mlg0171

$50 Annual dues including BSA registration $200 Summer Camp Weekend campouts free (paid by troop funds via fundraisers.) One or two campouts a year may have special activities requiring fees. All profits from popcorn sales go to the scout's account to pay for any fees, equipment, uniforms, etc. The troop has a hardship fund so nobody is excluded due to $.

We tent camp eleven months per year, so when we see the splitting-hairs approach, it is with scouts who are not very active. It's pretty easy for an average scout to get to 20 nights over a few years if not in one year. But we always have a few scouts in 7 sports who show up once a year and want to bend the definitions because they are being pushed to Eagle by Mom and Dad. So this is a symptom of that larger problem. The sad thing is that if a scout comes to summer camp one time, and a weekend campout once per year, he can earn this requirement before he is 18, yet some still want to s

We recently started using Google Documents (docs.google.com) to help plan and communicate. I thought others might be interested. Note that all troops have different circumstances and this may not be everyone's cup of tea. E.g. we have a large troop and our SPL's are usually computer literate high schoolers with internet access. Google docs are online word processor and spreadsheet documents (think Word and Excel) that multiple users can use. Note there are also "Presentations" which I suspect is like PowerPoint, but I haven't played with it. We've found two uses so far.

cubdadinnj, I run my troop's website. It is a great resource, but you are right about there being pitfalls. I'll leave behind the security concerns that have dominated the posts so far and give you some other advice. 1. Start small. Add later. 2. Think hard about what you need there. Just because you can put something there doesn't mean you should. Assuming you have other forms of communication (patrol leaders making phone calls to their members, announcements at meetings, troop emails) you don't need everything at the website. 3. Some content on your site will be "st

cubdadinnj, Like all of us, you've had a person or group of people volunteer to take on a task and now it is getting nowhere, but I gather from your email that they haven't actually quit. If they quit, then you could at least pick up the ball and run with it yourself or hand it off to someone else. So, my first advice is to deal with the fact that you have a couple of volunteers who aren't making it happen. Until then, the rest is moot. Security sounds like an excuse. You can make one, some, or all pages password protected. It doesn't take two years. Be polite but upfron

Most browsers (I use FireFox) will remember your username and password and load it for you, if you have that option set up.

A few years ago, I had an older scout leading the younger scouts in a meal planning session for the next campout. He was fielding ideas from the group and making a written plan on a white board. When they thought they were done, I suggested they go through the menu again and add some fruits and vegetables. The older scout, very sincerely concerned about wasting money, looked at me and said "no one eats that stuff."

ASM915, The troop considered all BSA camps within Ohio and many outside the state. Seven Ranges would, of course, be on that list. I believe it made it to the short list and was also highly recommended by one of our Eagles. (He went to Seven Ranges years ago with another troop.) Our selection was based on many factors including space availability for our large troop, distance, etc. and shouldn't reflect negatively on the camps we did not select.

Yeah, Beavah, but it's the exception, not the rule, so I don't think it's a big deal. The alternative (two or three BOR's close together) just seems like jumping through hoops to satisfy our sense of order. Interesting, though, your use of the term "stranger". I realize you are exaggerating, but our committee members aren't strangers. It's common to see some of them on campouts and at meetings. Maybe we're lucky to have that level of involvement.

At the SM conference, our SM instructs the scout to call the CC and schedule a BOR. Puts the responsibility on the scout.

So Beavah makes a good point about artificial time hurdles to slow down boys who tore through the ranks fast. As he acknowledged, it is not clear that this is the reason for Kansascity53's situation (the scout may have been in for a long time, but had one Tenderfoot requirement holding him back), so I spun it off. I came across a troop that uses only quarterly BOR's. If a scout finishes a rank one week after a BOR, he's on hold for three months till the next one. This quarterly system is meant to slow the scouts down because they were advancing faster than the adults preferred. I thou

When we have a boy complete two ranks at once (or even three) I don't think the BOR is much longer than a normal one, if at all. We're not re-testing the material. We're having a conversation to find out more about him, what he enjoys about the program, what he'd change, what meaningful experiences he's had so far, whether the SM helped him set goals for the future, whether he's aware of how the whole system works... None of that changes in a BOR for two ranks. I can't imagine how the scout would benefit from doing that three times in one night or one month.

Believe it or not, the search committee (from which I distanced myself because I have enough on my plate) started with a list of 50(!) camps, got info on all of them, and whittled down from there.

This is a common occurrence (finishing two at once is more common) and should not be held against the boy. Star, Life, and Eagle intentionally have requirements that keep those ranks in a progressive order, but such requirements are glaringly absent from Tenderfoot - First Class and it is not our place to add them.

Funny you should mention it...we booked there. Thanks.