AdvanceOn

EXACTLY!!! Unfortunately (0r probably fortunately), the members of that board of review are no longer involved with the troop. The Scoutmaster is. I told this Scout's father that he and his son (who is at college and not really able to do a lot of leg work at this point) that if we have any further problems they should file an appeal since it was a troop/committee issue AND a council issue. This should never have happened. As an update, I THINK we have the problem resolved. At least we're working on it with council. I've got my fingers crossed. FOr future, I've decided that afte

1. Why does Bob White catch by far the most criticism for his opinions and statements? IMHO, because he touches a nerve. Many of us say and think we know scouting but Bob is a by the book kind of guy and challenges many of our beliefs and misconceptions. He has challenged some of MY beliefs and misconceptions. Does he offend me? Generally not! 2. Why is it in over two years of posting on this forum I have hardly, if ever seen any other poster directly asked for advice on a scouting matter? Most of us post opinions (which can be very useful and insightful as well). Bob posts res

Thanks, Bob. He does have the correct requirements now. I've been keeping all the records for the past year using Troopmaster and we've been able to verify everything. I really got the impression from out Scout Executive that they may not be able to approve this Eagle application based on the Life mess. I will talk with the father (the scout has left for college and not very accessible at the moment) and encourage him to be pretty assertive on this matter. Thanks for the information. I really appreciate your knowledge of the rules and regulations.

Hi. This is probably directed to Bob White but others feel free to offer suggestions and/or resources. We have a Scout who has completed his Eagle requirements and has sent in his rank application materials.They have found some problems with his application. Apparently this Scout "earned" Life rank without having enough Eagle-required merit badges. Now that council is checking for verification this has come up as a problem. He lacked two Eagle merit badges for a whole year (got Life in June, '00, didn't complete the other two Eagle badges until June, '02). According to this Scout and his

I know that my suggestion may not be appropriate for everyone depending on time constraints but I have had found that being involved in district and council committees has been the biggest eye-opener and resource for me. I am meeting people outside of my troop and in the case of council committees, outside of my district. It's nice to hear new ideas and sometimes confirmation that what I'm doing IS RIGHT! And you're right on about getting trained. I have tried to get trained as much as possible. Sometimes the trainings seemed mundane but the networking time with other leaders was invaluab

Our council does not allow us to advance purchase any of the rank or merit badges. I wish they would since I can anticipate when a scout will be advancing or when they'll be finishing a merit badge. It isn't convenient for me or anyone else to get to the scout shop every time a scout earns a badge but I do my best. My older son did not receive his rank advancement badge for 1st class for months! Now that I'm the advancement coordinator I will never let that happen in this troop. Generally the boys get their badge the very next troop meeting and then also get a formal recognition at our qu

The requirement also mentions community or troop program. There are many organizations that do drug programs. They could visit the local police who often do more than just the DARE program. Many Community Action agencies have drug education programs. Local mental health agencies usually have a substance abuse program and would probably be available to provide information and educational materials. For these and many other organizations it just takes a phone call to set up a visit or two. The thing to remember is that it doesn't have to be an advertised drug education program. I

Like Ed, we also count the Scouting for Food. It is generally the first service that our new scouts do after crossing over in March. This year, though, most of our scouts did their first service project by helping the VFW (our chartering organization) raise fund for the Veterans hospital programs by selling Buddy Poppies. They raised over $400 in 4 hours. It will probably become an annual service project for our troop. My older son was approved for working in a soup kitchen as his initial service hours when he was a younger scout. Some of our scouts help with Meals on Wheels and at the cl

The Eagle Workbook packet under the limitation section states " The project also may not be performed for a business or an individual,. . ." It seems to me that for Hersh's idea to be approved he would need to work with a local organization that does this kind of work, i.e. weatherization program, community action agency, habitat for humanity, etc., Of course, that seems good to me. It would demonstrate leadership and use of his community resources. The other question I have about your project idea -- mowing grass and trimming bushes is nice but how will you help this person m

But your poll limited my answer. I am trained at both the Boy Scout AND Cub Scout levels. I have sought out and received training for every position I have been registered for. Unfortunately, it often took awhile to get the trainning, not because I didn't sign up but because it wasn't offered or it was cancelled.

Yes, apparently it is a council decision on the profits. Our council, Greater Pittsburgh gives higher profits as incentives for attending a training, getting paperwork in on time, etc. Troops and Packs could get up to 41% profit last year. The profits were much higher than in the Buckskin Council we previously belonged to.

Why in the world would the Pack pay any money to start this troop? Ed's right, it's up to the new troop to get the money. Since your Pack didn't do individual funds then no money should be forwarded. Our troop gets $0 from the Pack when new Webelos crossover. The boys start out with $0 in their scout accounts. They will have opportunities to participate in our fundraisers during the year. I STRONGLY urge you to seek advice at the district and/or council level on this. It seems pretty unusual to me.

I follow the threads pretty closely and have tended to agree with concerns raised on the extremes of age when a Scout gets Eagle. I have certainly been biased toward thinking that the 17 1/2 - 18 year old Eagle is really being slid through. That was what I was seeing from our troop. The average age of our Eagle Scouts is well over 17. BUT, I wanted to tell you about one of our scouts who has returned to the troop to work on his Eagle. He is 17 years old. He has all but one merit badge done and has all the leadership requirements completed. So basically all he has left is his Eagle leaders

So last night we had one of our older Scouts (17 year old who recently came back to finish his Eagle) do CPR instruction with the troop. Well, of course, some of the kids said, "we've already done this." He did a good job of telling them, "good, then you can be the first to do it so the other kids know what to do." I was pleased with that response -- it really changed the focus from being bored with doing something again to a challenge to demonstrate their skills (and no leader intervention was required!).

Sctmom made this statement in another thread -- "A lot of things for the first year in Boy Scouts are a repeat of Webelos skills, but as I told my son "Done it before? Great, you should have no problem showing your skill once again. And it gives you some extra practice" I decided to pull it out of the other thread so as not to change that subject too much. I like your style sctmom. I wish more of our parents had that attitude. That's exactly what I tell my sons and any parent or scout when they ask that question. I get SO tired of parents (more than the boys, actually) try

Can't tell you how well this works because we haven't done it yet but . . . we're planning a Scout-O-Rama for our district in the fall. This will be a district-wide recruitment at all levels of scouting. Each unit will be able to set up an exhibit that demonstrates what they're doing in scouting. We'll have demonstrations of scout skills, pinewood derby, raingutter regatta, etc. Kids of all ages will be able to try their hand at some of the scout activities. We don't have a mall so we'll have to do some additional work to get the people to come to us. You could probably do a smaller

BobWhite: "Until you experience the lessons of Wood Badge you will not be able to begin. It is not something you want to have predetermined before your instruction." This is what I was responding to. All I was saying was that for my course we did have to get started before the instruction. You're right. Each course director has some leeway in how they run their course. I certainly wasn't trying to divulge anything to OGE, although I have been told that the secrecy of Wood Badge has been removed from the course.

We started working on our ticket BEFORE course. We were given the 20 questions to think about and also a form to start roughing out what we want to work on. These were reviewed during our 30-day meeting and returned to us that day with comments. During the first weekend we worked on our tickets much more formally and have to have them turned in for approval BEFORE the next weekend of the course. As far as ideas for your ticket -- what is your primarily scouting position? We were told to write our ticket around our primary position. That was a little tough for me 'cuz I really would like t

1. If he was elected or appointed to a leadership position and held it for 6 months it counts whether he did anything or not (you'll find this discussed a lot throughout this forum). 2. The fact that he personally has only put in 10 hours doesn't inherently mean he didn't do enough on his project. It's a LEADERSHIP project -- how did the 100 hours get done, did he delegate, seek volunteers? That would be good. Now, with that said. You don't have a chance of withholding Eagle on this kid BUT, now seems like the time to start working with the younger scouts on being GOOD leaders, devel

Yes, that's who our DE used to set ours up.

Thanks for the information. Now I know what to look for in our council.

Okay, I know many of you will jump right in saying "yes" to that question but what I'm really trying to find out is if anyone knows national's stance on district websites. I was talking to a DE from another council about our district starting a website and he said, "your DE should know better than to set up a district website, only council is allowed to have one." Well, I think a district website is a great idea but I also prefer to follow the rules. So, anyone have a reference for this? Thanks.

This website (scouter.com) and the US Scouting Service project -- http://usscouts.org/start.asp both have links to commissioner materials. Good Luck

I was attending boy scout RT until recently. NOw I'm on the cub side. I'm having the exact opposite experience as you. WHile not always the most entertaining our Boy Scout Rts are generally pretty informative with good troop attendance and interaction. Our cub scout RTs are poorly attended and have been described as "gripe" sessions and not worth attending. We're working to change this. So, like OGE says -- not all roundtables are boring. I guess a lot depends on what you and other participants put into it (both expectations and energy-wise). OGE, I love the cooking piece. OUr J

Hey Ed: Have you talked to the new camping director? He's apparently on board now as of last week -- Kevin somebody. I haven't met him but heard about him at National Camping School last weekend. For the rest of you, if I'm understanding Ed's concern -- why should a building be left unused when cubs aren't using it? I'm sure there is a sense of "ownership" since they did so much of the work, partly with the expectation that it would be a great place for them. Sounds to me like making it a cub scout only building was an afterthought of the camping director. Camping space is still tigh