NEPAScouter

Northeastern Pennsylvania Council did a screening of its MBC list over the past year. VeniVidi, you're right - it's not something you want to burden a bunch of volunteers too often! In our case a recent district merger prompted the process to get an accurate count of counselors in the combined district. During that process, MBCs were asked to submit some evidence that they were qualified to give a Scout a view of the merit badge's subject that could go beyond the merit badge booklet's content if the Scout asked questions that went beyond the merit badge requirements. In some cases, like Family Life, this was pretty pro forma. In cases like Metalworking or Astronomy or Oceanography, though, several MBCs who couldn't point to long-time hobbies or employment-related skills were dropped from the lists.

My understanding is that it will be placed somewhere along the in-camp road that leads from the complex of main camp buildings (e.g. the handicraft lodge, the Admin building) up to the COPE tower. Where exactly along that road it will be is a little unclear. I've heard it will be be just beyond the Delaware campsite going toward the COPE tower, if that helps make things clearer to forum readers who've been to Goose Pond.

Thought this might be of interest to history buffs on the forum. There is a project afoot to relocate and restore a cabin originally used by Dan Beard throughout the 1910s-1930s. The destination is Goose Pond Scout Reservation in Northeastern Pennsylvania. For those curious, it is a private project that is not being subsidized by the local council.

http://www.neagle.com/features/x512672493/Dan-Beard-Boy-Scout-cabin-to-be-restored

http://www.nepabsa.org/danbeardcabin

For another data point, often EBORs in my council include a question or two about current events, and they're included with the intent of seeing how "mentally awake" the candidate is as an informed citizen of his community, nation, and planet. The questions are generally open-ended and give the candidate a great deal of latitude in answering.

Example: "Tell me about a recent event or news item (within the last 2-3 weeks) you read about on the national level (or community or world level)."

Example Followup1: "Why do you think this news item you selected to tell the Board about is something that informed citizens should be aware of?"

Example Followup2: "That's an interesting item and you did a good job describing that position. Can you give me more details on why the opposing person/group takes the position it does?"

Sometimes a candidate had a strong personal opinion in the followup that was politically counter to the opinions of some board members. In those cases, the questioning board member sometimes mentioned their opposing opinion, but they or the board chair always spelled out to the candidate at the same time that the candidate's opinion was respected. The candidate was told that the difference of opinion would have no bearing on the board's outcome. In the last four years I have never seen these situations lead to any problems for candidates.

What DOES cause problems for the candidate is if they indicate that they haven't been making any effort at being informed -- be it by newspaper, magazine, blogs, tweets, etc. Or if an age-appropriate justification of why an issue or event should be considered significant isn't forthcoming.

It's ancient history, but I know for a fact that at least one secession actually happened in Pennsylvania.

In 1970, the former Anthracite Council (area around the city of Hazleton) merged with the former Wyoming Valley Council (area around the city of Wilkes-Barre) to form the Penn Mountains Council. In 1984, the area comprising the former Anthracite Council removed itself from the Penn Mountains Council and joined neighboring Minsi Trails Council. To bring things up to date, in 1990 the remaining Penn Mountains Council merged with the Forest Lakes Council (Scranton) to form the current Northeastern Pennsylvania Council.

I was a kid in the 80's, and only learned about this through local scouting historians. I have no idea how it was accomplished procedurally, or even whether it is still possible.

Occasionally our troop holds a long-term patrol competition. We hide a totem in our troop's home town at some public place of business, then the patrols compete in weekly scout skill games for the chance to pull clues from a bag. When a patrol thinks it knows where the totem is, the patrol leader and at least 50% of the patrol go to the location, identify themselves as scouts, and ask if the totem is there. The business owner is instructed to play dumb if only one or two scouts show up. If the patrol figured things out correctly, they get the totem and bring it back to the next troop meeting where they are recognized with a patch for their patrol members and a streamer for their patrol flag. If they're at the wrong place, well, they can keep trying. The scouts' concern about not wanting to get embarrassed at asking in the wrong place keeps them from just wandering all around town trying to find the totem.

The clues get progressively more detailed as the contest goes on, so even a patrol that doesn't get all the clues (aka a new scout patrol) has *some* shot at finding the totem even late in the competition. For a while, the totem was Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live, who'd get kidnapped by his nemeses Mr. and Mrs. Sluggo, so this shows you how far back the game goes for us. We try to keep the competition to go no longer than 8 weeks, but we make the first two weeks' set of clues vague enough to have the competition last at least 4 weeks.

I don't know how widespread the practice is, but I think it is becoming more common. It's being used in my council now. Here the ratings are based on how the unit measures up to Journey to Excellence standards, as reported by unit commissioners. The units are told up front how they fare in the ratings -- they don't need to ask. But, as in your district, Eagle732, I don't think the unit ratings are public.

The reference to the time frame for Green Bar Bill's "Handbook for Patrol Leaders" (1929-1967) made me remember this example of a campout entry from a patrol logbook back in the 1950s:

http://www.vbvm.org/troop21 (Click on Album, then go to 1955 and select Patrol Campout).

If you're looking for an example of what could be done up if a scribe is motivated, help yourself!

As other responders have noted, the Valley Forge Encampment is an annual February Scouting event held at, well, Valley Forge.

A Scouting Magazine link on its history: http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0311/a-test.html

To get an idea of what the registration process involves, here is the Cradle of Liberty website link for the 2010 Encampment.

http://colbsa.org/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.asp?LinkKey=32263

According to that link, if your unit is interested in camping at the event, you must send at most 2 youth and 2 adults to their "cold weather training" seminar in January of the year you're going, unless you've taken the training in the past 2 years.

Sign up for the mailing list for 2011's Encampment here: http://colbsa.org/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.asp?LinkKey=37385

Hope this helps, Eagle732!

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen! UCEagle72, you might also like the immersive videos, for the latest in "you are there" technology! The videos let you pan around and zoom to whatever angle you want while the cameraman walks around. They're a bit of a bandwidth hog, though -- only cable connection speed and faster will play them back without too much stopping and starting.

The whole Jamboree site should remain up for the remainder of the year, so enjoy! As my first time, it was truly a mountaintop experience. I'm sorry I missed it as a youth...

If you've been visiting the Jamboree website (http://www.bsajamboree.org), I'd

appreciate your evaluations. It's been primarily aimed at keeping the folks back

home up-to-date about the happenings at the Jamboree, and less aimed at

informing the Jamboree participants of stuff (though we've been trying a little

of that through the streamed QBSA radio station).

And, no, just because I'm working in the webmaster office, I'm not missing the

Jamboree at all! They've got me wandering around collecting lots of multimedia.

Maybe you've been posted on the site -- check it out!

From one NEPA guy to another, welcome Ken!

Assuming the scout's family is interested (not all of our members are Catholic) we traditionally have the presentation of the Eagle medal in our chartering organization's church. The presentation is made in the middle of the Mass, and an Eagle Challenge is read, in front of the whole congregation. After the Mass there is a dinner at which the troop's veteran Eagles form an honor guard to guide the new Eagle to the troop's Eagle plaque. The scout places his nameplate on the plaque.

Going back to 1928, the plaque has the names of, among others, the first two Eagles in the founding council, a WWII KIA, and a Distinguished Eagle. We don't overemphasize these facts at the dinner -- after all, it's the new Eagle Scout's day! However, the scout has heard these facts before and is fully aware of the kinds of work our Eagles have gone on to perform and that he is called to continue.

Never heard about the US Flag retirement idea before; strikes me as a great idea!

While we're on the topic of Eagle traditions, our council's Boy Scout camp (Goose Pond), has the following tradition. Near the end of the closing campfire, all Eagle Scouts are called to the stage area. They each say their name, troop #, and year of attaining Eagle. Then that week's new scouts who took part in the Pathways course (introduction to T-2-1 skills) are called up to stand in front of the Eagle Scouts. As a challenge to them, someone from staff plays "Eagle on His Chest" on a guitar and sings the lyrics written by Mike Huneke. Very inspiring, especially since right after that we sing Scout Vespers.

In reply to jhankins, here's the thread on the policy: http://www.scouter.com/Forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=265517

I also don't think the "reduce Summit competition" idea is behind the policy. The data on the NE Region's site is too detailed to escape the conclusion that the existing set of summer camps is too large for the number of councils and scouts in the region, as things now stand.

The key here is "as things now stand." The reason I posted what I saw on the region website was that, too many times, I've seen camps and councils blindsided with sudden announcements from the powers that be that a camp must close, without much of a rationale beyond "the SE says so," or, "although we never made an issue of costs before, suddenly this year the camp is just too costly." This time, the standards are public and uniform for everyone in the region.

There may be time for scouters to help some camps or councils change how things now stand and meet the requirements instead of being blindsided. There's a 2-year period involved, with the possibility of extended grace periods afterwards, if I read the policy correctly.

I'm not saying it will be easy or entirely free of bad feelings -- some camps will undoubtedly close, but I'm hoping the standards will encourage consensus-building among scouters and professionals on deciding which camps or councils are just too far gone, and which are still salvageable. It's much easier, in my opinion, for scouters and professionals to agree on how heroic of an effort is needed to meet explicit standards than to meet drifting whimsies of local executives.

The big problem in this kind of conversion (MIDI to anything other than MIDI) is that the MIDI file doesn't contain any sound data, only instructions on what synthesized instruments' notes to play at what time and for how long.

This conversion requires at some point to have the MIDI played and the audio captured into a "digitally sampled file format" (e.g. WAV, AIFF) that can then be converted to MP3. When you tried using Audacity, that's effectively what you were doing: relying on the computer's built-in mic to pick up what is playing through the computer's speakers and store it into a sampled file in Audacity. As you've found, bleedorange, your mileage may vary.

Audacity won't do the recording "internally," which is what we'd prefer instead of adding noise and distance between a built-in mic and separate computer speakers. A look on Google and download.com shows some software packages that will directly convert without playing the MIDI "out loud," but the majority of them cost $20 and up.

I know iTunes on the Mac will do the conversion directly, with the end result usually sounding a little deeper than the original. I'd guess that iTunes on Windows should support the same feature. If you have access to iTunes, go to the "Advanced" menu, pick "Convert to MP3," and select the midi file. It should sound much less faint when you listen to the final MP3 file. "Fuzzy" or "deeper" might still happen.

Good Luck!

I received notifications from Terry's first one onwards.

THANKS!

Same problem for me. I haven't been receiving notifications since November 2009.

Well, after a lot of discussion within the committee and a lot of consideration of the postings here, my unit decided not to visit the Jamboree via a camping trip in the vicinity. Our council is running a day-trip bus to the Jamboree, and that's what we're promoting to our scouts who are interested in at least seeing what the experience is from the outside looking in.

All I can say is, I hope I'm as active as he is now when I'm half his age!

http://wcexaminer.com/sections/news/archive/2010/02/03/at-108-reynolds-likely-nation-s-oldest-scout.aspx

In the other thread about Kittatinny Mountain Scout Reservation (KMSR)'s possible closure, the original poster referred to a letter from the council to the scouters that mentioned how the camp wasn't meeting many of the "15 Traits of a Successful Camp." A little digging back then on the NE Region website found a powerpoint presentation that included the traits:

Camp operates for 6 weeks or more w/900+ campers.

Camp income exceeds all year-round expenses.

Camp Ranger is full time, exempt, National Camp School Certified Council employee.

Camp has detailed maintenance plan that included scheduled major replacements (roof, etc.).

Complete operating statements (all income, year-round expenses and operating statistics included) is regularly reported.

Camp property 50 miles from other Council properties or is best of those in 50 mile radius.

Camp fees cover all year-round expenses.

Camp staff - 50% over 18 years with low turnover.

60%+ of Council Units camp in Council camps annually.

All Camp personnel requiring certifications have current training cards for the positions they hold.

The Camp is Nationally Accredited.

Council has a current Strategic Plan that includes current asset and property management plans.

Council system tracks year-round property use, Scout and non-Scout users.

Council budgets, accounts for and reports all depreciation regularly.

Council surveys campers, leaders and staff regularly to determine satisfaction levels.

Not too long ago a new link on the NE Region website appeared:

http://www.nerbsa.org/generalinfo/counciladministration.aspx

According to the cover letters to Scout Executives in that link, there is a new policy now in effect in the Northeast Region regarding how councils will be authorized to run camps. Here's the summary as I read it:

A) All councils in the NE Region are asked to review their camps and asset management practices according to the 15 Successful Traits, and to determine whether their camps are operating at a deficit -- that is, determine whether the council is subsidizing annual camp operations (not just summer camp time, but year round).

B) If there is no deficit, and the usual regional camp evaluation process (including the 15 Traits) goes well, then the council will be authorized to run the camp.

Otherwise, here is what the cover letter says:

If a Councils audited Statement of Operations reflects an operating deficit and the Council is subsidizing overall annual camping operations; and,

The Council operates with a unit-serving executive to total available youth population ratio of more than 16,000 youth per executive (approximately the 25th percentile compared to all Councils); then,

Area leadership may conditionally approve the Councils application to operate resident camp(s).

The cover letter also says a little later: If a Councils performance, as defined by the benchmarks shown above, is not achieved for two consecutive years, Area leadership is authorized to deny a council application to operate resident camp(s) until appropriate plans and improvements have been made.

Finally, in another part of the Final Report on the NE Region Website link above, it says that the NE Region will strongly recommend to National that these regional policies be considered for inclusion into National policies.

The total collection of information at the site link is very interesting reading. Some statistics cited:

There are 127 camps in the NE Region.

Since 2000 there has been a 9.7% decline in attendance at scout camps.

Combined, NE Region camps operate at 37% capacity (I wonder what accounting this involves).

NE Region councils own 190 properties combined, and of that total, 26% have conservation easements or donor restrictions or deed restrictions.

The report also discusses whether councils with closed camps should merge or share program resources with those whose camps are open. I've always thought camps should be closed only if they fail to meet clear and fair standards for some period of time. Looks like the standards are coming (in the NE Region at least for now). I just hope there's enough time for those standards and their implications to get out to scouters early enough so that we can be part of solutions to problems now at still-open camps instead of mourners later at the gates of closed camps and merged councils.

If the "grandfathering" approach truly employs the philosophy of having any part of a requirement done be the basis for allowing grandfathering of old requirements, then the issue kenk raises goes beyond T-2-1. Any scout with as few as three non-Eagle merit badges should, under that understanding, get to apply the old requirements all the way through and including Life. Star permits 2 non-Eagle MBs, and then any extra non-Eagles must be applied towards Life.

Somehow I doubt national intends for this to happen, but I've been wrong before. In the past when national issued a new set of rank requirements, my troop gave scouts the option of following the old requirements for the rank immediately after the one they currently hold, if the current rank was earned before the new requirement set went into effect. In the case when the next rank was Eagle, we coordinated very carefully with our Council's advancement committee.

shortridge wrote:

Additionally: Is anyone familiar with this study and its results, more broadly for NER? Or about the 15 traits of successful camps?

A search on Google revealed the slide set for the report on the Northeast Region's website in the Area News section. http://www.nerbsa.org

In case it disappears, here are the 15 traits:

1. Camp operates for 6 weeks or more w/900+ campers.

2. Camp income exceeds all year-round expenses.

3. Camp Ranger is full time, exempt, National Camp School Certified Council employee.

4. Camp has detailed maintenance plan that included scheduled major replacements (roof, etc.).

5. Complete operating statements (all income, year-round expenses and operating statistics included) is regularly reported.

6. Camp property 50 miles from other Council properties or is best of those in 50 mile radius.

7. Camp fees cover all year-round expenses.

8. Camp staff - 50% over 18 years with low turnover.

9. 60%+ of Council Units camp in Council camps annually.

10. All Camp personnel requiring certifications have current training cards for the positions they hold.

11. The Camp is Nationally Accredited.

12. Council has a current Strategic Plan that includes current asset and property management plans.

13. Council system tracks year-round property use, Scout and non-Scout users.

14. Council budgets, accounts for and reports all depreciation regularly.

15. Council surveys campers, leaders and staff regularly to determine satisfaction levels.

As part of my troop's 75th anniversary activities (we're now in our 82nd year), we researched the early years of the troop, including the WWII time period, with the intention of checking for troop members who died in the war. Unfortunately, many of the families of members from that time (1928-1945ish) have long since moved away or passed away.

Fortunately for us, our council had our troop's original written charter applications stuffed away in a cabinet drawer for those years. In spite of 2 council mergers in the meantime! By cross-checking with this website's information

http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/ww2/army-casualties/

we were able to recognize four of our members who died in the service of our country, including one who earned Eagle in 1942, entered the service in 1943 and lost his life in 1945. We make sure that our new scouts learn the meaning of those stars on our flag.

PS: the link above also has links to casualties in the other armed services besides the army.

Yeah, it's an old thread, and I've mentioned the disc on another thread about video games, but I thought some forum members might like to know that this song by Mike Huneke is included on the "Goose Pond: A Timeless Adventure" disc being published by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Council, especially since the bleujay.com publishing site mentioned by Eamonn is gone.

http://gpsrcd.nepabsa.org (look in the "Tour Details" section of the site)

"Eagle on His Chest" is the song that's become a tradition at Goose Pond Scout Reservation. It is played at the closing campfire ceremony that simultaneously recognizes the Eagle Scouts and the new Scouts in attendance each week. We're grateful to Mike for his permission to publish his song on the disc.

As one of those nerds (computer science professor -- hi nolesrule!), I was irresistibly drawn to this thread like those moths I see around the camp lanterns. I hope the analogy ends there!

Good points, Shortridge and DWS! I'd also add to the "nerdy but hopefully welcome" merit badge list the new Robotics MB slated for 2010.

Regarding the question of whether a recognition for some proficiency in science or math has a place in Scouting, both Boy Scouting and Venturing have their members make commitments to developing themselves mentally as well as ethically and physically. Boy Scout members say they will keep themselves mentally awake, and Venturers say they will seek truth in all things. I think most of us would agree that scientists and mathematicians should be mentally awake as they ply their trades! Why not encourage that trait in our mathematically- or scientifically-inclined youth with an award?

Venturing and Boy Scouting both aim to develop some leadership skills in their youth members. I've seen leaders who don't understand the limits and capabilities of science often make poor policy decisions on behalf of their constituencies (this happens in both major political parties, so please no one turn this into a political discussion!). Not all Venturers or Scouts will pursue leadership positions in government or industry, but I'd hope that those who do would have the chance to see that science and math are respectable tools in their toolbox for getting their jobs done. Even if they aren't inclined to use those tools themselves, they should understand them enough to be able to ask "sanity-check" questions about how well their advisers are using those tools. Again, a science/math award could come in handy here for contributing to the development of the leaders of tomorrow.

I'll wait until the requirements come out before judging the award's potential. If the requirements reward scouts merely for getting good grades in science courses, I'd be inclined to dismiss the award as poorly designed -- scouting is not reducible to a classroom experience! However, if they get scouts to see how science and math relate to scouting's methods, other aspects of their lives, etc., while developing their science and math skills, I'd be inclined to welcome it. Even better, if the requirements get scouts to appreciate the importance of combining ethics with scientific pursuits, I'd downright embrace it.