Council Relations

Very interesting. I will have to look at the draft, but it sounds pretty good.  Our council found the main problem with junior leadership training was the disconnect of what the Scouts learn and pushing the Scoutmasters encouraging them to use they learned. The main problem is the adults simply don’t know or understand what the Scouts are learning, or why. We had some success by requiring our participants’ SMs at end a 3 hour talk on Patrol Method, then they spent another hour discussing the the ticket items their Scouts created, and how they would support their scout in implementing the Scouts ideas.  I believe your GB Experience could do something like that. It’s an opportunity to discuss the process of Patrol method or boy run, the objective goals of the process, and the roles of each party in the process. Giving them a common vision turns them into a team with each member understanding their roles. The teams will need some kind of handbooks for guidance when they run into conflicts after they attend your course. You could make your own handbooks or Guides of course, but consider including the SPL and PL Handbooks because they are easy to access long after LaCaster has moved on.  If you are near Oklahoma, I would love to drive over an observe. I won’t say a word, I promise.😬 Barry

I’ve missed something somewhere, were the board members unit leaders or district leaders? And what is a district rep? Sounds like someone with the clout to take names and kick.....knee caps. Barry

I have been toying with the idea of proposing a learning opportunity for new and seasoned Patrol Leaders, called the Green Bar Leadership Experience, to be held in camp using the outdoors as a classroom and introducing skills-oriented team-building activities. My vision for this is that it would be a pre-NYLT experience and would incorporate a separate--yet simultaneous--experience for Scoutmasters.  This Green Bar Leadership Experience would take place in the spring and last for a day and a half in camp, building on ILST, and paving the way for participation in NYLT. Attendees would be Patrol Leaders and their Scoutmasters. On Saturday morning the PLs would be broken up into Patrols for fun learning activities and, at the same time, Scoutmasters would be taken through an intensive course of instruction in the Patrol Method. Patrols would be asked to cook Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast and would be tasked with planning a fun campfire program for Saturday evening.  The entire weekend would be based on the teachings of William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt and graduates of the experience would earn a special pocket patch incorporating the green bars of a Patrol Leader. I do have a draft proposal and I'd be willing to share via PM, if you like.  So...thoughts? Worth it?

@tripexistence, one more idea for you. Cub scouts is a fun program. Just because you can't find anyone to join now doesn't mean they won't later, after they see how much fun this new scout of yours has. I have a friend that was in a troop in Singapore. They had to go international just to go camping.

So, the last snow was in 2013? The lake isn't even frozen. I am jealous of the dock, though. Our lake in the summer is probably not much warmer than that one in the winter. And it's a lot smaller. I teach scouts to make quinzees and the scouts use them because they are much warmer than tents. We have one winter campout where the quinzees are also warmer than the cabin, just because the cabin leaks like a sieve. Well, that and nobody is allowed to sleep in the cabin.