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pargolf44067

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Everything posted by pargolf44067

  1. I had heard something a month or so ago that something like this was happening. The rumor I had heard from a couple of different people is that it was going to be merged into 1 council, which I thought was ridiculous.
  2. We take the month of August off from regular weekly meetings, but we have our annual planning meeting (and by we, I mean, the PLC and I) in August. We had our elections in May, so the boys knew who to go to in order to give ideas for the next year. Our first committee meeting isn't until the first meeting of the year where we review the calendar that the boys have come up with. It isn't always perfect, but it works fairly well. I guess I would ask who is running the planning meeting and why it isn't the boy leaders. (in a nice way obviously )
  3. I have heard from a couple of different people that there is talk of merging four or five councils in Northeast Ohio into one large council. I haven't heard anything official, but a couple of different people who are not in the same circle saying this has me somewhat concerned.
  4. Like you said @@Stosh, be careful what you wish for. About 8 years ago, I had 16 kids cross over at once and that was tough, and I had a bigger troop to begin with! Now we are lucky to get 1 or 2 a year, so somewhere in the middle would be good .
  5. So here's a question. What happens when the situation is reversed? We have volunteered ourselves to help with meetings, offered den chiefs, invited to camp, invited to meetings, etc with our CO's pack and we can never get responses. We only got one of their Webelos this year (their four split between three troops). Usually the only time we hear from their leaders is when they want to get their bridge out of our shed. We haven't given up yet and we keep trying. One of their main leaders' son went to another troop this year with his older brother, but he seemed to be directing all the a
  6. Actually, @@Krampus, we used to do this in our district and we got a lot of Webelos this way. Most of the troops would actually have an activity for the boys to do rather than just talking at them and then the adult leaders could answer any questions about the troop the parents had. It was a very well done program. We hadn't done it for awhile and I suggested to our Unit Commissioner how useful that was. She mentioned something to the district/council powers that be and they decided to try something again this year. However, we just got notice of it and it is in 3 weeks. Not sure how muc
  7. So sorry for the loss. She was always a great read. I, too, lost my mother to cancer at a relatively young age. Although you go on, there is always a huge hole in your heart. Thoughts and prayers for you and your family.
  8. I just got a group email from our district advancement chair stating that if we got the email we were officially on the MBC lists. And, oh by the way, attached is our MB Midway flyer, please make sure to sign up to do a couple of MBs. Now, I really like our advancement chair and he really is a good guy who likes to do things by the book for the most part. But he is pressured by council to push their MB Midway to get counselors to volunteer. This is the second request I have received to sign up. I am sure by the time this happens in late winter, there will be at least 5-6 more times that I
  9. Echoing everyone else here @@skeptic, glad you made it through and take care of yourself. Thoughts and prayers with you.
  10. @@Eagle94-A1, I am probably stating the obvious here, but I tip my hat to you. From the posts on this thread, you truly care about the boys and making the troop as good as you can. The fact that you are willing to do whatever you can to help the boys and the troop become truly boy led just amplifies this.
  11. As is my son, an Eagle from the 2011 class. I manage a business intelligence and data anlytics team for a specialty retailer.
  12. There was a couple of posts in the Scout Cooking topic that talked about breaking camp on Sunday and what time people head home. I admit that we are a troop that breaks camp and leaves around 9 or 9:30, which is not the earliest in camp, by the way. However, the one thing that I noticed is most camps around us want troops to check out by 11 with some as early as 10. Like I said, I guess most scouts are gone by then anyway, but for those who want to stay it is hard when the camps are kicking troops out by mid-morning. For those who said they don't break camp until later, are you at scout
  13. Along these lines, my troop had their first PLC of the year (after the Annual Planning Campout) last night. Only one of the boys came prepared with writing utensils and notepads and no one had the information that I had sent out ahead of time on the theme for the month that they picked. (I know @@Stosh, they should be getting this stuff, but small steps first ). This point is that they really weren't prepared to be the leaders even though I had been telling them what was expected of them. They still were used to adults leading the meeting. So, I helped facilitate this meeting first by a
  14. We sent someone this summer who just finished 7th grade and I think is still 12 (or was at the time).
  15. I agree with @@Sentinel947 for both the NYLT comment and the fact that sometimes you have to give up on beating your head against the wall with the older ones. When I first came in the first time, the old SM had done things certain ways and the older scouts were used to that. When I came in and had gone to training, I tried to get my older boys to be more leaders and they really didn't want that. I found that the kids that were in early high school and middle school were the kids that were buying into it more. They liked the idea that they could be leaders and plan things themselves, while
  16. The only way I have ever done a flag retirement is to cut it up first, usually the union separate and then the individual stripes, with some respectful ceremony and then burn, sometimes taps was playing, sometimes it was just quiet reflection. I know there is a lot of indifference, for lack of a better term, towards the flag, which saddens me. But I always look at the flag with honor and reverence and treat it the same way. It is amazing how many boys in troops out there let the flag drag on the ground. That is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
  17. @@Stosh, I think you have some great ideas and I hope the forum doesn't lose sight of all the experience and passion you have. I hope I didn't indicate that I don't value your ideas, because that is not at all what was intended by my comments. I remember all those guys from when I first came on the forum and started as SM 10 years ago. Great insight from them as well. They could be a little rough around the edges, but generally good guys with a ton of passion.
  18. Going to vent for a minute here. First off, I am sad to see BD leave the forum. I respect him for what he has done with his troop. He obviously loves working with this group of kids. Hats off to you. When someone mentioned that he was the second to leave in as many weeks, I didn't know who until I looked at the name change and last post of someone. That is a shame as well, as even though we didn't agree on everything, I got a lot of great advice from him. We have a very diverse group of people here, not only from a political point of view but also demographically and troop make up
  19. I spoke to the Unit Commissioner for both us and the pack associated with our CO. She told me that she was able to recruit 20 new boys for the pack at all levels, not just Tigers, which is great because they have been seeing membership dwindle over the past couple of years. The pack's response to this was "What are we supposed to do with all these new boys?" With that response, I wonder how many of those 20 will stay. I also received an email from our new Lead DE this morning that he is going to set up recruiting talks in the 6th and 7th grades at our schools in October to try and get o
  20. @@Hedgehog, your experience sounds like mine. I never camped as a kid, lasted two months in Cub Scouts and thought roughing it was a flea bag motel. Once my boys got involved in scouts, however, I got more involved in Cub Scouts and went on overnight campouts for Webelos with my older son, became a den leader right away for my younger son and bought my first tent at 36 years old to go on a Webelos campout. I became an ASM with the troop my older son joined and went on campouts with them occasionally and took some training. When we moved and the local troop that my older son joined had
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