From: Scott Patterson (scottpat@NETDOOR.COM)
Date: Thu Jan 27 2000 - 06:54:49 CST
We started using Adult Patrol Advisors about 2 years ago when the Troop was
only 2 years old at the time.
All of my scouts have now attained the Rank of First Class or Star and I am
now working with the new adult advisors who are coming up from WEBELOS as
they do not need me as much now. Every year we take about 1 or 2 full
WEBELOS Dens into our Troop with leaders in tow! We (the Troop) require
each graduating den to provide at least 2 Adult Leaders to become Assistant
Scoutmasters and they intern become the patrol advisors. This has also
given us a endless supply of new leaders as everyone in the Pack already
know and understands the Troop requirements for its leaders. Our Church CO
has now limited our growth (Room Size) to only members of our Church, Pack
and siblings of scouts.
Each patrol in our troop is assigned 2 adult advisors, so if one can not
make a meeting or campout the other can. The advisors are the ones who sign
off completed rank requirements and provide the extra help to the Troop
Guides who are also assigned to the patrol. The Troop Guides do most of the
instruction and the adults add the needed support.
We found that as our Troop grew in size (Now around 50 scouts) we started to
loose track of who was advancing and who was not, that is the reason we
started the Patrol Advisors program. It really has been a big help in
keeping the meek and mild scouts from falling through the advancement
cracks! This past year we had a 100% reregistration from the previous years
"New Scouts" and all but 4 out of 18 are now First Class (those 4 did not go
to summer camp), and I attribute this to the Adult Patrol Advisors.
Scott Patterson
T-15 Madison, MS
mailto:scottpat@netdoor.com
