mikecummings157

Does anyone have any great ideas and/or material for doing Jamboree Promotions? Our council has just picked the leadership for our contingent and has tasked us with promotions, but all we have is the cartoonish video put out by National. This is OK, but's it's pretty short. I have also seen the video on the website.

We're way behind on filling out 3-4 troops and need to really sell this to the kids and parents.

When our pack had this issue, we split the B&G into an early afternoon and late afternoon banquet, splitting the pack roughly in half by dens. The only thing that got a little dicey was keeping siblings at the same session so the parents didn't have to go twice.

Of course, the Cubmaster (me) had a long day, but it was worth it.

We got a list of kids ("save a Scout") who fell off troop rosters during the recharters last year and mailed invitations to boys in our troop's area who were 11-14 years old, then followed up with phone calls. The PLC planned a really fun Open House agenda for the night with outdoor cooking, a model campsite, and games. We got one new boy and a really good lead into a Webelos Den in a Pack we traditionally don't recruit from.

We also got contact info for the Webelos leaders in several Packs in our area and are calling them to schedule meeting and outing visits with their boys.

Our DE just called today with a boy that called to sign-up for Scouts. He was referred to us since we had worked with the DE on the "Save a Scout" effort.

It's not a lot of kids, but when you've only got a small troop, a few new faces really breathes life into the program.

No Bailout.

Bad Management, Bad Labor Agreements, Bad Cars.

We're supposed to reward this?

We have a neighboring troop that utilizes a building and property owned by a corporation the parents founded to support Boy & Girl Scouts in their community. That's probably as close as you can get to 'owning" your building.

Oh, Fred the fish, oh Fred the fish.

Why are you lying on the dish?

Oh Fred the fish, oh Fred the fish.

Why are you lying on the dish?

You did not see the hook ahead,

And now your head is stuffed with bread.

Oh, Fred the fish, oh Fred the fish.

Why are you lying on the dish?

Someone on a local scout group sent this along from Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch). It's his response to a dad asking for help encouraging his son to get his Eagle.

Mike Offers a Potential Eagle Scout His Eagle Perspective

Still: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind,Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent...okay maybe not so clean!

Mike,

I'm not sure where I heard that you are an Eagle Scout, which brings me

to my question. Could you PLEASE take a moment & post to my 13 year old

son Kelby & encourage him to finish scouting (& anything else that'll

help with this?) Reason I'm asking is that he only lacks 1 1/2 - 2

years in reaching Eagle, but some of his buddies have got him to thinking

scouting isn't cool at his age.

Thanks much, Gary -- scooterdave

*****

Kelby,

Your Dad asked me to drop you a line and say something

inspirational that might persuade you to dig down deep and find the

determination to make the rank of Eagle Scout. It's a reasonable

request, from a father who obviously wants to see his son succeed. But

here's the thing - The Eagle Award is not really meant for people who

need to be dragged across the finish line. It's meant for a select

few,and I have no idea if you have the guts to see it through.

Statistically, I suspect you do not. Only one out of a hundred

Scouts make Eagle, so if you fail, there will be lots of other people

with whom you can share excuses. Quitting now might disappoint your

Dad,but I doubt that he or anyone else will be overly surprised. Anytime

99 out of 100 people do the same thing, it's not exactly a shock.

I'm not trying to be cute with a bunch of reverse psychology.

When I was 15, there was nothing that anyone could have said to me

thatwould have inspired me to do something I didn't want to do,

especially a stranger with a TV show. So I'm not going to assume you're any

different, or pretend that I have some influence or insight that you

haven't already heard from a dozen other people who actually know and

care about you.

I'll just tell you straight up, that doing something

extraordinary can be very lonely, and most people simply aren't cut

out for it. Being an Eagle Scout requires you to be different than most

everyone around you, and being different is really, really hard.

That's why the award is called "an accomplishment."

Personally, and for whatever it's worth, the best decisions I've

made in my own life, are those decisions that put me on the outside of

being cool. Singing in the Opera, working in home shopping, staring in

the school play when the entire football team laughed at me, and

especially earning my Eagle, were all choices that required sacrifice,

hard work, and delayed gratification. I have no idea if you possess

those qualities, or even envy them. But I can tell you for certain,

that NOT getting your Eagle, will be one of the easiest things you've ever

done.

Anyway, I have no idea if you would prefer an easy life of

predictability and mediocrity, or if have the passion to follow the

road less traveled. Only you get to decide that.

Good Luck,

Mike

Sounds like a great idea. I'll bring it to our PLC to see if they'd like to do somnething like this.

As another poster said; anything to get them doing things together is good.

Staff should be enthusiastic and willing to do a little extra to help the boys when necessary. The Senior Staff (Camp Directors) should be seeking out feedback throughout the week on how the camp is running and dealing with any issues, as well as motivating the staff.

Agree 100%. A lot of folks on this board can learn from your example.

I agree that CalicoPenn has hit the nail on the head. It is painful to deal with kids and parents like this, but it can and must be done. We have had issues like this from time to time and the Scoutmaster has made sure that the ASM's and the Committee are on board before approaching the boy and parents. It's also imperative that the Scoutmaster have some of those folks present during the discussion. In a case like this it will probably end up that the boy will transfer or drop out. If not, and the behavior continues, he can be thrown out of the troop. Be sure to work with the DE if it goes this far.

Believe me, you'll save a lot more good kids by dealing with this nonsense head-on than trying to save the one kid who probably isn't getting anything out of the program anyway.

We had similiar issues with our District events and were pushed towards combining our camporees with a neighboring district. There was much doubt about how it was going to work, but these have been some of the best camporess we've had in years. The Scouts & Scouters planning the events have worked together and I hope we never go back to doing it on our own.

I have used this to train the boys in our Troop a couple of times. I got it at our Council Service Center.

It's pretty self-explanatory as you go through it. A flip chart is handy to record their ideas as you go through the exercises. You'll need a SM handbook also.

The purpose is very simple; Character Development, Citizenship, and Personal Fitness.

I agree 100% with SR540Beaver.

I earned my Eagle at 15 back in the 70's and have been an Assistant Scoutmaster for 7 years, so I have seen it from both sides.

Our boys use it for hot water. It's safer for them to be pouring out of this rather than ladling out of an open pot.

Of course, we give them the beat up one; the Scoutmasters use the good one!

Our troop is struggling with dwindling numbers as well, with just 10 active boys. Our feeder Pack is struggling also and we haven't had success yet recruiting from other Packs.

We set up at Middle School open-house and spoke to a few boys, but got no recruits. The latest thing we tried was getting the "lost scout" list from our DE, which was a list of all boys who didn't recharter last March. We planned an open house and sent out invitations to 60 boys, followed by phone calls to each. We got one boy to actually show up and he did sign-up with our troop.

We are going to continue trying the local Packs by inviting them to visit our next few outings.

We haven't had much luck with the boys recruiting their friends in school, since scouts isn't "cool" at this age.

Any other great ideas out there?

We've started having our year end COH at our annual Troop picnic and it's gone very well with the boys and their parents.

If you can get the parents there and the boys have fun with it, having it on a campout is a great idea.

This is not the UC's job. The Committee shoud be responsible for checking up on the health of the unit. We have used a survey system in the past to accomplish this with good response.

I agree with he last few folks to post. They need to learn the hard way most of the time. They'll come up with a way to overcome what they forget and do better in the future.

Reminds me of a quote on the cover page of a Dutch Oven Cookbook I got on-line.

Scoutmaster Rule #47:

"No Boy Scout ever starved to death on a weekend campout."

-- Roger Morris, Scouter

The upcoming monthly theme for our Troop is Communications. We have some ideas for activities and presentations at the meetings, but we were wondering what other troops may have done that worked or didn't work.

Cub Basic- 1996

Scoutmaster Fundamentals- 2001

Our Troop went to Gettysburg a few years ago and had a great time. The local council offers a special award program as well.

We are primarily worried about coverage for the potential recruits. The scope of the discussion grew a little, but that's OK. Thanks for everyone's feedback.

We are considering having our boys invite friends who are not scouts to join our troop on campouts or other outings to help with recruiting. Does anyone know what our liability is? Will they still be covered under our tour permit if they get hurt?