Re: Difficult Crossovers to several troops
Alan Houser (troop24@EMF.NET)
Mon, 22 Mar 1999 10:47:29 -0800
Barry Runnels <barry_c_runnels@MMACMAIL.JCCBI.GOV> wrote (in part):
>Cathy's post got me thinking about some of the crossovers I have seen the
>last
>few years. Many times, the ceremony organizers don't realize the logistics of
>crossing Webelos into several Troops. Their plan is call the Webelos up by
>den,
>shake each Scouts hand and send him over to the Troop. But it's not unusual
>for
>Webelos to wait until the last moment to choice a Troop, so many times Troop
>Leaders have not met the Webelos yet and may not know their name or face. I
>watched one Webelos hold his decision until just 10 minutes before the
>crossover.
I am always apprehensive about bridging time. One year I got a call from
the Cubmaster on Friday that we were to receive 4 New Scouts the next day.
None of the families involved had indicated to us they were going to join
us, and I was caught short with only one neckerchief available to hand out.
Fortunately, the Scout Shop was open on Saturday, I could get there, and
we didn't have a conflicting activity.
Another time, I was told we were receiving three New Scouts, and a fourth
decided just before bridging that he wanted to join us. I had to take off
my own neckerchief as a "loaner." (Eventually, he decided not to join
any troop.)
One year, I got a call from a Cubmaster from a pack we didn't even recruit
from! One of their Webelos had met us at Webelos Woods, liked what he saw,
and decided we were the one. Fortunately, he called a week in advance,
and we were ready for the ceremony.
Nowadays, I always take at least a couple extra neckerchiefs to the ceremony,
but ...
ATTENTION: PACK LEADERS
Please let your troops know as far in advance as possible how many Webelos
will be joining each troop and who they are! It really does help the troop
plan for receiving your Scouts. In a perfect world, the Scoutmaster would
have already received the applications (but not necessarily have turned
them in yet) and done the Scoutmaster conferences.
If the troop uses the New Scout Patrol method, they must identify a Boy
Scout who will mentor them as the Troop Guide. And if that Scout is
involved in another leadership position, there will be ramifications that
spread far beyond the new patrol. Even if the troop does not use the
New Scout Patrol method, they still have to think about how to integrate
the New Scouts into their structure.
For example, when we learned in mid-January that an entire den was bridging
to us in early February, I had a short list of possible Troop Guides which
included a Patrol Leader, the Troop Quartermaster, and the Newsletter Editor.
As it turned out, we needed to combine three older patrols into two anyway,
and my first choice was the Patrol Leader of one of those patrols, so it
worked out OK. Still it took an extra month to resolve finally the new
patrol structure, even with (or perhaps because of) a missing Patrol Leader.
But because we knew they were coming, the New Scout Patrol did not suffer
from our growing pains.
The best year for us was the time a den let us know TWO MONTHS in advance
that seven of their members would join us . We were ready for them and
the transition was almost seamless.
YiS,
Alan R. Houser ** troop24@emf.net
** Scoutmaster, Troop 24, Berkeley, California **
** Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner, Herms District **
** WWW page ** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/t24.html **
