qwazse

First, let me get it off my chest (probably stealing BD and a few others' thunder) that this particular aspiration of yours and your friends is one of the dumbest things I've heard of yet. But it's not harming anybody, so I'm gonna pretend that I support you and set you along to acquire your left-handed smoke shifter. (Anti-hazing activists, just tape your fingers before you type!) It sounds like you are trying to argue from the standpoint of fairness. Remember the thread about female venturers and O/A? The fairness argument, although sound, is not strong. You (and your friends who may be rankled by this) need to determine how "being fair" will enable your council to "be great." Then, build a solid plan to pitch it to the people who are keeping the gate. For example, you could say that if your council announces that several youth did exceptional work and earned awards that have heretofore been reserved for scouters, it may inspire more adults to take time out of their busy schedule and attend UoS. If you explain to your scout executive that you are more concerned about increasing the quality of the program than having the same plaque on your wall as some adult does, you may begin to gain some traction. On the course organizers' end, they might see giving the same award to youth as diluting the value of the certificate. Or, maybe they are concerned that once you all become adult scouters you won't participate in UoS because you already have the certificate from when you were a youth. You will need to figure out how to demonstrate that these risks are minimal relative to the benefits of changing policy. In other words, it's not enough that it matters to you. To persuade folks, it needs to matter to them.

I've never taken anything that comes out of NCS seriously since it said lifeguards shouldn't have whistles. Everything you listed just screams "catapult". The engineering would involve classes of levers, fulcrums, construction, etc... the technology would involve guidance, and upscaling from your marshmallow/dowel models, (e.g. "How much of a lever could we get from that tree?" "If we could, how far might it throw?" "If our target were on the other side of a hill, how would a scout figure the direction to aim?" "If we were on the moon or Jupitor would it work differently?" "How?") But seriously, you could take nearly anything, bicycles, PWD cars, mess kits, first aid, and generate a STEM program from it.

How are these council-specific programs related to the "College of Commissioner Science" degrees? I honestly have no clue about Laurel Highlands Council, but I'll let you all know when I find out.

It just doesn't seem like there's enough of us taking these perpetrators (before their false ideas are set into actions) on forced marches into bear country ...

NG, my Orthodox family gyrates quite well in both evangelical and catholic circles. Your concern is a non-issue. Our "cousins who left us" might be impulsive, but they are not naive as to where their theology comes from.

By all means if a pro guide is best for the job hire him. It might amount to a nominal fee, but just think of the benefit to the troop if a small number of boys tap their ISAs to again those skills. In all seriousness, most outfitters offer MBCs as part of their operation. The cost is little or nothing over their rental rates, and

Well, there's no one person to turn to. A strong committee should put a CC/COR "in their place". The other way around: any leader with good followers gets into the habit of getting approval from them before acting. Your unit commissioner may be able to sit all of you down and point out that some of the adults are feeling railroaded and that is taking the fun out of scouting for them. But your district chair may have never assigned a UC because CC/COR is putting on a good show of it at roundtable. 'Bout the only single person that can tell them that they need to change is the institutional head. But, in my experience, the best people to effect change are the parents who take time to sit on a committee and insist that business be transacted differently.

Considering the number of times I've had to dig through a dozen of those buggers just to get something out of the glove compartment ...

On one trip, a scout was mesmerized at how I "randomly" picked berries, roots, lichens, and succulent leaves for snacks as we walked along the trail. I explained to the scout "all the better to remember those 10 plants! Besides, I save my trail mix in my pack for those points on the trail where the bears beat me to God's snack cart!"

I see camps start charging units a fee for electricity use.

All the better to help a receiver find the end zone on a foggy morning!

One way or another, the fundraising is gonna happen. Either every boy will do odd jobs and pay for their own fees/gas/uniforms/awards/etc.... Then donate a bunch of hand-me-downs and spare change to any kid he knows needs it or expense that everyone at the time can pitch in. Or, the unit will maintain a large budget with accounts for each boy that enables him to see if he's done enough to cover his cost to the troop for serving in it.

This sounds like a "friends of" organization, and the COR is representing nobody but family. How many adults attend Pack committee meetings? Does the COR attend roundtable and council events? (I can kinda guess the answer.) If someone is behaving this way, it's because nobody else stepped up and said "That's not how things should work. Let us do our job, and you do yours."

Our SM challenged us to set them up blindfolded!

Don't forget those veggies! An adjacent campsite once had one scout who fried asparagus in garlic and olive oil. My troop did without me and my tin bowl for a half hour that day! Also, don't be afraid to ask mom or dad how to cook your favorite meal. Maybe you can make it work with your mess kit, maybe not. But, it's definitely worth trying. (If it's something complicated, you might not have it down by next month, but by the end of the year ... just maybe.) FYI, When I was 13 (just the other day) I stared down my last meal of franks and beans by the campfire and said to myself "nevermore!" Campfire meals have been awesome ever since.

E441, I'm really glad you (and presumably others in your crew) took advantage of UoS. I've only been able to get a couple of youth involved. I especially hope that during breaks, you offered your service as "graders" of the Dutch Oven course. In principle, I think ambitious youth should be awarded accordingly. But, I would rather them get their certifications outside of the "One Day Scouting" framework. For example, I've had very bad experience transferring the CPR course I took at UoS to what I needed for BSA guard re-certification. (They didn't confirm that the medic they got to teach the course had authority from Red Cross to issue cards!) I would hate for that to happen to a youth! For me, UoS degrees are a big joke, but the networking helps me be better advisor even if I don't get the pieces of paper (I can volunteer in other ways that don't need them). For youth, I would rather them work on "real world" certifications that they can be sure apply to jobs they want or schools they'd like to attend.

Our CoH was outside, by a campfire. We didn't have a proper fire circle of benches, so we brought out folding chairs. We're gonna change that next time. Best part: the WB staffer didn't anchor the log so it kept rolling off the table!

A friend of mine issued a test where each question had one of his students' names among the wrong response choices. Not seeing any of ours in your list, I don't know where to begin the process of elimination.

I really want to look you guys up if I'm down in FL, please. I'll bring my own kit for the families who might be bothered about a Goyam defiling their mess. For completely different reasons, SM raided Target and bought patterned plastic plates for each of the patrol boxes. It kinda sorta works, but we still see one patrol's pattern in another patrol's box.

S99, some scouts (troops) are in a situations where doing it this way is the most secure. Like you, I'm all for rugged individualism. But, I know a scouter who can help boys open student accounts at a local bank that is a safe walk/ bus ride for my boys or my parents understand the value of banking and will gladly pursue it for their kids. For other troops, a scout's position is more precarious. Those of us who have only seen troop fundraising $$ go into a boy's account find it odd. Many of us are not entirely sure what the difference is between raking leaves, selling biofuel, or hawking entertainment coupons. The question then becomes, (and this is how the issue was presented at our round table) can a troop allocate some fundraising $$ to boys' ISA's based on the scout spirit the showed during the fundraiser?

Walking stick between two tallest scouts. Dash to the nearest playground. Lash a span between two tripods.

I don't know how YOU describe HA bases to your boys, but I'm very clear in explaining that they are training centers. When we send them (they don't go without unit leader approval), it's with the full expectation that they will return better prepared to help the rest of the Crew and Troop map out their own adventures. 72 miles in 5 days. Most of that group were senior venturers returning for a bigger challenge. In the following year their equipment was found on a number of young venturers' backs. To be fair, most of those boys didn't bother with popcorn. They all had jobs. And they came back under budget and requested the surplus (zero of which was fundraiser $) be donated to the crew. Lets' see. Who is the troop? Oh yeah. The boys. They can decide if they want to pool their ISA and send some to FOS. Based on my experience, I would more likely trust them to do that then a bunch of adults who belly-ache about needing a trailer, non-stick pans, or more propane for night lights! T2E, thanks for the full quote from Forbes.

Better than nothing. Definitely better than all of the buttons for a feature being there and nothing happening after you've typed a decent length message. Lots of folks have their E-mails from social sites buried in spam folders anyway, so for them, this might get their attention better when it matters. So, PM away, me lads! Hopefully, we'll have chances to make it each other's real campfires!

Lessee, the boy ain't spending it to pimp his ride and take his girlfriend on a road trip. But supposing you don't want to count that rugged Philmont scout who carries your pack for you after your back breaks at mile 8 of 12 ... following the money, the troop benefitted directly with 1k in its coffers, indirectly from council camperships for the families who needed it and council services to the tune of another 1k.