Going to the next Jamboree?
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LATEST POSTS
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By BetterWithCheddar · Posted
OP: The OA is an honor society for Scouts, much like NHS is for high school students. A scout must be elected by their troop and then perform a day of service as a sort of initiation (referred to as an "Ordeal"). If your son's troop does not hold a regular OA election, your troop leadership must arrange for one to be held. If they are unsure of where to start, I suggest someone reach out to your local professional (probably a "District Executive") or your Unit Commissioner (an experienced volunteer who acts as a liaison between troops and the District). OA is not intended to replace your son's troop experience. Rather, it's more of an add-on that will allow him to connect with older scouts and enrich his time in Scouting. My own experience with OA as a youth was mainly positive ~ I appreciated the recognition and enjoyed connecting with other older scouts year-round (many of whom I served with on the local council camp staff). Like many Scouting programs, I'm sure his OA experience will greatly depend on 1) the quality of volunteers running the local program and 2) the quality of the Scout families in your area with youth participating in the OA. -
By AwakeEnergyScouter · Posted
Yes. But at the same time, there's no workable alternative. What would really have fixed everything requires time travel. So would holding the perpetrators and enablers all personally accountable. And so on and so on. That's part of the sadness. The size of the problem kept growing for many decades because victims didn't get justice while new ones were created. All that can be done in this very moment is to do everything that still can be, legally speaking, and then "eating bitter" about the cost to today's scouts. If we can bear this with equanimity, we cut off further lashes of undesirable consequences that we bring on ourselves with aggressive reactions to getting what we don't want. If we can just sit on our hands and soothe our hearts, we can let this karma move on through without creating more. That in turn creates the space to build anew. We just have to not get bitter ourselves, while eating it skillfully. -
I couldn’t stand his video or 2 on uniforms since he has at least a few items out of compliance with standards. Plenty do, but they don’t make a video. He also didn’t point out what he had wasn’t standard. -
I'll never be convinced that the modern BSA is any worse than most other youth organizations when it comes to prevention. YPT isn't perfect, and nothing is. But it's still miles ahead of what your local sports, clubs, and other youth orgs are doing. So the idea that the BSA "is still not safe for boys and girls" is unfair. There will never be any youth activity that is completely safe. And I'm fine with the BSA paying for past sins, for the coverups and failures of leadership. But I hate that today's youth and families are paying for it, too. -
When is the crossover? Assuming something like February/March, you have time to try and recruit. Grab some flyers and promotional materials from the BSA Brand Center website, post on social media, get the word out around town and see if you can get some other interested girls and parents on board. If it becomes prohibitive to establish a local troop (not enough interest), the best thing might be to just find the nearest existing troop and get her involved there. I know from parents here that were faced with similar situations they ended up not being willing to go out of town, just because of the added time traveling to meetings. Which my response to that has been, "Driving 20 minutes each way to a weekly meeting with an existing troop is less time than you'll spend if you set up a local troop and are the SM or ASM." I know there is more to it that drive time, and obviously a local troop is preferable where scouts know each other from school. But don't rule out a non-local option, even if just temporarily.
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