nuwriter

Here's a little piece I wrote over the summer to help get parents thinking about summer camp. 

https://mikecooney.net/top-10-reasons-scout-camp/

Looking for help recruiting Cub Parents? Here's something I put together to help you out.

https://mikecooney.net/11-steps-recruiting-scout-parents/

In my time in Scouting, I've really only raised my voice and yelled at one Scout - but it wasn't in anger.

This 11-year-old Scout was standing by the flagpole during a thunderstorm.

So I had my buddy Ken Lee on my podcast, talking about how leaders can help their scouts earn Religious Awards. Ken's a great scouter, and he really knows his stuff. I know most districts don't have a Religious Awards coordinator to come give this talk at the unit level, so maybe this podcast can fill in some holes for you.

https://mikecooney.net/podcast/ep-12-scouting-religious-emblems-ken-lee/

If you're rechartering your unit for the first time, here are the seven mistakes you're going to look out for to make the process go as smoothly as possible.

https://mikecooney.net/biggest-rechartering-mistakes/

"Fund Our Salaries"

Stop this. Scouting professionals make less than they otherwise would in any job of a similar skill set. They have families and children to support. Most of them put in 50-60 hours a week. 

They're under tremendous pressure on a daily basis. And while some volunteers are grateful, you get a great deal of grief from people who have no idea what they actually do. 

Can you imagine the sort of person who would look with scorn on a person who has dedicated their lives to Scouting? 

Stop this nonsense. Scouting professionals make less than they otherwise would in any job of a similar skill set. They have families and children to support. Most of them put in 50-60 hours a week. 

They're under tremendous pressure on a daily basis.

And while some volunteers are grateful, you get a great deal of grief from people who have no idea what they actually do.

In order to help you reach more families in an organic way, I wrote an article My Top 10 Reasons for Joining Cub Scouts. 

The idea is to share it in appropriate local Facebook groups in advance of your joining nights to get the interest of prospective families in a slightly different way. It's been fairly successful thus far. 

I hope it helps you.

So I recorded an episode of my podcast with Scouting with Special Needs expert Sandy Payne, and I thought you might like to hear it.

She's pretty great and gives an overview of a number of different disabilities. She also goes over advancements, and "coding", and quite a bit more.

https://mikecooney.net/podcast/ep-1-scouting-special-needs/

I've never organized one... but we used to do them as a District Fundraiser when I was a Cub Scout.

So, I'm almost a 30-year scouter (which makes me nearly 40)

I've been a scout, a camp staffer, a scoutmaster, day camp administrator, Wood Badger, district committee member and professional Scouter in four districts (Katahdin Area and Connecticut Rivers Councils).

My son will be a Lion in 2018.

Most camps that I'm familiar with have some combination of closed and open program. They offer a certain number of merit badge sessions, and then fill the remaining time with "open program" which can be used to for troop activities, patrol activities, or free time in program areas.

JN Webster doesn't have one this year. They have in most other years. I'm still in contact with international scouts from Egypt, Poland, and Moldova.

We even had an international Scout from Japan in 1968 come back in 2015 and 2016. He roomed with the same guy all three years.

Maine High Adventure is a great program. It's the most flexible "camp-type" program I've ever been around. You get there and then plan your trek at the base camp (which you cannot drive to, you need to get in by boat). 

It's a bit of an odd setup, as it used to be run by National. Then it was run by the Pine Tree and Katahdin Area Councils in conjunction. Then Pine Tree dropped out. 

When I was there, we started a program where you could take your troop to Camp Roosevelt, and then your older scouts would go for a four-day trek a couple of hours up the road at Maine High Adventure.

During my time as Lodge Staff Adviser, we did OA Ordeals there too. Really rustic, but beautiful facility.

We did Okpik at Camp Roosevelt in Eddington. Scouts built their quinzees right on the pond. Temperatures didn't usually get about 0 for most of the weekends. Never a shortage of snow. Usually about 15-20 scouts.

What would you want to know, over 30 years with the Katahdin Area and Connecticut Rivers Councils as both a volunteer and a professional covering the North Star, Penquis, Waldo, and Mohegan Districts?

I wrote this article about the lessons you learn on the trail. I hope you find it useful.

https://mikecooney.net/life-skills-learn-backpacking/