Lisabob

Trevorum, thanks for the suggestions. Can you elaborate on what kind of paperwork you're thinking of? The other adult in the room may - or may not - be registered as a counselor for this MB so I'm not sure he will be able to sign off on cards and at any rate, I won't know what to sign off for until we're just about done and I know which requirements have actually been completed. So: what kind of paperwork could/should I be mindful of that could be completed during the class (not just at the end)? I've never attended a class like this, let alone taught one! So I really appreciate the logistical help. Lisa'bob

Hi Mascout, Thanks for the ideas. I was thinking of similar things for 1 and 2 also. There's so much more they could do w/ #2 in particular but we just won't have time I guess. For #6, after my original post I was told that they are supposed to come prepared to teach a skill, with teaching aids. Probably some will, some won't. But I'm going to have to do this in small groups too since if I let each boy have 5 minutes of class time individually, that would take the entire allotted time, plus some! So I am going to have to come up with some ways for them to monitor each other's presentations here too. I will have one other adult in the room to help. And I guess it is a good thing I have some teaching experience with large groups! But I do wonder how this will go with these younger guys... Thanks for the leads on #9. This is being held on the college campus where I work so I'm going to contact the college radio station and newspaper and the communications & theater dept. on campus to see if I can get anybody from there to come in and speak for #9. If not I guess I can do it (teaching does require effective communication!) but tag team is always nice too. Thanks again! Lisa

Sunsetand shadows, Well yes, I guess it is fair to say you touched on one of those "hot button" issues for some people in this forum. Personally I'd take a pragmatic approach for the time being. If all you can swing right now is the shirts, then fine, start with those and worry about the pants, belt, etc. later. There will be people here who disagree but you know what, they aren't in your unit. Also, while my son's troop IS full uniform and they do occasionally get comments about it (positive ones), I have never been to a scouting event where anybody spoke ill of a group of boys who were doing their best, but who were not in full uniform. Once your unit is up and running the boys may decide they want to be a full uniform troop but in the meantime you have plenty of other things to focus on. You know what they say about Rome not being built in a day! I wonder if you may have better luck with donations or fundraisers once your troop is firmly established. From other posts, it sounds like you have a ways to go before you are there, and people might be reluctant to support a fundraiser for a group that doesn't yet have its feet under it. (Not saying you won't get there - just maybe focus on the more important things for now). Ma Scout - well said. Lisa'bob

Ack! I've been asked last-minute to run a mb session this weekend for the communications mb, for 60-70 boys. This is NOT the way I would prefer to do mb counseling but it is a situation where I feel I have to pitch in and lend a hand. (long background story, suffice to say I'm going to do this against my better judgment.) I am a newly registered counselor for this badge. I've read the mb book and had a look at a few mb worksheets, though I'm not so sure I want to use them (I won't have time to check them anyway!). I teach college students for a living so I believe I have a handle on the application of a lot of the material. But I would love some creative ideas for how to work through the requirements with this large a group of (mostly) middle school aged boys. Oh yes, and I have TWO HOURS to do it and the only technology I can count on having available is an overhead projector! I've been asked to focus on requirements 1, 2, 6, and 9; I guess that's the good news. They do not expect to cover the entire mb. I'd really appreciate some ideas for how to make this as good a session as I can for these boys, given time constraints, group size, and short notice for preparation. Thanks! Lisa'bob

Over the years working with cub packs I noticed that these kinds of parental relationship problems seem to be worse with families of younger boys and not so bad with the families of older boys. Maybe by then the parents have come to some agreement on how to interact, or gotten past some of the rancor that tends to exist in divorce situations, I don't know. Anyway in the meantime, I agree with Oren and MaScout. It is wrong to expect you to remember who said what, and whether or not you're "allowed" to share that information with others, etc.. I'd also encourage you to keep communications as open as possible with all interested parties. Our mailing list included aunts, uncles, foster parents, birth parents of kids in foster care, grandparents, etc.. Anybody who had a "stake" in the boy's involvement in cubs, in short. It was just easier than trying to figure out which adults to contact - which sometimes would have meant making judgment calls, based on limited information, and which might have been interpreted as judgments on who was the more involved/"better" parent or care giver. Also a less personal form of communication is nice for these situations. Phone calls, let's face it, take time and can be an open door for one parent to complain/whine/whatever about the other even though you just don't want to hear it. Email and hard copies of news letters have a potential to cut down on this. And if people are prone to abusing the email contact by sending you a zillion messages with unwanted info in them, you might set up a specific scouts-only email account (with yahoo or whoever) and make sure to tell people you only use it to disseminate information and you don't check it frequently. Hang in there. Lisa'bob

I can't see how making this boy attend scouts as a punishment is likely to benefit anybody involved. If this is a "drop off" situation where the parent is uninvolved, it sounds like the troop is being unfairly taken advantage of by this parent. Unfortunately I have to agree with Beavah here; we can't be expected to stand in as therapists and counselors in serious situations like this, if we're not qualified to do so. This mom needs to get this boy some professional help and BSA just isn't designed to do that. Now, if the mom is willing to be an active leader (and you'd want her as one) and the boy is receiving professional help, and all the other things Beavah mentions, then maybe. But I think I'd also want to put conditions on him attending camp outs or trips, beyond those I'd put on attending weekly troop meetings. Maybe the best thing you can do for this boy is to help him and/or his mom identify some professional resources in your area and encourage her to get her child the care he needs. And if you remove him from your troop, consider inviting him (and mom) to return again when he is in a position to do so. I don't think we're obligated to include drug abusers/pushers in our membership but I do think we should keep the door open for the future and make sure boys like this one know we haven't entirely given up on them, either. Tough stuff, isn't it. Lisa'bob

Sunset&shadows, I really admire what you are doing to bring the scouting program to boys who otherwise would not have any opportunities to be scouts. Starting new units is hard work under the best circumstances and it sounds like you have some difficult hurdles to overcome in the process too. If you can manage it at all, it sounds as though you would be better served to find a different sponsor. Given the difficulties you've mentioned and the entrenched position of the one adult who thinks he is going to run everything (but not be at the meetings!), I can't see how this will work out. Charter organizations don't have to be service clubs; they could be church groups, PTOs, community groups, or even just a bunch of parents who want to form the "Friends of Troop XXX" group. As for training, uniforming, program, and other stuff: your council headquarters are a long drive away. Are you by any chance closer to a neighboring council? If so, contact THEM and ask about attending their training - they should be happy to have you. From your description I'm guessing that you are located in the Southeastern part of the state? (seems like there is better geographic coverage of the western and northern parts of the state, in terms of where councils are located) If so, you may even find that trainings offered by a council that is located in a border state are more convenient for you. (That would indeed be a sad commentary on your home council but...) Still, you should try to press the training issue with your own council yet again. Council execs like to see new units started and may be more willing to move heaven and earth to get you up and running, now that you are starting a new troop. Another person to talk with is your district training chair. You can find out who that is by contacting your council. As a last resort, if you can't get a training session scheduled that meets your needs, you could ask the training chair to at least send you the syllabus for the basic leader training so you can read it over yourself. You wouldn't be "trained" but at least you'd have material to share with your new leaders. Though, given the dynamics of the situation, it really sounds as though having an outsider come in to do the training would be helpful (in terms of dealing with your entrenched, and incorrect, elder leader). In the meantime, the faststart training on line is certainly helpful and you can also do Youth Protection Training on line (this should be a "must-have" for all your leaders IMO). Last thought, and apologies for rambling: If you don't get a good response from your district training chair re: setting up a training day, also contact your district membership chair (again, contact council to get a name and phone #). Their job is to encourage growth and they might be able to help you navigate the council and district bureaucracies, or at least put you in contact with other useful people. Good luck! And keep us posted. Lisa'bob

Oak Tree, that would be a front and as such, it wouldn't solve the problem, unless of course the new organization also actually had its own membership, separate from the Ship (presumably of people who either wouldn't be allowed to join the BSA, or those who could join, but for political reasons choose not to). And in that case, one could reasonably question whether or not the Ship itself was a fake organization, if it did no activities but the ones your proposed new organization also did. I suppose this could become a big scandal for the BSA. I'm not sure I like the Berkeley policy which sounds as if it might have been designed to single out BSA Ships (what other groups are likely to a) balk at signing a non-discrimination policy and b) have a ship in need of free berthing?) but I do agree that they're within their legal and constitutional right to enact such a policy. We'll see what the US Supreme Court has to say, if the case gets to that point. Similarly, I don't like certain BSA policies that have put this particular Ship in this position, but I do agree that the BSA has the right to have such policies. Lisa'bob 7:55am Central, Sunday 3/12

See now, that whole date thing has me so confused. I meant that it is Sunday 3/12! (For whatever reason I still can't edit my own posts once they're submitted, no matter how quickly I catch the error) Lisa'bob Sunday 3/12 at 7:41am Central Time

No doubt that scandal is unhelpful in terms of our public image. Still, I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years working with packs in my district to get successful round-ups going. I've talked with countless potential cub scout families, most of whom have little or no previous experience with the program. Very, very rarely, has anyone mentioned BSA politics or BSA scandal at all. It just isn't on the radar screen of most people who aren't already deeply involved, where I live at least (in the midwest, a suburban area within an hour's drive of two major cities). My experience is that the vast majority of people who are aware that such issues even exist are already deeply involved in the BSA in some way. Maybe it is different in other parts of the country. We have not had any major scandals here and scouting is considered a "normal" activity to participate in for most little boys. But that's what I see on the ground. Lisa'bob PS: It is 7:37 Central Time on Sunday 3/13 here - I wonder what time stamp this post will bear???

I agree that as leaders we need to set certain standards. But also I think that if things are not working out as expected, we need to consider why. Here are a few things I noticed when our pack faced similar concerns. 1. Are those expectations explicit? And are they supported by the group? You can have whatever expectations you want, but if others do not know about them (because they're only in your head) or if others do not buy in to them, they won't be met. Having a shared vision - which includes things like leader expectations is hard to develop but worth it in terms of actually getting results. 2. Are those expectations realistic? Have the leaders who aren't performing "up to snuff" in certain regards been given so much to do/focus on that some stuff is going to have to slide? Have they been to training? Or at least, are opportunities to get training abundant? Regarding the uniform, there is a cost factor involved so what, if anything, can the pack do to make sure that this isn't what's keeping some adults (and kids too!) from being fully uniformed? 3. Are your committee meetings "worth it?" After about a year, my husband simply refused to attend the monthly committee meetings any more although (at least I thought) he was otherwise a very committed den leader. He hated them because they were a complete waste of time; either gripe sessions or social hours, but either way, little of note was actually accomplished and they tended to go on forever. Can't say I blamed him as I often felt the same way. When I started running the meetings I tried hard to keep them short and to the point and attendance improved. 4. Can you afford to take steps that might result in losing otherwise-qualified leaders? Some people will simply never conform to your expectations about things like uniforming. You'll need to decide - as a group, not just you personally - whether it is worth losing an otherwise good leader over something like that. You may decide that uniforming is just that important to you and that's fine, as long as you have a very good replacement for the current leader who won't wear it. As a person who has never bought into the uniform idea myself (in general, not just re: scouts), I can sympathize with those who don't want to wear it. It doesn't help that the adult scout uniforms are both expensive and ill-made, and it is unclear to many - especially at the cub pack level - why one ought to be expected to spend $100 for a lousy uniform. Before anybody jumps on this, yes I do own and wear the full uniform. But it took a long time before I was a) willing to cough up the dough to buy it and b) really understood the value of wearing it even though I don't particularly care for it. And that change in attitude came through more exposure over time to the BSA program, to training (woodbadge in particular) that focused on the uniform method in ways other than "you should wear it because you should wear it" and through involvement with various units, some of which were full uniform and some of which were not. As for a leader guideline, I think the best thing you can use is the existing Cub Leader Training material, including the Cub Leader Handbook. Why re-invent the wheel here? Welcome to the group, cb2boys. best, Lisa'bob

Oh, I wanted to add this. One year (when I had nothing to do with organizing things!) we had a major blow out at our pack's pinewood derby. As always, there were a bunch of issues that had been simmering that just happened to come together on that day, but the thing that touched it all off was that some parents felt the race wasn't "fair" to their boys (and in fact, they were probably right, but that's a whole other story), and they made a huge scene, in front of the boys. It was terrible. We made a lot of changes after that, but the one that was most visible was that we made sure the biggest trophy in following years was not for the fastest car, but rather, for "Scout Spirit." And we made a big deal about that with the boys. Wow. The atmosphere changed a lot. The boys began to cheer each other on and support each other. Some of it was, no doubt, still self-interested (wanting to win that spirit trophy). But some of it seemed to spill over into genuine camaraderie too and it was fabulous. Incidentally the photo of the beaming Tiger scout holding a trophy almost as big as he was - for SPIRIT, not for winning - also made the front page of the local paper the next day. You could extend the meaning of an award like this to include time spent building the cars together at your pack's workshop days, etc.. At any rate a boy whose parent bought the car certainly wouldn't win this award. Something that parent might consider in the future, if the trophy is what they're after. Lisa'bob

I was active in the pack the whole time my son was in cubs (until last year when he crossed over) and the webelos program was actually my favorite because it offers so many opportunities to do neat things with the boys. That said, yes it can be a little bit overwhelming at first! Like you, I didn't have any real experience with BSA before my son joined cubs.Funscout and others here gave you some good advice. Here are a couple of other things I found helpful, as well as a couple I wish I'd done but didn't think about until after my son joined boy scouts. 1. If your district has a roundtable night for cub leaders, try to attend. You'll get to know some other WDLs in your area and you can always pick their brains. 2. As much as possible, get the boys involved in planning den activities because this is one of the big changes they'll need to make when they join a troop. But with webelos I, as you say, they are just a step from being Bears and you may need to start small. A nice place to start is for them to develop a den name and pick a den symbol (rather than a number). Then they can create a den yell, flag, cheer, etc. based on the above. (And by the way, this is one of the first requirements they'll do to earn their Scout badge in Boy Scouts too) Another fairly easy way to get the boys used to making decisions as a group: provide them with a (short) list of activities that you can and are willing to do over the next few months and ask them to rank order them based on what they want to do. If any cost money, be sure to either explain how they'll be raising that money (which may require pack and district approval depending on what you come up with) or make sure their parents are ok w/ that first. (We asked boys to do a popcan drive to fund outings) Then go with the most popular few items on the list. Let them know that you'll be seeking input from them on future lists too. 3. There are 20 of those Webelos Activity Badges (pins). You do need to do more advanced planning with the Webelos program than with the others (anyway that was my experience). But don't feel as though you have to cover them all. A boy can earn his Webelos badge with just 3 and his Arrow of Light with just 8 of these badges. While there are some specific required badges, a lot of the webelos program can be driven by the boys' interests. So if they really aren't interested in one and it isn't required, don't force it. (But I think doing the Aquanaut badge is a very good idea because a lot of the basic swimming skills come back again in Boy Scout rank requirements. Same with Forester and Naturalist.) Also, they can work on some of the badges at home. I found the fitness badge (which is mainly about alcohol, drugs, and healthy diet and is required for the Webelos badge) to be one I'd rather have them do at home. 4. As for teaching them: don't forget to utilize your schools and any nature center or regional park staff in your area. Around here, for example, one of the state parks runs a Forester and a Naturalist session several times a year. We got together with some middle school teachers to work on the Science and Geology badges and the elem. school art teacher helped out with the Artist badge. Many museums run programs too but these do tend to be more expensive and fill quickly so a little advance planning is required here. 5. If you haven't done much camping, that's one thing that changes from Bears to Webelos. (For camping training you can go to BALOO and Outdoor Webelos Leader training - the name of this last one varies but your council should be able to help you identify it) Now I wasn't too confident in my ability to lead a group of boys on a campout - but the troops in your area can definitely help you here. Most will be happy to invite a webelos den along on a campout (though webelos only stay one night, or sometimes, just participate during the day and go home at night). We also did a den campout where a couple of boy scout leaders came along to help teach cooking and "scout skills". It worked great and took a lot of pressure off the WDL. In fact I wish I'd done more of this kind of thing. After cross-over and as I've gotten to know our troop and the Boy Scout program, I've realized that I could've/should've/would've utilized the troop as a resource a lot more than I actually did, particularly for the outdoor badges. 6. Just like with the previous ranks, keep it fun. There are a couple of badges which require some imagination to make fun (Citizenship for example) but it can be done. The other thing I loved about webelos is that, because it is an 18 month program, there's time in there to do lots of non-rank activities. In fact some of our most successful activities had little to do with specific rank advancement. 7. Last thing: if you haven't already found it, I love the Virtual Cub Leader Handbook, which can be found at http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/ If you click on the "virtual requirements guide" and scroll down you'll find all the webelos stuff. There's a lot of other good, quick, clear info on this site too. Good luck, have fun! Lisa'bob

Trev, that's a neat idea, thanks for doing it. Now that question about "Were you a scout as a youth?" Yes, I was a GIRL scout. Not an option on your survey though. I'll be really interested to see your results. Lisa'bob

t158, that's a very good observation. Whenever I've gone to scout functions I've always approached them by supposing that every scouter there is a decent person who is working his or her hardest to provide the program to the boys as best they can. We have that in common no matter what else we may disagree on. And so every scouter can be a "friend to others" based on that common ground. On occasion I've left this particular forum really wondering about that above assumption though. What really gets me is that there are times when someone will post in other parts of the site in what seems like a pretty reasonable tone, regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the substance of the post. But then sometimes those same people enter this part of the board and all reasonable respect for others seems to have been left behind. Lisa'bob

Kaji, the rules we used did specify that it must be the original block of wood that you get with the BSA kit. We too had people who took various "short cuts" and I never could really understand what they thought they were gaining, especially since (as OneHour notes) they frequently did not win even with the cheating. As to how to deal with them: well if the boy has acknowledged that he bought the car, I think you can't just let it slide. After all, that boy and all the ones who heard him, will know that he is breaking the rules. And if he happens to win, you may have an even worse situation on your hands (trust me, I've been there with parents who believed their kid lost to an in-eligible car and it can be ugly). Here are three things you can do: 1. disqualify the car but let him race anyway for the fun of it - which is what the race is supposed to be, right? We did this one year. The boy really didn't care about winning, he just wanted to race. We made an announcement that the car in question wouldn't be scored because it was not in conformity with the rules, but we didn't broadcast exactly why that was the case. As long as you let the family in question know in advance, you can avoid a scene at derby day. 2. disqualify the car from the cub race entirely but hold an "open class" race where anything goes and encourage him to race his car there. Make sure some other folks build cars for him to race against, or invite cubs to race cars in the open division that they built in previous years. 3. Offer to help dad & boy build a last minute replacement for the ebay car. And 4... Next year hold a raingutter regata or space derby instead. Yes, people can cheat on those too but it is a little harder because they're not as widely held. (Yes I know this can be a drastic solution but if the derby mania has gotten that out of hand...maybe it is time for a big change) Good luck and here's hoping it all works out ok. Lisa'bob

My son's troop does very few "non-advancement" activities, in that most troop campouts and skill segments of troop meetings have a fairly explicit focus on the elements that scouts need to learn through first class. Since we camp every month, have meetings every week, and do at least one service project each month too, that doesn't leave a lot of time for additional, troop-wide activities. But, the patrols are increasingly seeking out these activities on their own, which I guess is a good thing. One patrol recently set up an ice-fishing day, another did some hiking, and a third is considering going on a field trip to an aviation museum together. In all cases, these are things that boys in the patrols found out about (sometimes through mom & dad, sometimes not) and decided they wanted to do on their own so they arranged it. They're still fairly uncommon though, certainly not every month. With just 9 boys you might be able to do some of these kinds of "extras" with the whole group but you might also encourage the patrols (if you have more than one?) to take advantage of occasional opportunities on their own. One advantage to doing activities like this is that it really improves the patrol/troop spirit and bonding. Of course so can campouts, but those are often more challenging (physically and mentally) and sometimes the boys really just want to have fun together doing something other than camping. Lisa'bob

Rooster, I dare say you've been distracted. The issue in this thread is not whether Merlyn is an atheist or whether atheists can have unwavering moral standards, or whether we should put religious slogans on our money, or whether such slogans are indications of one religion's dominance or another's, etc., etc., etc.. However, if you insist on using profession of religious faith as a basis for determining who may credibly indicate disgust at the idea of Oliver North as a defender of the values supported by the BSA...well hey, let me get in line because I know there are a whole lot of folks who are religious and who share my view of the guy - he's a weasle. Lisa'bob

Right on, Dan - Olli North is hardly the role model I'd want the boys in our unit emulating, let alone purporting to speak for the entire BSA. Look, I really do not think that the BSA would be smart to resort to 'siege mentality' as a way to promote our program. We do a lot of great things that are not controversial; why not spend our considerable effort on promoting those instead of on making up scare stories about how we're being 'bashed'? For just about any organization there will always be those who disagree with how the group is run. BSA is no different in that regard. By constantly highlighting those disagreements we do ourselves a dis-service. It might be great for political rabble rousing and fundraising and selling books, but it is not great for the majority of BSA units. Lisa'bob

Hey Eamonn, sounds like you did the right thing in your particular situation. More general response to the general question: yes, if... 1. the context is right. Talking with a couple of 16-17-18 year olds about some topics in a quiet and serious discussion is different than talking about those same topics with a bunch of rowdy 11 year olds who might only be titilated or shocked, who may not be mature enough to handle it, and/or who would not "get" the lesson that you hope to impart because they're too hung up on the example. Though of course, in a crew situation I guess the youngest you'd be dealing with are 14 year olds - still, some are more mature than others at that age. 2. it isn't likely to go over-board in upsetting the parents of children who aren't your own. I know there are a few subjects about which the best response I can think of (esp. for those younger guys) is "that's really a question you should talk with your mom or dad about." 3. it isn't an intolerable intrusion into your personal life - in which case, I like both Kahuna's and Fgoodwin's responses. 4. it is balanced, when need be, by disclosure of the other side of the story. I have some friends who led pretty wild lives in their 20s. Then they did what most of us do sooner or later; settled down, got good jobs, had families, etc.. Over the years they often have talked about their experiences and have been quite open with their kids about it too. But by and large they left out a lot of the negative details, for example, they hardly ever talk about the one friend in the group who died a terrible death as a direct result of addiction and left the rest of the group to clean up the whole mess - literally and figuratively. We were all at an event a while ago where the topic of past actions came up and one of their (older teen) children made the comment that hey, recreational use couldn't be that awful because all of their parents turned out fine. Their parents were shocked because they hadn't realized that this was the message they were sending by avoiding discussion of those very painful details. 5. it will do more good than harm. Lisa'bob

hey hops, I really wish you all the best but...nope, I'm not going to tell you what *I* think is most important in a leader because a) it is your application not mine and b) it is a lot harder to sell someone else's ideas convincingly than to sell your own views convincingly - and that matters and may well be telegraphed to your audience (reader) in this situation. hope you understand where I'm coming from on that one. Lisa'bob

I do believe we may have found a point on which all (or anyway nearly all) of us can agree...in the issues and politics section no less! Strong units with great programs and solid leadership attract new members and weak units with lousy programs and poor leadership lose members. Program trumps politics and amen to that! Lisa'bob

Kahuna, the term limit idea is an interesting one. Several states have instituted term limits for their legislatures. The state I'm living in now is one of them; we added term limits in the mid 90s when it was the "in" thing to do. Interestingly enough, there's a lot of talk these days about undoing that change. One thing a lot of people are coming to realize is that term limits throw out the good with the bad. There's a serious lack of experience among our state legislators these days as a result of term limits. There's also an increase in "revolving door" behavior, where a former elected official suddenly becomes an appointed official, becomes a lobbyist, etc., which may or may not be "better" for "the people". Some are even suggesting that this has made blatent partisan bickering worse because, hey, what do you have to lose if you're a term limited legislator? You'll only be around for a few years before your term expires so there's not a real need for long-term cooperation, compromise, and negotiation. You can burn that bridge behind you 'cause you can't go back anyway. I guess that's my round-about way of saying that there are some unintended negative consequences to the whole term limits idea, too. Lisa'bob

Nldscout, What's "unbelievable" here is that apparently one, or maybe both, of the SMs in question won't participate if the other does. I agree that last minute changes can be unwelcome and someone has to draw a line somewhere, on some occasions. I do think, though, that 17 days is enough time prior to the ceremony that changes could be accomodated. Heck, we've made changes the night before and I know all kinds of folks who could (probably will) come out with stories of changes they made a couple hours before the event. Sounds to me like these SMs have let their petty squabbling and/or power tripping interfere with the main focus of the program - the boys. That's "unbelievable." Lisa'bob

hops-scout, It's great that you are pursuing scholarships like this one. Just a couple of things to keep in mind from someone who reads a lot of college applications and scholarship essays. TheScout gave you good advice; focus on a couple of items rather than a laundry list. 200-300 words isn't very much and it is often harder to write a good, short essay than a good, long essay. It might also help you to think about specific examples based on your own leadership experiences. Use those to help you focus and to flesh out how or why you think whatever characteristics you pick are so important. Expect to write a few (or many) drafts and bounce them off of someone whose writing ability and logical thought process you respect. Sometimes what seems clear to you (in your head) won't be clear to others (on paper). Take their feedback as a gift even when it isn't what you wanted to hear. Make sure you spell check AND proof-read. Example: The difference between "public" with and without the "l" won't get caught by the spell checker but it sure will get caught by the person reading your application - and that's not how you want them to remember you after they've read hundreds of other essays! It is probably a good idea to have someone else read through it for you one last time (after you do your own proof reading) to make sure there are no mistakes that you've missed. I know this sounds like a no-brainer but you'd be stunned to discover how many people either do not proof-read their work at all, or who do a very poor job of it. Good luck to you and let us know how things turn out! Lisa