LeCastor

A trend I've noticed lately in Wood Badge tickets is the desire to bring more awareness of the fact that so many Scouts and Scouters live with disabilities each day. Perhaps one of the most popular items I've noticed, too, is for Scouters to register as a counselor for the Disabilities Awareness Merit Badge and offer to help Scouts earn it. The only issue is that, as important as this particular merit badge is, it is often over-looked by Scouts in favor of the Eagle-required merit badges at clinics/Pow Wows. That's what I refer to in the subject as "glamorous". My fear is that those counse

JP, it is clear to me that you care about the Lodge in question and that you have thrown many ideas into the ring; and it certainly sounds like you have invested a bit or your own money into the lodge. I believe your heart is in the right place and that you sincerely want the Lodge to be successful. However, as others have already said, you might have over-stepped your bounds in terms of an advisorship role that you may or may not currently hold. The Order of the Arrow is a youth-led organization and things don't always go as well in a Lodge as we adults would expect or wish they would. Th

I am in the process of starting a Venturing Crew in our community to reach out to 1) older Scouts who are "done" with Boy Scouts and 2) teenage women who want to do the things their brothers have done for years but haven't had the opportunity to do themselves. Personally, I polled area Scoutmasters and asked if they had Scouts who wanted more than what they were getting Boy Scouting. Also, I already knew firsthand of young women who have always been on the periphery of our Troop (sisters, cousins), always looking in but never having the chance to participate. Basically, we know that the

Hi! Thanks for volunteering to help your son AND those other Tigers!

One of the coolest parts of the courts of honor when I was a young Scout was when our Scoutmaster and the Committee Chair would present funny "awards" based on stories from outings during the year. If something amusing happened and was the talk of the camping trip, our Scoutmaster and Committee Chair would make some kind of plaque or trophy to present and this was definitely a highlight. Sure, we all looked forward to our Scouting advancements, but it was neat to see how much the Scoutmaster paid attention to us individually throughout the year. Others are on the right track when they

Old_Ox, yes () that's exactly the way it should be! However, I inherited a Troop that was oriented toward adults teaching and testing the boys for Scout skills (T-2-1 ranks). In the past two years, I've been able to get the older boys to step in and do the teaching--Troop Guide, JASM, and Eagles who want to hang around but not have an official "position of responsibility". BUT, inertia is hard to overcome and some adults continue to insert themselves in the teaching process. Every little inch toward boys leading/teaching boys is a success in my opinion. I feel that I've been able to make g

According to the BSA's advancement track, a Scout learns, then he is tested. Next he is reviewed and then finally recognized. I trust my Junior Assistant Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters to take care of the "testing" portion of this before signing off the requirements in the boy's handbook. By the time the Scout comes to me, the Scoutmaster, asking for a conference I know he's already learned and has been tested. The Scoutmaster conference shouldn't be a time for drilling the Scout to make sure he really learned his knots and first aid skills or to remember what he cooked and with wh

Yer a good man, Jason G! And you're going to make an EXCELLENT Chapter Advisor.

We can be pessimistic and speculate all we want about the actions of certain Scouts and their parents or we can serve our units and our lodges to best of our ability. I say, KDD, go to the fellowship and have fun. Then, as Qwase sort of said (), you and your son could promote the chapter/lodge activities and try to be good Arrowmen by doing your best to pump up enthusiasm. Does your unit have an OA Representative? If not, maybe your son could volunteer for his Troop? We can't make people do anything but we can sure try to encourage the behavior we want...Someone once said something to the e

KDD, I'm very sorry to hear your story. While I was never a Lodge officer, I have several in my Troop and they are DEDICATED to the OA and to their unit. However, I have members of my Troop who would no doubt, if elected, choose to "dash" after the Ordeal/Brotherhood ceremony. It's fun to recall our own personal experiences from when we were Scouts and how things were different back then. But I tend to think the folks who spend time on this forum were dedicated Scouts or, if we weren't Scouts as youth, are the kind people who would have been dedicated Scouts. We have our personal memories of O

"Kill a cub?" Um, NO.

Actually, I don't believe this is "generalization" as much as it's my stating a recurring theme I've noticed when reading posts on this forum. Here's a breakdown of what I've read so far on this thread: 1. Unit leaders are ignorant of what a UC is/does. 2. Unit leaders have a preconceived notion of what a UC is/does based on a) a bad experience and/or b) the fact that the UC only tends to show up when there is conflict. 3. UCs are stretched too thin as is due to a) too many units to help or b) the fact they wear too many hats as it stands. 4. The Unit leaders might not be o

Hi all! A recurring theme I've seen in various threads is that Unit Commissioners are worthless and that they don't come around very often. Why do you think that is? Discuss LeCastor

Congratulations, Jason! It is quite the honor to be asked, even more so if the Lodge has been struggling. Remember that the youth are the ones making decisions and running their chapter/lodge. Just be there when they have questions and guide them when you think they need guidance. Make good use of Start/Stop/Continue and help them fix the things that seem broken. You want the Lodge to be good but start by helping your Chapter Chief make his Chapter the best in the whole Lodge. Brotherhood. Cheerfulness. Service. It's pretty simple. Patches are nice but the OA is about those first t

Over the course of the past three years in the role of Scoutmaster, there have been a few particular Scouts I believe I was called to mentor and guide. I'm proud to say that one of these young men just turned 18 years old and successfully passed his Eagle board of review last week. To do this, he overcame a great many hurdles in his personal life and I know that what small things I did for him don't nearly equal what he did for himself. Nonetheless, it's these moments that make you remember why the heck you put on the uniform, go camping, and put up with all the other insignificant inconven

I, too, would like to create a version of Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops that isn't quite as dry and doesn't lend itself to much to sitting around inside. @Eagle92, is there a way you could send out a copy of the Brownsea syllabus? LeCastor

I have been doing research on high adventure in Scouting and, since I live in Wisconsin, I am especially interested in the former Region 7 Explorer Canoe Base/Northern Wisconsin Canoe Base near Boulder Junction, WI. I know of a site that was set up online several years back for staff alumni but the stories there are more from the 1930s and 1940s. http://www.w9fz.com/canoebase/ I'm interested to hear any personal stories or anecdotes of being on staff during the 1970s. What was it like there? What were some of the activities? Any photos from the trips? For a Boy's Life arti

OH! Reading the issues on Google Book is SO MUCH EASIER than the archives site on boyslife.org. Thanks, @koolaidman and @Scouter99!

I think there are a few issues being raised here: 1. There wasn't an election at the Troop level and, therefore, a potential Ordeal candidate was not chosen in that Troop. 2. There is a disconnect between a Troop at the local chapter and/or Lodge leadership. 3. There is frustration about whether or not an Arrowman should or should not be active at the chapter and/or Lodge level. My suggestion would be for the Troop's Senior Patrol Leader to appoint an Order of the Arrow Representative to promote the OA within the Troop and to be the liaison between the local chapter/lodge and

No link...

Now that we've established that the merit badge was...merited...allow me to share a story. When I was 11 I, too, took the Environmental Science Merit Badge at Woodruff Scout Reservation in Blairsville, GA. Before going to camp I bought the pamphlet, read it, and got all jazzed up about it. Then, in camp I took the Mountain Man course (Scout skills for new campers) in addition to the Eniv Sci and First Aid Merit Badges. It was A LOT of work and it took me every day to complete. But I still have my Mountain Man pocket flap patch and those two merit badges are sewn on my sash in the top row

Admiral William H. McRaven gave the commencement speech for the University of Texas earlier this year and it's pure gold. This is a 20-minute video but I guarantee it's worth watching. I used this to address my Scouts at the last Court of Honor and made it clear that, while it was a sendoff for our outgoing Scout and soon-to-be Eagle, it applies to all of us...for the rest of our lives.

On eBay this weekend I came across one of the Wood Badge training notebooks from the early course--like displayed on Kudu's website. I ordered it and am excited to receive it and go over the notes. Since I'll be on WB staff this fall, I'm curious to compare the current course with the older course. This is for pure curiosity and also to enrich my Scouting history and carry on the heritage left to us by Green Bar Bill and the first generation of WB in America.

Thanks, SSScout! I like it.

Hi all! I guess my reasoning behind opening this thread was to put into perspective that the National Park Service is going to make an effort to show how persons of one particular sexual orientation (no, I'm not making this about "sex" so please don't make that argument) have influenced our nation's history. Yes, the BSA is a private institution. I know this! But we are also a household institution in the United States and I think it's high time we recognize that fact and get with the 21st century. Wisconsin just dropped the ban on same-sex unions. Hooray!