Eagle94-A1

While you may be paid less, you get away from the parents, and you will work with folks that will become friends for a lifetime. There is something special about being Summer Camp Staff, and I wish I would have worked it in HS instead of college and as a pro. But since I was essentially supporting myself once my father left, I needed the money,.

Depends on the Scout. Since none of the MBs you need are offered, what is offered that you are interested in? Some will take other MBs, and 2 scouts I know repeated MBs they already had for fun. While one SM I met said it was a waste of their time and money, the Scouts had fun. Personally I wish one them would have taken Lifesaving again instead of Swimming so he could practice skills, and I could "drown" him when I played victim. Some camps offer specialty programs/ HA programs. Camp I went do offered a HA program that was a BLAST! BSA Lifeguard is another option, and if you take the ARC test, you can get a job too. I lifeguarded throughout HS and college once certified. Working camp is another suggestion. To me it seems as if fewer and fewer camps offer free swim, boating, and shooting. If your camp offers that, chill out and do that.

Regarding the 1998 stats, take them with a grain of salt. I know there was some inflation, i.e. Ronnie Holmes and Greater AL Council. While that is the largest one known, there were inflated stats all over.

Actually one of the wagons I had a broken wheel. So it was a 3 wheel wagon, and acceptable by G2SS rules for my Cubs to use for transporting gear at camp.

I actually had a bunch of Bears laugh at me when I told them they could not use their little red wagons any more to transport flags for our Memorial Day service project. They thought I was joking.

When the matrix first came out about 6 or 7 years ago, I was ticked off to the point I was complaining to the local SE asking if camp cooking and popcorn sales would be next to be restricted since the matrix is based upon US Department of Labor rules for companies. He contacted national about it. Since some Life Scouts work in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity, BSA decided to adapt their rules, which are based upon DOL. Plus BSA does hire youth, and those rules do affect summer camp staff. Still they are a joke. Oldest son as a 13 year old started his own lawn cutting service. But if he went to work for a friend's business, he would not be allowed to cut grass.

You are correct. For reasons I can only assume, my council did not convert the ISSUs into LFL groups. I lost about 10# in the butt chewing I got from my boss when I turned in LFL paperwork instead of traditional recharters.

Back in the day, my council didn't have LFL units, they had "In School Scouting Units."(ISSU). I got in a bit of trouble for turning some of those "ISSU" to LFL groups. Sarcastically some of my peers dubbed them "Traditional For Life" and "Learning for Traditional" units, and there was some challenges. After the reprimand, I "dropped" four of those units. They miraculously reappeared after I quit. As for Venturing and Awards, advancement was never meant to be a method in Venturing. They were meant to be recognition for folks interested in them.

With all due respect to Qwazse, it is the understatement of the past 2 decades. Venturing had so much potential when I first heard about it in May 1998, that A) I was jealous that Exploring was not like it reagarding the recognitions and challenges to get them when I was of age and B) could not wait to promote it. Sadly my council focused o Cubs and "in school Scouting" units.

Glad that Scouters didn't need to be around when I did my project. Only adult there was my mom, and she took care of snacks and drinks. My buddies did all the work, and I did the supervising.

Technically you are as CORs are part of the district and council committees with voting rights. Grant you I've only seen 1 COR do just that, but he was also the district chairman as well.

I hope not, but it sure seems that way at times.

You're not in NC by any chance? One of my district folks said nearly the exact same thing when I told them how long I was in Scouting when I first moved here.

Originally, the goal was to finish the program by the end of the school year, May or June depending upon where you live. When national dropped the age of Tigers to 1st grade, they also made Webelos an 18-24 month long program. Many packs moved the Webelos AOL and Cross Over ceremonies to Blue and Gold in the February/March time frame. For whatever reason, people got it in their monds that ALL advancement had to be done by Blue and Gold, and that is not the case at all. IMHO, with everything else going on at BnG I do not want anything else going on. @Jameson76 I think you got the wrong engine. I believe this is the Eagle Express.

With the exception of his brother and 2 others, one of my Eagles didn't use any Scouts in the troop. He wanted to do something for his church, and got members of his youth group there involved since their families would benefit.

I am going try and go on a tangent. Oldest is at the stage where he needs to figure out a service project for Eagle. His plan is to finish the Eagle Required MBs this summer, then do the project in 2019. I told him this morning I know he wants to do his project next summer, but he needs to start coming up with ideas for a project. He smiled at me, and I knew he had an idea. SO I asked what it was. He wants to take old, out of date computers, refurbish them, and give them to local organizations that help people get back on their feet. Apparently he saw a Youtuber do something similar, except with new computers, not refurbs. My initial thought was, THIS IS CRAZY! {emphasis). But what I said was, "remember the purpose of the project is to show leadership. You need to plan, organize and execute the project.How are you going to do that?" His response was rational and doable. Ijust hope itpasses muster withthe PTB

For some parents, it's apparently speed.At last nite's meeting, one of the helicopter parents commented how her son needs a SMC to have his Second Class BOR next week. This is the same mom who A) commented on FCFY 2 weeks ago and I old her it more important for skills than an arbitrary time line and B) whose son has snuck into his dad's tent on several occasions, won't stay in a tent unless dad stays with him until he falls asleep, or just whines and complains until he goes home.

To anyone interested in the position, Having worked at both a council and for national supply, I am going to quote what a longtime volunteer and mentor told me when I asked for his recommendation: "HELL NO! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR [EXPLETIVE DELETED] MIND? ARE YOU INSANE? JESUS, HAVE MERCY ON HIS SOUL!" Yes the caps are deliberate. What I find interesting is that no experience in the Scouting movement is required.

Yes. When LDS church announced their decision to start backing away from Scouting, National decided to end the Varsity with a date of 12-31-17 as the last day. Varsity Scouts can join troops or crews now. The LDS church was the largest user of the program. In fact, I only heard of one group outside the LDS church using the program, and I only ever saw Varsity Scouts once in it's 34 years of existance, and that was at jambo.

I did 6 years as a DL, and was burned out. While the first 2 groups were a joy to be with as I had parents interested in helping their kids, so they stayed around and had fun too. Youngest son's Tiger den was a challenge. No one was willing to step up and help out. The parents there stayed glued to their phones. Grandparents there either had health issues, or also stayed glued to their phone.

After I left the troop I grew up in, I stayed in contact. Don't know how, but they had 3 different CORs: one for the pack, one for the troop, and one for the crew. I could understand how there were 2 different CORs since the pack was one number, and the troop left a CO and kept the original number. So I could see how that got overlooked. But the crew had the same number as the troop. What was funny was the SM of the troop was the COR/CC of the crew, and the crew advisor was the COR/CC of the troop.

Sad but true. I had to team up youth and adult staffers for IOLS. Adult staffer was to keep the adult participants in line if needed.

We had a crossover the week before OA elections. They only knew one person on the ballot, their Den Chief. Out of the six or seven eligible, the former Den Chief was the only one elected because of all the new Cross Overs.

Every Scout's journey is different. I spent 5 years as a Life Scout. I admit some of it was "the fumes," i.e perfume and car fumes. School and work also played a part too. But until Senior year of HS, every Friday nite, unless on an JROTC trip, was Scout night. And while I may not have made all the camping trips, I made a good number of them. I'd say on par with folks today. But for the most part, I was having too much fun and not worried about MBs needed for Eagle. Instead of summer camp, I was doing jamboree, HA in Canada, going through advance training, essentially having fun. I didn't want to do the boring "paperpushing" MBs of the Citizenships and Personal Management. I wanted fun stuff like Lifesaving and Motorboating. And I have seen a few Scouts liek that. One thing i have found that keeps them active is giving the Scouts ownership of the troop. A bunch of the Scouts who made Eagle were like me; active and having fun, but not focused on advancement until 17 hits them. But I have seen a bunch who are not active, sometimes even quit for a while, only to come back and push to get Eagle. heck even know of one who tried to petition national for an extension due to sports taking up all his free time. Thankfully he didn't get it as I know a bunch of athletes. who MADE the time to stay somewhat active and earn Eagle

Understood. I know once upon a time, when Scout was not a rank, the SM could award Scout at the Crossover, as well as waive the 2 months tenure for Tenderfoot. Don't have my original 1979 edition handbook, but the 1988 printing only has the 2 months tenure being waived listed.