Eagle92

Agree with 732. I remember when Scouting for All protested at the council office the national shop I worked at was located. They protested the DALE decision, and the council had a ton of calls. FWIW, A lot of people thought the BSA lost the case until SFA protested the decision.

Prior to DALE, one CO completely dropped the unit because they believed the BSA would lose the case.

Try this website

http://www.stlbsa.org/programs/stem/Pages/STEM.aspx

Look down a little ways and you will see the mentor/counselor guides.

Like jpstodwftexas, Scouting was not a 2nd tier activity and only JROTC surpassed my interest because A)it was remarkably similar to Scouting (in fact for one class to prep for a FX the unit was going on, the topic I had to teach was not very long and I added to the lecture basic outdoor stuff, i.e. more under you than over, clothing in you bag, etc to the class) and 2) IT WAS AN EASY A FOR ME

Once challenge in regards to band and sports at the HS level in some areas is that the "extracurriculars" become part of the curriculum that your grade is based upon.

For example, at my HS the band had morning practices and other activities which were required AND was part of your grade. You miss a bunch of morning practices, concerts, games, etc. and your grade would drop. A friend of mine dropped band completely his senior year b/c of scheduling conflicts that he saw and didn't want to get penalized with lower grades.

As for the various sports, they had it worked out where all the players of a particular sport took PE at the same time. During the season and spring training, the daily practices and games were your PE class, and you had a break to do homework, goof off etc. Once you stopped practicing, then the normal PE classes resumed. Know a few folks who didn't take any formal PE classes b/c they played in multiple sports.

Now club sports is a completely different ball of wax. IMHO they are very costly, coaches are very adamant and demanding about practices, games, and tourneys, etc. When oldest did martial arts, I had some challenges with the instructors b/c we would get information on different tourneys and clinics with 2-3 weeks notice, and when we would tell them we can't do it b/c of prior commitments set several months in advance.

Worse case was a martial arts clinic we found out about a month in advance. We had family we have not seen in several years coming to town that was booked several months in advance so we could not make it and told them so. Apparently after the event, so few from our group attended, the instructors at the next practice chewed everyone out about not attending.

Brew,

When being a DE changes from a passion to a job. When a pro focuses more on getting a raise than having a quality, thriving program. When a pro will do whatever it takes to meet the money and membership goals. When a pro is only focused on being #1 in the area,or region.

Most of the passionate pros I worked with quit. Some became disgusted with the council leadership. Some were under so much stress that they had nervous breakdowns. Some were given choice like I was: Me or the job. I chose the wife. but other did choose the job.

As I mentioned elsewhere. Sometimes very good people get moved to national. And sometimes it seems like they move to national to prevent them form doing more damage. I suspect that was the case with my old SE. BUT the SE who got promoted to SCOUTNET director initially, really screwed up since he had 0 IT background.

I do see the value of Boys' Life as it does promote reading, give the Cubs esp. a "my own magazine" feel, and has some good articles.

Pack does not use it for programing nor pick up the tab for it. The CO use to pay the recharter fees for us, our dues went to advancements and supplies. But now we are paying to it. Has made it challenging.

BEST...EVER...FIRST AID...EVENT... was put on by some USN corpsman stationed at Camp Lejeune. They went all out, and when I was passing by, I thought it was a real accident and was about to go for the medical staff when I was stopped and told that was the event. I was very, stress VERY, impressed.

And I was very ticked off when I was told that people complained that it was too realistic and the council was not going to use them again. BIG MISTAKE.

Sometimes when you are passionate about something, when you have a negative expereince, you can be very negative in regards to those who were part of it.

Worse job ever was being a DE. My SE and DFS didn't live up to the ideals of scouting, and encouraged very questionable practices. If you didn't play along, they made your life hell. Won't go into details, but trust me on it. Let's just say you know a situation is bad when 12 DEs and 2 mid-level execs (FD and FiD)quit in the 2 years you are associated with the council.

Do I let these feeling out, no. they don't need that.

Do I talk about it to my friends, yes.

Did I type a 4 page, single spaced letter to the chairman of the scout executive about my experiences with the DFS when I heard that he was looking to move back to the council, as well as have a 45 minute meeting with him. HECK YES!.

Ok I am coming to BP's defense here. Yes he can be abrupt at times. Yes he can criticize folks at national. And it may seem un-Scoutlike.

BUT, BP has seen the Darkside of Scouting: he was a professional. And some of the folks he worked with or for are currently at national, or recently retired from there. So he has first hand expereince, and "a Scout is trustworthy," so his opinions may be very valid.

I know the SE I worked for went to national eventually. I personally think they promoted him so he wouldn't cause anymore problems. Yes some folks at national do care deeply about Scouting. And unfortunately others think it's just a job.

This thread reminded me of a conversation I had with our Human Resources VP. Someone just out of college was applying for a position at the hospital had a very heavy background in Scouting: Eagle, Vigil, multiple years on camp staff, etc. The VP didn't know exactly what everything scouting related he put on the app was, and was a bit skeptical of some of the accomplishments and responsibilities for someone his age. So he asked me about it.

Reading the resume, I was very impressed and explained some of the stuff to the VP. He still couldn't believe some of the responsibilities and accomplishments for someone who's "just a kid." Had to tell him I had some of the same experiences at that age.

John,

Unfortunately 3 hours of watching a video and putting on an taking off gloves, making a splint, and bagging a tooth in ice gets you a card for first aid in AHA.

Grant you I took FAMB over 5 hours at summer camp, but our instuctor had us talk walks where scenarios were given to us.

OH, and tourniquets are back for lay responders once again. Elevation is now gone though.

Not an ARC instructor, but an AHA one FWIW.

I would hook up with them, BUT talk to the instructor to see if they can avoid the videos as much as possible and do as much hands on stuff as possible.

I used the AHA's Heartsaver First Aid, CPR, AED for Readyman with some minor modifications. It was an all day session with about a 30-45 minute lunch.

SP has some good advice.

I know when I was looking for a DE job, I shadowed my DE, helped do some recruiting, etc.

I was also on the district committee as the OA chapter adviser, so I was doing stuff on the district level.

Good luck.

D,

Yes I see national making the 1972-1979 mistake again, and Green Bar Bill aint here to save us this time around either.

SW,

Your situation sounds like my pack a few years back. CM was a nice guy, but his work took a lot out of him. We had one pack meeting cancelled about 2-3 hours before it was to start.

With our meeting situation, the CM is at 99.99999% of the den meetings b/c all the dens meet at the same time and location. Sometimes a den may have another location to go to, but unless A) the CM has a son in that den, or B) the CM works at the place a den is going to, the CM is at the main location.

When the CM isn't there, others take up the slack. Currently our CC and CM are a great team and one of them is at every meeting. We all pull together.

And that is the key. You need ACMs and MCs willing to help out. And that is the CC's job.

Nike,

I know the pack uses the emails off the apps.

Also there are some new features coming to MYSCOUTING.ORG. One of which is having a member of the key 3 send out calendar updates and emails to everyone in the unit.

If only the correct people would be listed on the roster or listed in their correct position.

Support the SPL's correct decision and keep momma off his back. Agree momma doesn't know scouting.

732,

Sometimes even the copies are not enough!

BP,

It use to be that the 3 best ways of insuring something got delivered were A) bring it yourself to the office, B) send it certified mail, and C) give it to the DE so he drops it off at teh weekly meeting.

While this is a serious problem, this post is in jest, and is to make fun of the original thread. And it is also blow off some steam.

It really bugs me that after 6 months, 3(possibly 4) applications with YPT cert attached (one of which was hand delivered to the DE), and completing a Webelos Den Leader Specific Class (yes class not online)the pack's Webelos Den Leader is still not registered.

Ok Serious now, know how to handle the problem and will be dealing with it shortly.

How about Manti Te'o

http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2012/11/21/eagle-scout-manti-teo-soars-onto-the-heisman-scene/

3rd. ed. BS Field Book has instructions for DIY gear.

Also google some of Green Bar Bill and do it yourself gear, and I'm sure you will hit some good stuff.

Brew,

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I concur with Beav, you got a HW assignment

It's stories like these that let you know you did your job as a leader.

Again, not necessarily.

You do have folks, especially long term Scouters who are not current with the modern CS program, who do have a anti-CS bias. I've been told, "Cubs don't need to camp," and this is coming from someone on the council camping committee and is a 4 beader who should know better. You have folks who don't want anything to do with Cubs until they are Webelos IIs, if then. I know of some troops that won't do anything with a pack until crossover.

Further the challenges and leadership issues are different at the two levels. I speak from first hand expereince that when my district had no CS RT, and I went to the BS one to get info and what not, 85-95% of what was going on had nothing to do with me and the Cub Scout program. So why would a combined pack/troop committee work well when they ARE so many differences?

I'm fortunate, I got one of the old ones off of ebay.

Wouldn't mind one of these though

http://www.bemidjiwoolenmills.com/details/bm07_97/bm07_100.jpg

N Tier use to sell them, but no more.