Jameson76

Returned from camp on Saturday, just some observations on new scouts and troop sizes The camp we attend has about 1,000 campers per week (+/-). This is week 2 for them. They have had roughly that number for the last 15 years or so that I have attended there with the troop. Some observations. 1) New Scouts - Typically new Scouts made up roughly 25% - 30% of the attendees. This year it was about 15%. Mainly this is due to Covid we presume and the decimation of the packs in 2020 and 2021. Possibly this will improve, but it did have an impact 2) Troop size - In the past to hav

Would this be an addition to BSA Scout program OR instead of Scouts (BSA)? Wonder who "You" is and who are you paying?

This could be part of the issue. If BSA, with myriad of staff and volunteers on multiple levels still needs to inform key stakeholders (one would assume they are that as they are at NAM) what "Social Media" may be, BSA has missed the boat. BSA unfortunately uses social media as a billboard and not a reflection of the program. They should be highlighting participants doing things, not just promoting events. Social media should be a way to spark interest in (1) Families of young people (2) Actual youth. But, as BSA does little to no marketing or brand awareness any way, guess missin

That sums it up. One would think the goal would be to make it easier to add and retain members, not the opposite Many of the volunteer leaders that are at the national level have no idea what it takes to run a unit in the current environment. Many have been actual unit leaders, but it has been a while. I have a friend that does work on various national committees, last time he was on an actual campout with actual scouts in the actual woods was maybe 15+ years ago. Many decisions appear to be made in a vacuum. Once you lose touch with your core customer, the battle is lost. In ou

To quote Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles....We've gotta protect our phony baloney jobs!. Or in the BSA's case .... We've gotta raise money for our phony baloney jobs!

I see both sides. All the leaders in our unit have or had youth in the unit; but we always need assistance. Random person comes in and wants to volunteer, that is all good, BUT, we as the unit do have a responsibility to vet volunteers. After college I worked with my home unit for a couple of years, that was the connection. Working in a new area I worked with the troop at my church, again that was the connection. I another area I worked with a troop where I was good friends with the SM (we had been involved in Scouting activities). The road to the volunteerism is smoother with some

To add to some numbers observations 1 - In addition to local camps, more than 28,384 participants went on treks at the BSA’s four national high-adventure bases: Philmont Scout Ranch, the Summit Bechtel Reserve, Sea Base, and Northern Tier Philmont (Pre-Pandemic) would handle 20,000 + in a year. That would be mean less than 3,000 each for the other 3 bases, which is really low. I guess the DisneyEsque Billion $ Bechtel Boondoggle is not packing in the Scouts 2 - In 2022, 35,533 young men and women earned the Eagle Scout rank, joining more than 2.7 million Americans before them.

Is Scouting Fun - depends on how the unit is run. Is it a game with a purpose? Yes there are many forms, impediments, and potential oversight challenges, but actually the GTSS leaves open many many items. For our unit we eschew district and council events, they are waaay to much not fun. When you get the 40 page PDF and have a 45 minute safety briefing at the leader meeting can be trouble. Someone asked if one of us should step in and help plan, our feedback was life it to short, there are some ingrained folks that run those so better to move on to more fun things. One headwind w

There are the numbers listed in the report to congress Cubs - 580,194 Scouts - 415,564 Venturing and Sea Scouts - 15,400 Explorers - 30,870 TOTAL - 1,042,028 Down from 4,683,000 in 1970

Use the troop website for signup and paypal to collect any fees. Leaders indicate who will attend also. For the outing we can set a cutoff time, Scouts can add notes if they are coming later or leaving early. Also we can enable for guests if appropriate. Scouts can see who signed up, etc etc. Then Monday before the outing the patrols plan meals. Transportation makes sure we have drivers

Not to stir the pot too much, but I was triggered they referenced Native Americans and not First Nation, or indigenous, or First Nation indigenous. Though First Nation may be a Canadian thing. Also, on the demographic questions at the end, only 2 sex choices, that is soooo 2015. The survey folks need to take CIS merit badge apparently.

Interesting thoughts. Our unit would be considered an "old school" traditional unit. Camping, hiking, Scouts playing games in the woods, youth led, etc. etc. Many families are opting for the units that are perhaps more new wave. What Scout units are becoming is reflective of what the families EXPECT a Scout unit to be now. That would be a unit that has evolved into Cub Scouts next level. Dare I say AOL III. Rather than adventures and challenges to overcome and the Scouts becoming more self assured, the expectations are that the unit will be more like a supervised classroom and leaders s

I would agree the ES workbook is a good framework. I think it gives the Scout guidance and also limits the scope of input or pushback Our unit averages 10 - 12 Eagle Scout annually. My role is the Life to Eagle coordinator. In working with Scouts on their proposals I want to see if they understand the scope of what they are proposing and what it will actually take to accomplish. I had one Scout that was looking at building a footbridge for a school's cross country course. Estimate was 4' bridge. Seemed very straightforward, but, in our discussions he had taken input from the sc

Key notation in the ESSP Note that you are not required to provide more details than are necessary for the accomplishment of your project. While the written plan is important and can be useful, again, the requirement is "PLAN". This does not specify how or what is required.

I would agree. We are all volunteers and Scouts should be welcoming. That being said, this is the concern - Challenged youth has meltdown due to meds issue and harms an adult counselor. The SE is concerned about liability, if the Scout has harmed an adult counselor, in a camp or program setting, what safeguards are in place. As noted, even if admitted into a Lone Scout program they Scout could register for a provisional troop at summer camp, or for a merit badge event. Not sure there is a good solution here and in many cases, the SE may not be the bad person. In this case there may n

Interesting wording - He accidentally violated the no adult-youth one on one contact rule - If it was indeed an accident, why were the parents upset? Seems a quick conversation with the parents could have allayed any fears and life moves on. I am assuming once National is looped in, sort of takes on a life of it's own.

We are at close to $650K for our SE (sorry CEO) for salary and benefits. For the top 5 staff it is north of $1.6MM Over 1/3 of the council staff is development (fundraising), marketing (figuring out how to fundraise), program management (running fundraisers)

Our council is charging $2,400 for the Jamboree. The actual fee is of course lower. Effective November 1, 2022, the price for a Contingent member registering for the Jamboree will increase to $1,500 (14% or $215) due to economic conditions such as fuel, food, and supply issues. It is strongly recommended that Councils modify their advertised pricing to reflect this change. The payment plan is being revised and should allow both BSA Members and Councils additional time to transition member payments to councils and council payments to the Jamboree. Still, that seems high for what is

Well. I guess as long as they are the "Disneyworld of the BSA" might as well charge for it. Will there be lightning pass and character breakfast options?

If only all that money BSA poured into the cash sink that is Summit (north of $750 million) was available and had NOT been dumped by the truckload in West Virginia

Agree. I do see many of the AOL patrols (dens??) that have no prep and expect Scouts to be just more cub scouting. The whole independence, youth led is lost. Parents seem to have culture shock that there is not hovering and social promotion. Also grades 3 - 5 is all that is needed. Do you really need to go to the fire station leventy nine times??

Our unit welcomes ALL parents to come to outings AS LEADERS, not parents. If a new parent wants to come, great. You must take YPT, we make clear the scouts camp in one area and we as leaders camp in another. This is not a parent kid campout that the troop happens to be at. If said kid comes over to the adult area for X or Y, one of the leaders will likely speak with them and guide them to their PL or SPL. We take very seriously the Scout areas and the leader areas. Yes we stroll through, usually in groups of 2 or 3 to converse and observe, but they need to work as a group and they ar

Yeah - that's probably a really good question. Agree that BSA pros have no idea on how to move the organization forward. I will put National Volunteers in that group. Challenge is that what made the BSA great was in fact the Boy Scout program (11 -17 year olds) and the experiences those Scouts had. Autonomy, adventure, self reliance. making mistakes and learning how to work through them, actual life skills like cooking, cleaning, taking responsibility, managing your patrols and troops, learning how to make things happen, etc. etc. These skills and effectively managing Scouts can

In our council unless you are raising money, they could care less. No marketing, no support to new or old units. Remember, Scouting is about the cash and keeping the pros paid. As long as they can keep cashing in on the cache and history of BSA, they are happy

With all the camping / nights camping requirement the "intent" is for the youth to be active over a longer period rather than just coming to week long camps. The weekend outings are critical to develop leadership skills, interact with other Scouts, overcome obstacles, make decisions (like where will my tent go) etc. A week at summer camp is important, but the monthly outings are harder. Planning menus, packing for that weekend weather, working the outing into other responsibilities. These outings are what makes a Scout a Scout and how we as an organization differentiate ourselves in the ma