mashmaster

Makes it really difficult for Sea Scouts and Venturing, we are always struggling to find a female leader.

On 11/2/2022 at 7:59 PM, mrjohns2 said:

Side note. It is no longer a Bridge of Review. It changed last year. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2021/08/02/take-note-of-these-11-key-changes-in-the-2021-guide-to-advancement/amp/

Well that is just idiotic since they are different.  As pointed out they have different members but probably a change made by those in "Tan" that don't understand Sea Scouts.

1 minute ago, fred8033 said:

After years of my arguing, I'm beginning to flip sides.  Troop adults get much value out of the BORs.  It's often uncomfortable and clumsy.  But, there could be lots of value having scouts listen to one of their own give them feedback.  Perhaps one or two adults sitting at a distance, but within hearing range.  It opens conversations between the scouts.  It creates connections.  It also would help an 11 year old feel comfortable talking to a 16/17 year old.  etc, etc, etc.  

Agreed, it is truly youth led.  Have adults in the back listen is great.  I might even say, maybe a mix of older youth and adults for the board.  I just think having "adults" be the board, doesn't enforce to the scouts that it is youth led.  So IDK, I just like having the youth more involved at all levels.

7 hours ago, RandomScouter said:

makes me feel sorry for anyone who doesn't live where they get to see the vibrant reds, fiery oranges, and golden yellows of autumn.

Yeah, but we don't have to shovel snow.  And I can sail year round, so I just roll with it.

So in Sea Scouts it is a Bridge of Review performed by the scouts.  We have an adult in the room but the scouts are much harder in their questions that Adults.  We commonly have to tell them they aren't there to re-test the scout.  But the scout is usually much more responsive to the other scouts and rolls with the questions than I have seen in troop situations where they feel they are being grilled by the adults.  

A lot of times it is perspective about who the scout is talking to.  For Quarterdeck it is Adults like it is for Eagle and the scouts are much more nervous.  And this is the easiest requirement of all, but it is really nerve wracking for them.  

I wish that the youth were involved in the Boards of review in Troops as well.  IMHO

The Skippers conference or Scoutmaster conference is easy because they usually already have a strong repertoire with the scout and it always starts with "this isn't a conference it is a conversation"  I can see the stress leave their body once I say that. 

I wish we had Fall colors.  we don't get them in Central Texas

I have been a leader for Venturing and Sea Scouts for 5 years now.  I know that the age is older and the are more mature.  But co-ed makes our group stronger.  

1 hour ago, qwazse said:

I pitched the build-our-own summer camp to our scouts ... no takers. But, I would just like to point out how special the scouter.com "bubble" is ... How many of you learned about home-grown camp weeds from your ...

• District Roundtable,
• Council Newsletter,
• University of Scouting, or
• Powderhorn?

The coolest scouter I met around this topic was at Powderhorn.  He exclusively did roll your own adventures and they were amazing.

Speaking of which, Texas Powderhorn is coming next month and there are still a few spots open.  I am on staff again and it really is the best Powderhorn course around IMHO.  DM me if you have any questions.

For our Sea Scouts and Venture Scouts we do mostly roll your own summer adventures.  $300-$400 is a bargain that you get with scout camps.  Having roll your own it is scout run, designed, and led. Not focused on merit badges but on the adventure.  Having a need and requirement for lots of adults to run a variety of merit badges is a huge ordeal.

I love our roll you own adventures, but they are best with older youth. For instance this year our venture crew decided they wanted to do a live aboard sail in Florida.  We connected with units there and the scouts with the leaders their coordinated almost all of it. The adults handled the final details for the drive.

On 6/20/2021 at 5:28 PM, ShutterbugMom said:

Thank you for all the replies.  I am glad to hear it isn't in the scout handbook and I am thankful most of the units let them use them responsibly.  I feel like that is the best course of action.  They are usually banned in our unit but we were told that they could take them for SeaBase.  I am very disappointed this leader took it upon herself to take them from the boys and none of the other three leaders stood up to her and told her it had already been discussed that they could have them.  So, most of the boys had NO cameras.  My son had a waterproof camera and did take pictures, but there is only one underwater selfie of him and one the captain took of him from the side.  I am so disappointed to not have more pictures to make him a photo book.  But this is an important point for me to bring up at the planning meeting, and I will also suggest they start trusting the kids with the phones according to the scout law.

I will note that while I am a Skipper for a Sea Scout Ship which are the same older age that you are referring to for your son.   We don't ban phones from them but it has happened more than once that phone end up at the bottom of a river, lake, or sea.

It is a really hard call for the scout to make to mom and dad "Mom........  ummm my phone is at the bottom of the Buffalo river...."  and as leaders we get grief from mom and dad about them losing their phone.

It is still normal for me.  I am nervous about every trip, meeting, and activity.  That is a good thing IMHO, you are thinking about the kids.  If we get to the point where we can do it blindfolded, that is where something will go wrong.

Today, I found out that one of my scouts attempted suicide last night.  Thankfully unsuccessful and hopefully going to get the help he needs.  I was one of the first people the parents called, so hard to grasp.  But glad I was their for his younger sister tonight to help take her mind off of it. 

Welcome, good luck!

11 hours ago, Cburkhardt said:

My views about non-viability are limited to Venturing only.  Mashmaster, so you know of current, well-run "outdoor adventure" Venturing Crews of long-standing that exist without significant professional or commissioner servicing?  I don't see many of these based on many years of engagement, including the predecessor "outdoor adventure" version of Exploring in the 70s-80s.

 Sea Scouts is in a different 'circumstance and should survive relatively as-is for reasons beyond the scope of this posting (many of which have been previously discussed).  Sea Scouts has smaller numbers but is almost 100% serviced by a passionate stand-alone corps of volunteers from Ship through National.  It is nearly unaffected by the controversies and financial deformations of recent years, but needs to recover numerical strength due to COVID losses.  

The Crew my son is in is still thriving, and another two crews in our area have been around a long time and are still thriving. None of them have any commisioners or professionals servicing them.

10 hours ago, Cburkhardt said:

Barry,  My thoughts start with my regretful view that the stand-alone program will not survive.   These are for the reasons already well-discussed above related to lack of demand, lack of focused volunteer resources to keep it going and a general failure to thrive for multiple factors.  I wish it were different.  Assuming that to be the case, my thoughts focus on repurposing the concept in a way to continue providing an older youth program that can function in a practical way.  Girls in our Troop stay because we offer a rigorous high-adventure program for them that is unavailable any where else in the District of Columbia.  We would simply brand that activity as Venturing and offer the girls the ability to do the advancement program.   The only things we would gain is use of the advancement program and and a rationale for older teen girls to join us (without having previously been active in the Troop).

I know of multiple Ships that have been around for decades.  A stand alone program can survive just like a Troop can survive.  Any unit survives by the ABC method "Always Be Cruiting!"  The units change what they do based on the youth in the program not the adults.   The youth define what the unit does and I have seen our ship evolve over the 5 years I have been there based on the youth.

I have have seen Crews live and die because they followed or didn't follow the ABC's .  There needs to be an evolving continued stream of youth going through their unit. 

I am a Skipper, and we didn't stop doing.  We adapted to follow Covid guidlines.  We certainly did less that previous years but we continued to meet and do.  We are smaller so when we meet in a park for our meetings vs. a troop we have 10 kids in camping chairs.  They don't have as much of a need to play physical games.

Happy to discuss more about what we did if it is helpful.

I think if Venturing folds in with a troop, all of our Crew members would quit scouting.  My Ship members too.

The youth in our Crew and Ship joined to get away from the Troops.  Troops work well for many scouts but for many Crews and Ships are the option that works best for them.

My son is an example of this.  He was done with Scouting at 14 and he tried a couple of Troops.  They all didn't work for him.  He joined a Ship and Crew which allowed him to thrive.  He completed his Eagle with the Ship, went to World Jamboree, Philmont Summer and Winter, Sea Base, and several roll your own high adventures through out his four years in them.  Eagle project was nominated for project of the year.  This is a similar story to several of our scouts.  

People need to stop trying to force youth to stay in troops.  Troops are great for some but not all.  I thank God for the options available that allowed Scouts like my son to continue his scouting path.

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.

On 3/11/2022 at 12:01 PM, fred8033 said:

That is my perception too.  Co-ed reduces boorish, uncouth behavior.  

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 🙂