mashmaster

Great job

I did notice very much that many units just stopped and refused to adapt during the pandemic. Our Ship was able to adapt and grow over the last year. We did lots of things different from the past and we try to be open with the youth and parents for creative solutions. All units are as strong as the amount of volunteers they have. We are constantly in the situation of having to get enough adults to go camping and sailing. It is a heavy burden on a few people, that I fear will stop being able to help out. We have had to cancel events because of not enough adults. That hurts the youth

The Pack made it 10 years, but from what I saw. The group I was with built a fabulous program and it thrived. The next group maintained, then the following group didn't adapt and change, they just stopped doing and being engaged. So the end was written before Covid. I think Covid accelerated it.

I found out tonight that the pack that we started when my son was a Wolf folded at the end of the year. So much time and effort, started with 10 scouts, quickly rose to 80+ scouts, stayed active and thriving until the parents and scouts from that 80 moved on. I saw the righting on the wall, but it makes me so bummed. Somewhere there is a really nice trailer and pinewood derby track that the scouts worked hard to raise money for. A school of 800 youth are now unserved by cub scouts.

I think the real problem is middle school aged children..... Both male and female lose their minds during this period of life. My program is high school and up but for my younger scouts that are 14ish, I do have to coach them sometimes on what is appropriate and what isn't but usually that gets handled by the older scouts that set them straight. I think this is why middle schools exists as separate entities from elementary and high schools. God bless all the middle school teachers and staff.

As a leader for a co-ed program, I have not seen any of this behavior. They work together very well and bring out the best of each other. Each scout has unique skill set. I see it work really well in Sea Scout Ships and Venturing Crews.

When I was a Scoutmaster, I always did the conferences for Star, Life, Eagle. For the lower ranks I would delegate them to the ASMs. Just worked best that way so I could spend a good amount of time with the older youth. When I had newer ASMs, they would sit with me during conferences. It helped with the training of the future Scoutmasters as well. So I think it is ideal.

Yeah, it isn't faint for the heart. This is the black diamond route that is at this mountain bike site. I will never ride it and it is 1/4 mile from the fire station 🙂

After so many years, my son is now an Eagle Scout. His project was really amazing IMHO, he built a downhill mountain bike course for the local community. It started as this brush, trees, limestone, and cactus. Now it is a blast for skilled mountain bikers. He raised over $4000 in materials and the project was a ton of hours over 600 if I remember correctly. Here is a video of someone riding it when it was almost complete

Plus Venturing and Sea Scouting. Trust me it is so cool working with the High School + aged kids.

Our crew is looking attending the Summit Experience. Has anyone here attended it with a Venture Crew?

Fair enough about team management vs project management. The tickets of some made me scratch my head, a lot. Anyway, back to scouting.

Wood Badge attitude leaves a very bad taste in my mouth about it. The amount of hype that people talk about it makes me not recommend it to other scouters. It is a class on project management not scouting(I have been a project manager and had all this type of training outside of scouting). I did have fun in the class with my crew when we weren't staring at powerpoint slides. IOLS, OWLS, Sea Badge, and Powderhorn are all better than Woodbadge (The difference is that all those focus on scouting). Maybe it is my council, but the people selected for the course staffing is all political and t

Yeah, one reason I am not a fan of advancement per se. So many people focus on Eagle that it becomes the sole goal of scouting. Many "Eagles" are paper thin on the rest of scouting. Advancement is only one method of scouting but it is the most most easily tracked. For example my son who is a BOR away from Eagle took his time, he decided he wanted a big Eagle project that is massive (his choice so we supported him and it came out great), attended World Jambo, 3 of the 4 high adventure bases (Philmont twice), worked with his Troop/Ship/Crew to plan and particpate in three roll you own ad

I just accept my scouts the way they are and let them be. I try to stay away from all labels, it makes my life go easier. Since we are co-ed, there is a rule about no PDA's that seems to work and qualifies for everyone.