Re: When is a "clic" a "clic"?
(no name) ((no email))
Sun, 11 Feb 1996 22:01:32 -0700
Mike, opps your references are not quite correct regarding the Award of
Merit (maybe out of date?) The 1994 printing of the application states
regarding professionals:
"A professional Scouter may not receive this award based on professional
service. However, a professional Scouter who also serves as a volunteer
Scouter may be eligible, based on volunteer service.
Greg, I have some bad news for you if you hope to break up the clic.
(Maybe you can get the COR - see related discussion to make a change :-)
The Advancement Policies and Procesures Committee Guide (1995 printing of
1994 edition) states teh following about the procedure to the District
Award of Merit:
"1. Annually, the district and Exploring chairmen will appoint an Award of
Merit committee of not more than five persons, who will consider all
district or Exploring division candidates and make their recommendations.
The committee's term of office shall be for one year from the date of
appointment."
In our district we try very hard to get the nominations from all scouters.
IN a rural area, it is hard to know what someone an hour's drive away is
doing with scouting locally. I guess we are fortunate in our area, we
sometimes have to catch ourselves to make sure we do not go too far in the
other direction.
An example this year. There was four of us at the meeting where we
decided on the District Awards of Merit. My wife was sitting in as a
spectator (she was not nominated). I think she wanted to sit in because
she wanted me to say some good words about one of the people nominated that
she wanted to see get the award. I did not have to, one of the other
committee members who is geographly closer, made the recommendations.
After we had looked over the nomination forms and letters we request from
people making nominations we got down to the tough part. We had four
awards to give out and 11 nominations. Beleive me Greg, the decisions are
tough and they can get worse, because people might think it is the clic
thing. We deciede to each vote for six names on the list to try and cut it
down some. On the first vote, four of the poeple got four votes each. We
were done, and my wife was happy, the person she wanted to be selected was
among the four.
Wait, then one of the committee members said, now lets make sure the
decision was politically correct. My wife, who is from Colombia and not
yet able to grasp hidden meanings was suddending thinking, "What does that
mean?" It means, there are decisions that have to be made by the selection
committee, calling them political is probably correct, or at least easy to
do. We do have to consider not only is the person deserving, most of our
nomnees were (many had been nominated in past years), but we have to
consider are the geographics and the make up of our units. It
would not look good to have all receipients from the same town (people
would begin to think clic) you need to remember the cub scout people, they
are easy to over look and very important to the program (since
many people are in cubs only a short while and
then move on to scouts, but some stay and keep doing the cub things), then
there are the unit (district) make up considerations. In our district over
half the units are LDS chartered. If all the Awards went to LDS scouters
or to non-LDS scouters, how would that look to the other group? (Actually
the LDS and non-LDS groups work real well together in our district, if you came
from an area where many LDS units tend to stay out of distirct activities -
usually where there are only a few LDS units, you would not realize that so
many of our units are LDS. But then if you came from Utah, you might be
wondering what I am talking about.)
I could go on, but by now you get the point. You could be darned if you do
or darned if you do not. One or two of the people we selected may not have
been among my top four choices (remember we voted for six) but any of those
six had met the requirements for the award of merit in my mind. The
committee had found four they all liked and to my wife's relief, their
selection was "politically correct".
This is just a peak in to the decision making pocesses used by one
District. I am sure, just about every district out there could be doing
something different. It is up to the people who are appointed by the
District/Division Chairman.
Does it really matter? It is just an award? We had one person start
crying when she relized the person being described was her. Another came
over to thank me after we finished the presentations. He was one who
thought he would never get it because of the clic thing. We like to say
and point out that we are doing for the kids, but lets be real, it is nice
to have a little recognition now and then, particually if you have been
working your tail off for the kids.
I know, I got long again. Last thought, somethings these awards seem
clicish because it almost always seems to be the people who are doing
things at the district level who get them. Actaully, it is usually
(hopefully) the people who are going above and beyond their registered
positions who get the awards. Frequently they do this by running district
events or serving on the district committee, or as a commissionier.
Last comment, Richard Gill, if you are still reading this (I know you are
on Scouts-L) NOMINATE THOSE PEOPLE AGAIN NEXT YEAR!
Chris Haggerty, Sierra Vista, Arizona
Catalina Council (and Cochise District) Advancement Chairman
Instructor Trainer for Water Safety, American Red Cross, Ft Huachuca Station
INTERNET: CHAGGERTY@BPA.ARIZONA.EDU Bitnet: CHAGGERTY@ARIZBPA.BITNET
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
