LeCastor

Agree on Scouts (Instructors, JASMs) signing off on early rank requirements. They're pretty stringent.

 

Leader-specific instructors like to push the SM/ASM sign off, quoting "BSA Policy". When pushed to show in the GTA or other docs where that's stated, they can't. The only section addressing it is the one above. I think that's left over adult control freaks just trying to stay relevant.

Yeah, I think there is more relevance-maintenance  and control hungriness in Scouting that we would like.    But, hey, that's why we have capable GTA looker-uppers like Hedgie, quality trainers like Eagle94, and mentors like Stosh out there to guide us along the way.  

I agree with Stosh on this one.  Our Troop operates in the same way with PLs signing off on their Patrol members' advancement.  This wasn't always the case, though.  When I became SM it was very much like how Renax describes in the OP.  Some adult volunteers prefer to keep a tight grasp on the sign-off pen.  However, if the PL, JASM, or TG feel confident a Scout has completed a requirement I am perfectly comfortable having them sign it off.  

As for the SM-specific syllabus, I doubt it says in there that adults have the sole power in the advancement trail...

Actually, I have them on my desktop computer, but not on my Ipad.  EmXaN, can that be fixed?

Confirmed. I don't have them now on my iPad either.

Moosetracker, try clicking the little black arrow at the top right of the text box to expand the bar.

Sounds like a great project! What I found interesting was this, "...Including purging of old materials..." I would have thought they would want to keep the old materials. Isn't that one of the functions of a library?

Edit to add: Maybe I'm more sensitive to this because I'm getting close to being one of those 'old materials' myself.

Being married to a library professional, I know there's a continuous weeding of out-dated materials that takes place in libraries.  In fact, she likes to share a librarian blog with me that showcases some really humorous books:

http://awfullibrarybooks.net/

Some of these would most likely not be in a church library, but I bet they have their fair share of titles to weed out.  

I know during my IOLS training they talked a lot about trying your best NOT having left overs.

Yeah, that's definitely something I suggest to the Scouts.  And if there's a nice family or another Troop camping within vicinity our ours I suggest inviting them over for some fellowship..and snacks.  

Otherwise, coolers and food totes are emptied on a table in our meeting room and the Scouts divide it up among themselves.  Unfortunately, some of the perishables get left and, being the last one at the church, I tend to "inherit" milk, eggs, cheese, etc.  

In my experience in rural districts there are never enough people to fill all the slots that need to be filled. Not even close. If someone shows up for two District Committee meetings in a row, just to watch and see what goes on there, they'll find themselves appointed to a position on the committee.

 

How do you think I became District Advancement Chairman at 19 years old, or District Commissioner at 21? I was one of the five or six people who regularly showed up at district meetings. They'll give you as many hats as you're willing to wear. I know how these positions are supposed to be filled, but then the vacant positions are filled by whatever warm body they can find.

Yeah, this happened to me, too.    I just kept showing up and they asked me to be district membership guy.  And since I'm always at roundtable I was a good fit for Boy Scout RT Commish.  It's not bad, though.  I enjoy it but we ALWAYS need more volunteers!  There are too many of us who wear 3-4 hats and as Desertrat once said, you'll want to keep all the plates spinning in the air and neglect one or more of the other jobs while taking care of the the other one...

Welcome back to the Scouting life, mgood777!  I, too, took 15 years off and realized there was a giant Scouting-shaped hole in my life.  Over the past four years I've filled it with camping, hiking, and lots of mentoring.  It's great!  

BTW, I love that pic of you in the flannel shirt.  Very 1987.  

It's been just a tad over 20 years since my Ordeal ceremony but I remember it was dark and I had no idea where I was in a camp I otherwise would have been comfortable navigating.  What I really remember, though, is being so hungry and so tired that when I got to the dining hall I couldn't even eat and when I got to my tent I couldn't even sleep.  

The Lodge I am in now has recently started doing the before-sundown Ordeal ceremonies and following dinner with the Brotherhood ceremony. The reasoning (and I don't know who decided) is that the Ordeal guys will be able to eat dinner and hang out together while the other folks go to the Brotherhood ceremony after dinner.  Not sure if that makes sense to me, though.

I enjoyed the mystery of the pre-Ordeal and Ordeal ceremonies with little to no sunlight, personally.  

This is an interesting question because it came up just recently when Scouts were discussing their eligibility for election to the Order of the Arrow. They were counting up their days/nights and including a lot of indoor things. Obviously, I didn't think the electronics lock-in at the church was appropriate. Where it got iffy was the winter cabin activities. The OA team gave their okay and the Lodge Chief was there and he said "sure".

Personally, when we go to the cabin activities I bring along my tent and pitch it outside the cabin. The first time I did that I got a bunch of crazy eyes from the Scouts. But the next year one Scout pitched his tent around the corner and bragged about it to his Patrol. Then, the third year more guys camped outside the cabin in their tents.

As for the electronics lock-in I mentioned before, I made it clear to the PLC that it was no longer to be called the electronics "camp-in" because there ain't no campin' included. Microwave popcorn, PlayStation, and October Sky on DVD--while a great movie--isn't camping.

 

And what does your Historian do now that the SM does all his work for him.

 

Paper, pencil/pen, and a digital camera, a few pieces of 8 1/2" x 13" paper and you have a Historian, patch is extra. I'm thinking that the boy takes Photography MB and Journalism MB and he doesn't need a big budget to make it pay off for the local troop.

 

Get the boys involved, after all THEY are the ones that seem to be invisible. What do they think they should be doing to show off Scouting. If they are embarrassed or don't want to be seen, then that's where one begins, not with some polished PR media blitz.

 

Stosh

oh, snap!

As a unit leader, I do write short articles and provide images of the Scouts in action. We get a few inches in local free community papers. It's free advertising. As district committee membership chair, I'd like to get the word out about Scouting in our community from a more general perspective. I encourage all units to do the local write-ups as mentioned above, but I am trying to find a way to promote Scouting in the district as a whole.

I am fully aware that we have no budget so it's got to be grassroots stuff. Will just keep my wheels going and come up with some marketing ideas.

LeCastor

When boys cross over into my troop, they generally come wearing their Webelos uniform. During orientation, the boys go over what goes and what stays. The necker belongs to the unit so he doesn't need to buy one and the book is his crossover gift. The boys still go with the red/white numerals with red loops, the new boy has red loops and bought a green/tan numeral. No one said a thing. He may notice some day and make the change.

 

As picky as I am about the uniform, I still run a boy-led program. I get invited to do a full uniform inspection from time to time and I critique each boy and offer up suggestions as to what he might wish to consider to be more in line with the BSA standard. Within a few weeks things slowly change.

 

Stosh

We also give each new Scout a handbook as they crossover into our Troop. The parent(s) is/are paired with veteran parents to learn the differences between the Pack and Troop.

ScoutingMom,

As for the uni, your son should remove the Cub Scout insignia and ask his patrol leader or senior patrol leader what the proper placement is for the Troop.

Stosh, I sent you a private message.

Oh, and I didn't write this Op-Ed, btw. It was just an example of something I saw and it got me thinking about how to get the word out in the community.

Gee LeCastor, I love to hijack your posts...

 

We don't live that far apart, and if we ever meet up with each other I'm thinking I'm going to have hell to pay.

 

Stosh

No way, dude! I'm going to take you out for coffee one of these days.

As one small part of a massive' date=' new public relations/marketing effort by BSA, yes. Very few people are left who read newspapers.[/quote']

 

 

Ok, what do we do then? How do we get the word out in the media about the positive side of Scouting? Is it just grassroots/guerrilla marketing?

Sorry, all...The link didn't seem to work as posted. Here is the article from the GazetteXtra:

"Our Views: Boy Scouting develops leaders, deserves support

“On my honor, I will do my best

“To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;

“To help other people at all times;

“To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.â€Â

â€â€Boy Scout Oath

Boy Scouts of America has an image problem and a membership problem.

The first affects the second.

Some people think Scouting is for troubled kids or “losers.†However, Gerald Ford was an Eagle Scout. John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also were Scouts. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan served in leadership roles. If so many U.S. presidents were involved in Scouting, how can this perception be valid?

Shelly Birkelo reported Monday that membership has been falling fast nationally and locally. Alex Tyms is charged with turning around the numbers as executive of the Glacier's Edge Council, which serves all or parts of 15 counties in southcentral Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Like Ford, Tyms was an Eagle Scout. He has more than 20 years of experience in seven states. He came here a year ago, has outlined the challenges and is enacting or planning changes.

With just two staff members in charge of recruitment, he's engaging more volunteers. Customer service and service units will expand. Rather than expecting leaders to pass recruitment information to boys, the council will use direct mailings. It will more quickly engage new Scouts in camping and pinewood derbies and add activities in science, technology, engineering and math.

Already, Tyms has seen good signs. In 2012, local retention was just 62 percent. By the end of 2014, it was 74 percent.

The debate over gay tolerance hurt Scouting's image. The organization reversed a ban on gay members in 2013 but still bans openly gay leaders. The program seemingly can't win on this issue. It will alienate liberals and conservatives no matter which way it turns. Tyms called the 2013 change a nonfactor in local membership. One of the biggest blows to local numbers was disbandment, because of inadequate funding, of a Madison outreach program for troubled and low-income boys.

Despite its challenges, Boy Scouting remains one of our country's largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations. For 105 years, it has built character and encouraged citizenship, responsibility and fitness. It combines educational activities with fun while developing future leaders such as Kennedy, Clinton and Ford.

“Be prepared,†says the Boy Scout Motto. In this era when people perform random acts of kindness and often pay them forward, “Do a good turn daily†has long been the Boy Scout Slogan.

State Reps. Warren Petryk of Eleva and Evan Goyke of Milwaukee are also former Eagle Scouts. As they wrote in a column in Saturday's Gazette, 865 Wisconsin boys became Eagle Scouts last year and engaged 13,000 other Scouts in projects that contributed more than 100,000 hours of community service. Through the years, many such projects have improved Janesville, the “City of Parks.â€Â

Scouting deserves support. Consider volunteering or donating. Encourage a boy to join. Here's hoping Tyms, his staff and volunteers can strengthen Scouting here, boost membership and keep nurturing tomorrow's leaders."

I've been wondering if it might be a good idea to start writing in to the big-hitter newspapers in our respective areas to start talking about Scouting in the US. If enough of us start writing regularly to the papers and start to get published, will we make an impact?

For example, just this week an op-ed piece was published in a smaller WI newspaper:

http://www.gazettextra.com/20150310/our_views_boy_scouting_develops_leaders_deserves_support

It's relatively neutral on the issue of discrimination towards homosexual adults but states that Scouting is important and deserves support from our respective communities. Regardless of how we feel about the membership debate, I am of the opinion that we must fight to keep the positive aspects of Scouting in the spotlight. If we don't we'll remain "invisible" as SSScout says.

 

 

did you ever figure out what he meant by that question though?

No, not sure what that was about.

Just an interesting quick story...

This weekend we had a Patrol doing service to help local homeless families and we were all in field uniform. A man who was present during the project came up to me and asked, "so are the Scoutmaster or a you just wearing that patch?!" It sounded pretty accusatory and I didn't quite know how to react. But we ended up having a conversation about Scouting and it turned out he was a Scout years ago. Perhaps now that he's seen our Patrol out doing service (in uniform) he might go out and spread the word in the community.

 

I don't see how you can run a Troop without forming moral character. I can see how uniforms could be optional, but moral character?

No, perdicochas, you shouldn't to that because it is, after all, a Scout Troop. She has trouble recruiting when she says that Scouting ideals are a part of the package. I hope you didn't think I meant she didn't include that part in the Troop's day-to-day business. We're talking about how to make Scouting visible, so I just wanted to say that advertising Scouting as a place to help train upstanding citizens (I'm talking about to parents here) people sometimes balk at that...Why? I guess it's about how they want to be the ones to do that for their children...Maybe?

Just bought a new house in the country with 9 acres of woods behind the house on a hillside. My summer project is to build her her nature trail. Unfortunately it's #1 on the Honey-Do list. It would seem that the trail has to go all the way to the top of the bluff and there build a campsite. I'm not making this up, she's serious about it. Her kids all worked their way through college doing commercial Alaskan salmon fishing. Her first job was as a forester with the US Forestry Service in Alaska. Since I married her I have only one pair of dress shoes in the closet that get dragged out for the occasional wedding or funeral. I have several pair of hiking boots however.

 

Outdoors is a lifestyle, not a visit. It's a bit like living in the woods vs. going to the zoo. Unfortunately BSA sometimes ends up with the zoo visit mentality and thus we have a number of BSA troops that either have limited outdoor activity or restricted number attending those activities, both of which have been discussed on the forum.

 

I sure hope the last child in the woods isn't there just for a visit.

 

Stosh

Stosh, when you get the hiking trail and campground set up I'll bring a Patrol over so they can set up an extended resident camp there for the summer. Shouldn't be too far of a drive and while we're checking out the driftless area from the cars we'll be all psyched up for your hospitality!

Excellent idea, Q! Thanks!

UPDATE: At the end of our Boy Scout break-out session at Roundtable last night, I read a few passages from this book that pertained to Scouters and how we have the power to keep youth engaged with nature. For the most part everyone agreed we have a duty to keep the outing in Scouting and encourage youth to get involved. There was one fairly strong critique of the book and the argument being weak. (I wondered if it was Packsaddle's proxy .)

The next book on my list for discussion at Roundtable is the Roadside Geology of Wisconsin. I'm hoping to get a better grasp of the physical geography of my adopted state. And, heck, I hope to be able to mix it into talks I have with Scouts while out on hikes...

Scout on, my friends!

LeCastor

 

 

Carter was a FOOL for failing to make every effort to keep a friend of the United States and of liberal western values in power.

 

As I noted earlier, the Sermon on the Mount is the last word in personal ethics, but it's not the basis upon which ministers of government are given their portfolios.

 

Politics is DIFFERENT than personal morality. If you don't understand that, you are naïve, in my opinion.

 

 

I have been called naive twice in the span of seven days!

Seattle, you are entitled to your opinion--and we certainly know your opinion by now--but to call people "fools" and suggest that dishonesty is the best policy is, in my opinion, contrary to what we're trying to accomplish in our Scouting movement. I want a governor who is honest and I want a president who is honest and if that makes me naive so be it.

As for continually calling out "liberals" on this forum perhaps it would be more constructive to refrain from name-calling and finger-pointing. I don't think that gets us anywhere positive.