis on Exploring, by a District Executive or in some cases, by a
paraprofessional or a "borrowed executive", a person from some other
corporation being paid by that corporation to lend his or her talents and
strenghts to the local Council and in particular, the Exploring program
within that Council.
The more support, particularily if your "Council staff member for Exploring"
is a middle-level manager (District Director, Exploring Director, or Program
Director with responsibilities for Exploring), the more emphasis that
Exploring will have in your Council and in return, the more support your
Council and it's Districts will give to Exploring
*The level and enthusisam of the volunteers supporting the Exploring efforts
in your Council.....again, the more the better, and the more enthused those
adults are, the better the overall support is going to be
*Finances plays a limited role here....I've seen some Councils that have
thrown money to Exploring have dismal programs, while other Councils that
can't afford to even *buy* training materials for Exploring and have to
borrow them from their Regional Area or from neighboring, well-off Councils
put together some programs that with growth that Exploring brings to the
overall Council program (more youth, more chartered partners, more units,
more potential for increased Council SME/FOS support), do get better with
subsequent years and do get the things that they need to support Exploring
better; and
*The Council's attitude toward Exploring. This is the OVERALL guiding
factor that runs all of those other aspects that I've talked about here, Jan.
If the Council Scout Executive comes from a Council that placed a low
emphasis on Exploring, he or she's going to carry that attitude to the
volunteers in his new Council, and you'll see while the materials come in,
and they have a "Council Exploring Committee" and Council Exploring staff
members, that Exploring receives very little support. So, if you're wanting
to increase your Council's support to Exploring, start with the Council
Scout Executive, because that's where in a most part, the lack of emphasis
stems from. He or she has to be "committed" to at least give Exploring
it's fair shake and to provide the resources needed to make the program work.
But remember, Jan, he or she has an obligation to those program elements
that "are visible and present the best image of the Council and
Scouting"....and in most Councils, that image is of the Boy Scout or the Cub
Scout. As I've told Exploring committees and Explorers all over the
Southeast and Central Regions, the *big key* is in getting Exploring out in
the public, not emphasizing it's connection with Boy Scouting, but rather as
a career enhancer and exciting way to learn about something you
like....whether that is chemstry or the outdoors!
When Exploring "catches on", and there's growth....that's when CEs see the
"potential" that putting money and resources into Exploring can give.
(you didn't ask this question, but here it is anyway:)
4. How do I get that support to Exploring units which are "like mine"?
Share your Exploring successes and failures with other Exploring leaders of
Posts like yours. Don't know any in your Council? Ask your District or
Exploring Executive to put you in touch with others like yours. Meet
together as Posts....particularly if your Posts are in different Districts.
The sheer knowledge that there's "someone else out there like you" can make
dull programs spring to life, especially if both Posts previously have be
just "trolling along". Also, this "cross-District fertization" can do
wonders to the Districts....it will "jump start" your professionals into
remembering that there are THREE major programs that they are supposed to be
administering....
Attend the quarterly Leaders' Exchanges in your Council or District and
share the successes and failures of your Post with others...even those
chemistry or photography units in your Council can offer *something* to your
Post.
Hope this helps!
Settummanque!
(c) 1997 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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