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Troop Advancement Coordinator should be able to run reports to show that. Scoutbook and Troopmaster I know have canned reports to show that well.

With only 3-4 youth, and if only 2-3 want to do camp this year, you are likely going to get the response of "send them as provisional" this far into the summer. Your best bet may be to get ahold of whomever in your council oversees program, and find out if they can connect you with another girls troop who is already booked, and see if they have capacity to host you at their site with their kids/adults.

Looks like you have the "required" patches. Many committee members don't uniform at all, so I say your uni is looking sharp

The fact that SBR, even on just a limited number of weekends a year, doesn't have a handful of campsites available for unit camping is just a poor use of resources. Such a small amount of the total area of land is "developed" , and it is an ideal location for some weekend backpacking trips, and there are numerous opportunities nearby, like you say, for rafting and there are several horse ranches that do day treks as well. Let the place get used for more than summer HA, and jambos.

I don't want to bog us down into a political haberdash here, but a logic question is what proof does her dad have that his daughter was actually the first??? Can we really say that no female, ever, did the same requirements as their male friends along the way? How can we confirm that there was never anyone else? And, I'm sorry, but what advocacy has Sydney or her father done to change the female-only admission policy of the school she attends in NYC? Why is that not discrimination, based on his own statements about equality?

Ad Altare Dei is a bit more involved than Parvuli Dei - it is a lot of work and a time commitment. Parvuli Dei would be a cub level emblem, worked on with parents/guardians, and is in no way a prerequisite for Ad Altare Dei which is a more structured program worked on with a counselor. While the NCCS gives the recommendation of 13-14 years old and completed sixth grade for AAD, each child is unique and that is not necessarily a hard and fast rule. If your son is very involved in his faith, such as participating in your parish youth group, active as an altar server, attending a Catholic scho

Generally elections would involve every Scout in the troop, so elections at the PLC doesn't seem right. Discussion of the Plc and SM to create the new patrol rosters would have seemed appropriate, so that elections could take place at the next troop meeting. The ASM spending all that time at the white board tells me all I need to know- this is an adult run troop. Adults, and I include the SM, should speak only when spoken to or are asked a question in a youth-led PLC. Ideally, all the youth should be at the table and adults sitting on the outside. Appropriate that the SPL would give the S

We just had Conclave this weekend, so this policy change was a topic that everyone was aware of and talked about, but consensus is that changing from 10 months to 6 months does little of encouraging more involvement/participation. Most feel if we are losing the youth after they complete Ordeal today, this doesn't solve that problem. One observation that I took from the weekend, compiling various comments, was that we've had a much higher number of youth under the age of 14 going through Ordeal for the past decade+ than we did 20-30 years ago, and that may not have been a great thing in retro

Valid points. Youth are not apt to read emails, let alone respond to them. Instagram and Snapchat are their frequent communication vehicle with "acquaintances", and text messaging with "friends". If we aren't making any of our messaging relevant they are going to tune out. as with anything, if it's rank advancement related, you may get them to pay attention to get the requirement signed-off. Sinking in though, that is a whole different story. A few years ago, I had a parent (this was outside of Scouting) tell another parent and I that they didn't need to worry, their son "isn't on so

Quite a few camps also have museums and/or memorabilia displays, often cared for by the alumni associations. We've done a weekend campout themed around the MB at a camp with a museum, and it makes it a pretty easy way to accomplish the activities during the weekend to have the kids check off most, if not all, of the requirements to earn the badge, without it feeling much like they were in a "class". Had the PLC plan some games during the day (orienteering games are really right in line with the activities from the original Brownsea), a visit to the museum after lunch with some very engaged "

GTSS does have a restriction of 6 feet for pioneering projects. You have to search for that though, as it is under the "working at heights and elevations" detail. Some of the "rules" are just plain odd, really. Bouldering walls, for example, are not supposed to be higher than the shoulder-height of the scout. How many bouldering walls do you know are 4 feet tall to accommodate a scout that is only 5 feet tall?

I'm in agreement with the comments that labels can be problematic. If the program is strong, and truly youth-led, and it is the youth that are creating the means and opportunities for their fellow scouts to advance then there is no problem. If they choose to have MB nights, and select the MBs to be offered and recruit the counselors needed, great. If it is a situation like what @bsaggcmom suggests, where the adults are directing it, then it is not particularly a good thing. If the youth are planning and selecting service opportunities for their fellow scouts to have the selection to partic

I have been a mentor for this award, and make sure you read through the book and make note of the various "project" components in each section. There are requirements to make posters/presentations, to conduct a service project, the day retreat, visiting the church, etc. My groups have met for 1 1/2 hour meetings bi-weekly, total of 9 meetings just to do the book work. Some of those "project" things the kids had to do on their own at home to bring to the meetings. The target age group of this award is 11-13 year olds, but I've had 9th graders do it and say it was a lot of work.

Sorry, you are looking for comments on MA summer camps? I ask, as Sayre is not a traditional summer camp- they have a summer program, but it is not setup as overnight camping. While I can grasp your comments about Sayre, the reality is SoA did that open program so the property gets used as much as it was to get interest in Scouting. It isn't a camp that was getting a terrible amount of usage, especially considering how close it is to the major roadways. Units in their council on the other side of Boston would rather go their properties in NH than try and make the commute through Boston on a

My example of Scout to counselor ratio is more about the badge and what the structure of the MB college allows. I have taught at a few. If the event gives me only a three hours to work with Scouts on say Personal Management (with the disclaimer they have some homework to do on their own as well before or after the event before I can "sign off") , I can do it with a small group of enthusiastic youth where I can relay a concept, get their feedback and have a discussion. Trying to do that with a larger number, for me, would diminish my abilities to actually counsel them through the badge, so

IMO, it depends on the badges being offered, and the structure (ie how many Scouts per each MB class). If the MB event is a whole day or two half days dedicated to Rifle Shooting, Shotgun Shooting or Archery, and on the same limits of the number of Scouts that is used at summer camp, then I see it as no different than summer camp. If it is First Aid, and again uses the same # of hours & Scout ratio as your summer camp would use, then I see no issue. If it is Personal Management, with 20 Scouts in the class with one counselor giving it lecture style, then I would absolutely agree with yo

Not sure how every council handles the process- the link below my be helpful on how our council handles the process. I've been told on several occasions that our process follows the recommended process from National, but who knows. Once the scout has their signatures, and notifies the District Advancement Chair the workbook & application are complete, scheduling of the EBOR begins. Generally, if the notification is complete by the Friday of the 3rd week of the month, the EBOR gets scheduled for the third week of the following month. The council gives a certificate the night of the EBOR

A brand new troop with only enough scouts to fill one patrol, no, SPL isn't a priority and can wait. When you have enough scouts to have two functional patrols, absolutely have an SPL elected and begin to train the troop on the model of having the SPL lead the way. Yes, if they are all inexperienced, you as SM are going to have a lot of one-on-one mentoring with that SPL outside and inside of the troop meetings. But, by watching that SPL, your other scouts are learning what the job entails and why it is important.

As our iOLS training team was preparing for our course we held recently, when it came to discussion of the GTSS we all just sighed. In past courses, we always gave a brief talk to the participants about getting familiar with the GTSS as they worked with their youth to conduct their annual planning conference and selecting activities. This year, we seemed to just not collectively have the strength of will to even mention it for some reason...

If a council/camp was offering something like this as a means of giving family members not actually involved as troop leaders an opportunity to experience what their child gets out of a week of camp with their unit- that is, as a "supplemental experience"- I could live with that. However, I would not be in favor of the camp even showing a hint that advancement of any type during these weeks is being recorded or tracked for the scout. For me, that leaves the family to bypass their child going to a week of camp with their unit.

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The names for the ballot are given to the election team by the SM, so there should be no one on there that he/she did not approve. The team must take his/her word the scouts meet the requirements to be eligible (minimum camping nights, etc.). There are NO WRITE INS allowed. If someone told our team they were going to lawyer up, I would laugh in their face.

The aoL knot didn't come around until the late 70's. Not so sure about the Eagle Scout knot.

Being your Pack is that small, and you mention that other parents are feeling frustrated, is finding another CO an option? Then you can all go en masse to creating a new unit. There is no rule you have to be chartered to a CO with a troop attached to it.

I have a $45 1.5 man tent that I use. Can't fully stand up in it, but can adequately sit up in it. Gives enough room for me and my pack. i use a thermarest as well. Even on OA weekends, when cabins are available for the adults, I tent by myself. I have an ENO hammock, but I'm so much more of a side sleeper than a back sleeper, so it isn't very restful for me. If you have a routine you use at home that gets you into the rest mode, try and keep that as much as you can even on camping trips. If you like to watch TV before a few minutes after climbing into bed, try and watch a few minutes o