Protoclete

We have BSA Scouts and Scouters in Georgia, as part of the Transatlantic Council, and we have talked about how having something in Eastern Europe, Turkey, or Central Asia would be appealing. Is there contact information I could put people in touch with about this?

We are collecting WB ticket ideas (or SB logbook ideas) related to Duty to God / Scout is Reverent / Religious Relationships themes for all levels to develop a Council resource. I imagine many have been around religious emblems promotion or training, but would love to hear if you've run across any.

I'm guessing this was the result of the 'going back to the drawing board' improvements.

Our Council is having an auction, including some unique or rare items that would probably appeal to collectors. Patches, pins, books, et al. Pic below are just some of the items, not nearly all. (I'm not sure if the forum intends this only for free trading or something like this is also permitted, let me know to delete if necessary.) The auction will run online from 13 - 27 March.

My district, along with one other, just ran an authorized pilot of virtual IOLS. It was hugely successful. We are aware of one other pilot program that was not, but we suspect a significant part of that is ours retained the patrol method and the other did not for some reason. And to be clear, when I say ours, I had nothing to do with the planning or the staff, and only a small presentation. The work was all done by others who were outstanding. I merely get the benefit of more trained adults in my district. It is something Scouters in our Council have been agitating for, for years. W

This is the first year I have the opportunity to nominate someone to be considered for Vigil Honor. What are the kinds of things that stand out for you in doing so, what are you looking for beyond someone who exemplifies "cheerful service" and has given their time to the OA? Especially youth v adults? Anything that consistently says to you "that's vigil material"? (Also, if this is more appropriate for the safeguarded area, any chance someone could get me the password to the safeguarded area?)

Er... what? I was just about to say welcome to the Transatlantic Council! Either way, California or England, welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry to read this - I've been there. One of my best volunteers is going through this now, too - he had to step back from a couple of active roles and focus on health and family. Scouting can be wonderful, but it can also start taking over too much of your life. And then throw in the pandemic isolation, I feel the same way - I have my immediate circle of three other humans and feel like I haven't seen a friend or had a good conversation outside that circle in a year. Some ways, Scouts is a saving grace - but that's also all virtual these days. Do what you need to do to focus on

I see the Alumni/NESA Directory is live again, which is great news! Version 2.0.21 is available at https://directory.scouting.org/ I noted some functional issues, which is normal for so early in a rollout, so not a criticism as much as listing what I saw to help whomever is tracking bugs to note them. No problems: edit contact info, load a picture, identify affiliated councils, add social media info, Search function Not working: Scouting affiliations, either edit or sync Awards, either edit or sync with Scoutnet/My.Scouting Add NESA

To be fair, WB is the internationally recognized culmination of adult leader training - even though in most other countries I gather it is more like getting your Scouter's Key than the way we do it. I think it is worthy of recognition with some explanation - it's not comparable to just getting position trained or the Den Leader award or something. But less is more. These days, most adult recognition is a short blurb on the council or district Facebook group: "Congrats to Protoclete, LoneScout, and DuctTape for earning their Super Scouter Award this year." (insert pic of square knot).

I agree. Being one of those beaded, that part was left up to one of the WB staff who was on the call. For us, this is once a year, not a monthly event either. I might go a little longer to explain what WB is, as we do with other awards, but that would only add about a paragraph.

Has anyone dealt with a Scout who was not advanced at a Board of Review (prior to Eagle), and appealed the decision? I've encountered this for the first time (appealing a Life Rank BOR that twice decided he should not be advanced) and looking for ideas on what worked best for others to move forward. It's rare enough here we don't have a district or council process other than checking the Advancement Guide. What was the process, how long did it take, and how did it turn out? Any lessons learned to pass along?

Our Council recently moved to combine several related events into one in person weekend: Scouter's Annual Conference / U of Scouting Council Annual Meeting Quarterly Council Executive Board Meeting Council Awards/Recognition: Silver Beaver, NESA OES, Alumni of the Year, and any national court of honor stuff like a Medal of Honor or Heroism Award. If we had an Eagle recognition dinner, we'd do it here too - just too challenging to get eagles all together in person across a huge geography that we have Our District following suit decided to take one of our monthl

Adult to adult, first name. Scout to adult, I've seen different practices. Some units are consistent using Mr./Ms. for everyone - even then trying to remember titles would be too much. But others are first name for everyone. As a scout, I do not recall using anything but first names for our Scoutmaster and ASMs. I don't really recall for committee members.

I don't have any info but would like to see your website as I'm going to be doing something similar with mine soon. Mind sharing the link?

We are looking at a 20% loss of units in the district. Mostly Cub Packs, not rechartering. Zero membership growth across the board. We usually turn over about 30% of members every year anyway, mostly due to moving, but between last year and this we had the outgoing numbers without the influx to balance. 2020 has had a much more significant impact than the loss of LDS units or controversy over adding girls.

Well, I've since answered my own question - I was expecting it to be as detailed and demanding as Woodbadge, but it is much better crafted and simpler to navigate, provided within the program itself. So, that's done.

I am curious if anyone has done Seabadge as a other than a Sea Scouter. I am a district chair in a council we are starting Sea Scouting, with a large sea and the Council Commodore both in my district, so am going through in a support role, and for my own edification and training. I did woodbadge last year and finished my tickets recently. So I'm curious about the kinds of things that others have done for Seabadge from a similar role, or from 'outside' the Sea Scout program. Thanks in advance.

Maybe. More likely a Lodge/Council requirement, as I mostly remember that from my time as a chapter officer. But then, it was more than 20 years ago so I wouldn't put it past a mixed memory either!

I was active in OA as a youth in the 90s and we had the age requirement of 14 then. To be honest, I had just assumed it was still a requirement.

As regards Chartered Organizations, I have had mixed experienced. My units have almost always been chartered by churches (Catholic, Methodist) and there it usually works really well. The Church sees Scouting as part of its youth program, and though some are better than others, clearly understand their role as COs. Usually the youth minister or religious education director or family programs minister is the COR. The pastors are supportive, whether active and directly involved or not. On the other hand, in my district now, we have international schools that either struggle with the stateme

First off, I love the way you ordered and categorized your list. Agree with lots of it. Curious about this comment though. Woodbadge, I understand, having just gone through it last year, I see how it could get kind of cult-y in some councils. Its weird enough to show up at a Council event and see a bunch of people singing 'Back to Gilwell' with no context or explanation, especially when you're on the outside. Real off-putting. Though I think I'm lucky in my council that its not much cliquish, and also i think there is an overall recognition of this and efforts to overcome in already being

Spinning off from the Major Changes Announced thread, was hoping we could focus on just one idea to come up. That of the 'sacred cows' , in other words, those things which have been unreasonably held to be off-limits for review or reform. Or as @sentinel947 offered, "an idea, custom, or institution held, especially unreasonably, to be above criticism". Healthy reform requires us to be able to say everything is on the table, so we can really identify what is core and what is not. Which services are really necessary, and which are there simply 'because we have always done them that way'.

Just saw the general session from wednesday is now posted: https://nam.scouting.org/

This was my first chance to attend any part of an annual meeting, and only sporadically as not all the pieces seemed open to participation, and some were just too late for me to log in from a time zone seven hours later. On that note, does anyone have the zoom link for the national annual business meeting, or is it restricted like the key-3 town hall was? This is the only one that is not showing up for me that seems like it should be open. It would be helpful if the general meeting were recorded and shared, too, is anyone aware of that happening? I found the region meeting a