advancement lady

I know there are forums on this subject, but I need some thoughts.

I have an Eagle and Life scout and unfortunately high school has "gotten in the way"! My freshman has made a group at high school that meets on the same night as scouts. I need to explore some options of how to keep him active.

Should we visit other troops that meet on a different night?

Should I meet with the Scoutmaster of our current troop?

Any advice will really help. He wants to continue in scouting and not only finish Eagle, but also earn his palms. They were camping this weekend and he commented how much he would miss that experience.

What a horrific tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and his scout family.

I'm glad I found this one ~

I am currently in this situation .... my Life scout started high school and made the school show chior. Unfortunately, they meet every Monday night which is the same night as scouts! We are looking for another troop to join because he wants to make Eagle and work on his palms. He also enjoys camping and is in a Jambo troop. Anyway, I am looking for a troop for my two boys ~ Life and Eagle.

I am glad I was able to be prepared for the situations we may run into. (people thinking that we have an alternative motive)

Question being ~ Would it be out of line for us to do troop visitations? We have three troops in our area that meet on Tuesdays. One is not a good fit, but would it be out of line for us to visit the other two? Our current troop has been informed of our decision and we are going to try to stay with our current troop until December if we can find a way to keep the Life Scout active with the troop.

If a Merit Badge councilor needs to fill out paperwork, do the safe scouting program etc. ~ then doesn't it have to be a district thing?

Our last District updated MB list is from Sept 2011. He hasn't done any updating in a year. Isn't there a computer program for that?

Good Point ~ Our list isn't up to date either. I recently had a scout who was given three names. Two (that we know of ) are no longer councilors and the third hasn't bothered getting back to the scout?!? Those were the councilors who were close to us (town wise)

One of our scouts had to go to another council because our council didn't have anyone doing reptile and amphibian that didn't live an hour away from the scout's home.

Thanks folks ..... To clarify I am the one assigned to getting councilors' names etc for our boys. Our SM has never been involved with the councilor aspect, recording of MBs or even the purchasing of scouting equipment or awards.

We do have some wonderful councilors and I do not feel our boys are "skating" by. (not that I've seen at least.)

We have councilors who meet multiple times with the boys. (our scoutmaster does camping ~ talk about complete .... EX they need to do duty rosters just for him even if they say they've done hundreds, write out menus ...... everything is done again just for the badge. He is very thorough. You could have been on the last 12 campouts, but he'll sign you off on presenting yourself when you present yourself)

I have two boys in our troop and neither one has any desire to work on any more MB's, so this question is for our troop kids with my own personal scouts out of the mix.

So, basically I steer them away from the bad, steer them towards the good and let them tell each other if their is a councilor they really like or dislike.

I have come across a couple of "power hungry" councilors. How do you deal with them? Do you just send your scouts in a different direction? to another councilor?

EX: a Family Life councilor said he wanted to meet with the scout first to pick out his chores and that he should do 7 (5 required) because it would help build his character!

a Gardening councilor was not going to accept the sunflowers because they weren't in the same garden as the vegetables. (grow 6 vegetables through harvest ~ grow 6 flowers through harvesting)

Has anyone else dealt with these types of scenarios?

I hear you and I get your point. I look at these extra patches, honors, and mementos as just that ...... mementos. If anyone has the luxury to travel they usually bring home some type of souvenir, in the form of a t-shirt, photos, or "dust collector".

That is what I want for "my scouts" ~ scouting souvenirs that they can look back on and remember their experiences. A type of trigger, conversation starter ~ whatever you want to call it. If they've earned it I will find it for them. That NYLT patch is universally known. Our local ones are not because our council scouts chose to go back to the original name (Thunderbirds or something like that) All of his patches (three years) are the local symbol.

I do value other's opinions ~ just clarifying mine!!

UPDATE:

I was able to correct the records of the "transfer" scout. He did indeed have his Tenderfoot section in his book signed and the cards that went with his never recorded merit badges. (I knew that he would)

Now, we just need to locate 3 merit badges he lost in the move!!!!

Ah ~ to be young!

Thanks for the help.

UPDATE:

I was able to get the scout his National NYLT patch. Our council had them in stock. I just presented his certificates and patches (copies of course). Now I can't wait to see his face at our Sept COH.

Thanks for all the information. It helped.

Thanks,

I love the nature aspect with the twigs and wood. Also, laughed a bit at some of the "gag" awards. We did start giving the blue ribbon (it says "great effort" and is in the cub scout section). We coupled that with homemade "pocket certificates" which we add name, accomplishment and date. It began in summer 2011 when our small troop took three of the four "awards" at summer camp. One was best belly flop ~ didn't tell anyone that he was the only contestant. We also had a scout who works all summer on staff ~ we gave him "most broken bones" because he found a hole during a camp wide capture the flag ~ fracturing four bones in his foot. The scouts loved them and the parents felt like they were included in the summer camp experience.

And yes, I do understand that shotgun shooting is a merit badge. However, our troop does not wear their sashes 100% of the time and this is a unique way for them to display an achievement. Not every scout in our area accomplishes earning shot gun. For us it is only available at camp and about 75% actually earn it. That was directed to ...... you know who the wet blankets are!

Looking for ideas for unique recognitions for scout achievements.

Our troop (me!) started a tradition for our troop. When a scout earns the shotgun shooting merit badge we present them with a shotgun shell slide. The scouts love them.

Take a spent shot gun shell and cut (razor blade) a small square towards the top. This covers just about half of the width .... more like a rectangle. The kerchief is thread through the back as a slide. I add their name and when they received the badge (year and location).

mbrown~

The scout you described .... does he have a disability that would give him extra time to become Eagle? Also, we have requested extra time for two of our scouts through concil. If there are certain situations ( one was a military child and one had zero family support) they might grant extra time.

I have to disagree with the scouts resigning up for merit badges earned. Our camp classes fill-up quickly and a retake takes the opportunity away from other campers. Is there a place where they can go shooting when they aren't at camp?

We had a Star and Life BOR last night. One of the review members made a comment about the Star canidate .... and he was right. The poor kid was so nervouse he stummbled on reciting the promise and looked for validation on every question he answered. The Life scout skated through. 14 vs 16 ~ HUGE difference

GOOD FOR HIM!!! I am glad he was able to conquer. This does show that it is for the BOYS ~ when they are ready, they are ready.

Let's not get hung-up on numbers. Everyone is an individual and it needs to come from their desire. We cannot do it for them.

I do still feel that the majority of boys need to wait a bit before Eagle.

PS ~ I could be mistaken ..... an article about the first Eagle Scout only mentioned the fact that he had to earn 21 merit badges ..... times have changed in 60 years and so have the requirements.

I have to agree with the "don't rush em". I have sat on many BORs and the maturity level really does pick-up when they hit High School (especially those 16/17 year olds.) I had one scout that only worked on Eagle required merit badges and we asked him to slow down, explore, and learn ~ teach. (13 and could have hit Eagle) He was a bit upset, but he is now 15 has found an interest with one of his merit badges, volunteers like nobody's business and his Eagle project starts next week! He now has formed relationships with the other scouts and actually LAUGHS with the scouts.

Aren't we trying to guide these boys into well rounded young men?

This does look interesting ..... how or where do they get a mentor? There are quite a few scouts in our troop which are no longer interested in working on merit badges (15 & 16 year old Eagles).

Has anyone tried this yet?

I have not yet fixed his records ~ I asked him to bring all of his information to Monday's meeting and I will make copies then.

Glad to hear that this is not an isolated case (!?!?) and that fixing the records is doable.

One of my two sons acheived Eagle this past June. The second is Life, so ......

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

My son bridge to a troop that had 10 scouts ..... with the 10 that crossed over it doubled the troop!

Two things were the key (in my mind)

1. One of the boy scouts was a "den chief" and attended cub scout meetings ~ this gave the cubs a familiar face (he mostly worked with the second year webelos)

2. During Webelo visitation the scouts worked with the cubs, so the adults could ask questions

Hope this helps

I have three scouts in a Venture crew (two sons ~ 14, 16 and one daughter ~ 18). Our crew is small 8 members and we just lost three to an away college.

Anyway, my point is this ...... our crew has got to recruit to survive, so we are planning to do recruitment in fall. Is it possible that what you experienced was a recruitment from a particular crew?

My 14 year old did not experience any recruitment at summer camp this year.

The records are not recorded at our COUNCIL office. The scout's father was the advancement person from his second troop, so the records I received are from his dad! If you look at the dates ....... it seems that about one week of his scouting career was never recorded. (I think this was the time he was in transition from Illinois to Arizona)

So, what I am hearing is this ~ first try to manually add them on the internet advancement sheet. If that doesn't work fill out a form and submit it to our council. Does this sound right?

He is working hard on his scouting and I would hate for this to stop him from achieving Eagle.

One is Tenderfoot (he is First Class)

Three are the Historical Merit Badges.

The scout keeps great records, so I am confident that he has his blue cards and I know he has his book!!!!

I have a scout who left our troop to live with his dad in another state. (about 18 months) Upon his return, his father sent me a copy of his advancement records. 4 dates are missing.

QUESTION:

Has anyone needed to correct (add to) a scout's records? How did you do it?

Was just looking at photos from 2010 Jamboree ~

Every unit had a different cap on. ~ Great way to spot who's yours in such a large group of scouts all dressed alike!