Leaderboard

My son took Citizenship in the Community at summer camp, and ... sadly ... they "fulfilled" this requirement by showing the boys a video of a town hall meeting. One of the prerequisites was to do the public meeting visit in advance, so before camp my son and I attended a county school board meeting with him in full Class A uniform. A lot of the boys in the merit badge class at summer camp didn't do that pre-req, but were signed off after watching the video. I was pretty irritated about it. Watching a video is NOT the same as taking the time to go to the meeting and sit through all of the d

I have a bit of a different take. I would say pack the 10 essentials for all trips, unless, as others have said, you're going to a place where a knife or fire starter is prohibited. The reasoning I use is it gets you in the habit of having these things handy. Most, if not all, can stay in your day pack. I'm a counselor for the Hiking merit badge. I do expect the scouts to explain, beyond the 10 essentials, what is needed for a specific hike. If it's hot and water sources aren't plentiful, do you have enough water capacity? What clothing layers and footwear is appropriate? How mu

As long as the paperwork looks good...

Just home from our CoH, which was MC''d by my great-nephew. He was nervous up until the microphone was in his hand, and then proved that he has never in his life met a stranger, or been in a group that he was not able to charm.

Remember, the method is "Leadership Development" you want your scouts to emcee for their troop because that's a safe place to prove their talents. (This applies to adults. One of our SM's first speech ever was at a CoH. He did very well. After I realized that, I encouraged him to share it with our scouts, and I think it helped a lot of them be more able to put themselves front and center.) The amount that an emcee inserts him/herself into the ceremony depends on his/her talents. A really good organizer who is very introverted will get everyone lined up but will say the bare minimum at the

I have been going to Northern Ontario for the last 30 years - we use our own canoes, and equipment. I do not go to N T, but to Lake Superior Provincial Park and/or Pukuskwa National Park. I always go in August because of the less bugs, with the younger scouts. You do get any problems with the older scouts in sports/band in August.

June has the wettest weather and black flies. In my experience fishing is better in July than August. August is drier so less mosquitos. What does your crew like to do? Fishing, 100 mile paddle, camp at a different place every day, moose viewing? To me its the easiest of the HA venues to "roll your own" plenty of outfitters and guidance.

August also happens to be the easiest month to find availability. Troops tend to snap up the June and July dates quickly, but fewer request August. August is hard for some folks because sports practice is starting up and families are getting ready for back to school.

We have found that early August is the best time. After black fly season, and the mosquitoes are calming down. Also the weather and the water is the warmest. We prefer Ely, as the waters and woods are similar to the Canadian side, and there are no daily fees. Dale

A Boy Scout in Corvalis Oregon knew what to do when he saw the collapsed man... https://www.kptv.com/news/boy-scout-uses-cpr-training-to-help-save-a-life/article_51eb31e2-db42-11e9-803d-6fa28bfc5f63.html

The delay maybe be from insurance pricing. Unless BSA is self-insured, we may be unable to get liability insurance in the future. If you were an insurance underwriter for BSA, how much uncertainty would be in your cost algorithms right now? If the liability costs of having men and boys in the woods has ballooned to what the lawyers have trolled up, what are the future costs of having girls in the troops with the 'Me Too!' movement?

Why be sensitive to appearing too highly militaristic? Let's see . . . a British army officer and war hero writes a book "Aids to Scouting", for soliders, and finds that it has become popular with boys. He had observed the poor quality of army recruits, and seen a need for better training for the ordinary youth of the nation. He thinks that scouting as an outdoor game for boys could help them grow into good citizens, and to that end writes "Scouting for Boys", emphasizing that the boys will be "peace scouts" rather than soldiers. Still, some people thought that Boy Scouts might be t