AdvanceOn

Your ticket is based on your primary BSA registration. I was just at my 30-day meeting today and that was one of the discussions. For example, I am an Assistant District Commissioner so my ticket will be for that position. We had cub masters, scoutmasters, committee members, and Venturing Crew Scouters (sorry, I don't know the terminology for them) at this meeting. Each of us will develop our tickets based on our position.

Hey, how many of you "old" Wood Badgers had to remove all your troop/position insignia and wear shorts for your course? My husband was in the old course and is going to COMPLAIN about how easy I have it since I don't have to remove all my insignia, nor do I have to wear shorts!

I'm really psyched about going to Wood Badge!

Thanks for the link. I've checked it out.

I'm hoping that some of you will be able to direct me to the resources for this.

I'm trying to get information on the policies and procedures for starting a disability unit (that may not be quite the right terminology). I have read that disabled adults can be in Boy Scouts but I don't know what the requirements are for forming such a group.

My reason for looking for this information is multi-leveled.

1) as a practitioner in the disability field my reaction to adults being Boy Scout (not scouters) is negative. I've always tried to focus on age-appropriate levels of activity and work. This doesn't feel quite right to me. On the other hand, there are many aspects of Boy Scouts that would be beneficial to developmentally disabled adults so I want to learn more about it and keep an open mind.

2) Our DE is trying to start new units in our district. If this kind of unit is viable then I want to explore it as a possibilty for my Wood Badge ticket.

Thanks for any information you can offer, both pros and cons. As if I had to say that.

featherswillfly:

I would bet there are many of us who would love to have some of those uniforms! We have a number of kids struggling to pay for scouting. We're always looking in the thrift shops but haven't found anything like you're getting.

I'd love to work out details with you to get some shirts for our scouts. My e-mail is mhursey@hotmail.com

Thanks.

I have used the velcro on my sons' uniforms. It works nicely. You can get the kakhi colored velcro at about any store that sells velcro. I bought ours in the small size but you can also buy it in longer strips and cut to size. Put the soft velcro on the uniform and the rough velcor on the patch.

WE get these kinds of comments all the time, but mostly for the kids ability to do leadership and responsibiltiy kinds of things.

I've heard from more parents the comment of "You expect an 11 or 12 year old to be able to remember that? One parent had a conniption because no one told HER that her son had to be at an orienteering merit badge outing!? Of course, as long as she feels that everything has to be told to her personally her son is never going to remember. He knows mom will take care of it.(IMHO)

As sctmom says, just keep at it. Some parents will never feel their son is capable, others will have their eyes opened.

We use Troopmaster as well. I (Advancement Coord. for the troop) am the only one entering into troopmaster for the same reasons mentioned above. You definitely need/want controls on the information.

I have always received e-mail notification from troopmaster for any patches/updates. YOu can always go to their website to access the latest updates.

Currently I have Troopmaster on my laptop, only because the troop computer couldn't handle the newest version. We recently got a "new" computer and will be putting troopmaster on it. I will maintain it on both computers with mine being a backup basically. We have a printer in our troop as well so now I'll be able to get progress reports, updated rosters, OA eligibility, camping nights, etc. to the boys and leaders almost instantly.

I am a Troopmaster fan! Our records are in such good shape since we started using Troopmaster a year ago. Our previous Advancement person had troopmaster but was entering only sporadically in to it so I had to go through stacks of paper to try to catch everyone up -- it was worth the time.

Melodee

(This message has been edited by AdvanceOn)

Sorry, I don't buy the "hot" or "cold" concern. Have you ever noticed all the kids outside playing regardless of the weather? Most camps have lots of trees and water around. Those camps will also be set up to handle potential health risks.

Boy Scouts should be equipped to camp in any kind of weather.

Personally, I don't think you have a response to these parents other than a reminder that the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared."

Hey, it worked that time (at least the editing message did)

I guess I'm slowly making progress!

I can't edit my profile OR edit my messages

This is the message I get when trying to edit my profile:

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(This message has been edited by AdvanceOn)

You might want to check out this link regarding merit badge counselors --

http://www.meritbadge.com/bsa/info/policy1.htm

The council in which my family is involved has put a limit on the number of merit badges an individual can counsel as well as the number of merit badges a scout can earn from one counselor. This is in direct opposition to the BSA policy, but that's what it says. I've put that link here as well.

http://trfn.clpgh.org/seneca/images/mb.pdf

sctmom:

Glad he's proud to wear his uniform. Wanted to relate a recent happening regarding the uniform. Our troop was meeting to head out for a weekend campout. They always travel in class As. One of the boys went into a fast food restuarant to get a drink. Some girls he knows from school (middle school-aged) saw him and commented that he looked nice in his uniform! He came out of that restuarant all smiles and much taller!

I have also heard of some high school-aged boys in another troop who decided to wear their uniforms on certain days. They seemed to get a positive response. Not sure how often they did this but it was more than once and not just because it was Scout anniversary.

Anyway, these were positive uniform experiences that we don't often hear about so I wanted to share them.

The troop MUST be involved with the Pack. Our troop held a fall Webelos event. The boys had a blast.

We have a small troop and were stretched to thin to have den chiefs but whenever possible the troop responded to special requests. I.e., two boys went to a meeting with their camping gear and talked about preparing for a campout, what equipment they should buy, what they might like to have but don't have to, etc.

7 boys (out of 12) from one den crossed over two weekends ago. One additional boy from that den will come at the end of the month when he turns 11. Another boy is iffy but may still join. We also had two other boys join our troop from 2 other packs. They had a choice and chose our troop because of the efforts we made.

Also, we are now looking at doing a district-wide Webelos event in the fall. All our troops are pretty small and we're in a really rural area so we've got to work better together or we all lose out.

Hope this helps.

In our troop we have the parents sign the leadership position application. NOT for their permission so much as their commitment to assist their son be successful in this position.

I can't count the number of times (pre-application) that a boy was elected or appointed to a position and was undermined by his parents' lack of support, understanding, assitance, whatever. The application doesn't guarantee parental support but at least we can refer back to it when a parent complains about the time commitment, extra meetings, etc.

Bob White -- Our district is having a DAYLONG training next weekend using the new training modules. They're just cramming everything into that one day. Part of the reason for it is that they're bringing council trainers in for the day. I don't agree with it but that's what has been set up.

I'm sure I'll have to beg for the new Fast Start video. I just finally got the old one for the troop level.

I like the idea of putting a more positive swing on the leadership selection process. Our district is like so many others, short on leaders, long on needs. What I've seen so far is a lot of the "if you don't do this this pack/troop/den will fold" guilt trip.

The other thing that I see as ESSENTIAL, not optional, is immediate training. I am a new appointed ADC for Cubs in our district. I immediately went out and got the required training (had to go out of district, also had to find it for myself). The others aren't going to get training until middle of May (too long to wait IMHO). How can we effectively do a job if we're not trained?

Anyway, as I contact my packs the common thread that continues to come up is NO TRAINING or maybe Fast Start.

The other issue for these people is that the way training is being done is prohibitive. A daylong training makes it impossible for many people to attend. We live in a rural, relatively low socioeconomic area. No transportation, very little childcare, etc.

I can't promise anything yet but I'm looking at bringing the training to the Packs rather than having the pack leaders come to us. Seems to me this might be a good use of some of their leader meetings. We can tailor the training to their needs/schedules. The only change to the syllabus should be that the training will be done over weeks rather than a day.

What do you think? Has anyone else done this?

If we don't try another way SOON we're going to lose some dedicated people.

Bob White -- I have saved your list and will try some of your suggestions as I work with my Packs.

When I first joined our troop committee last year we were told that our chartering organization (VFW)wouldn't be much help because they had no money. Our CC was even discouraged from contacting the VFW. We had minimal contact with the COR -- chair or SM would take adult applications to him to sign occassionaly.

Our CC decided to take matters into hand and made a visit to the CO's monthly meeting. She presented our needs and also what the troop was doing. Immediately they generated some community donations (nothing to write home about but it was a start) and shortly after the troop received a $200 check for upgrading some of our equipment.

From there we began inviting our COR to courts of honor. He attended everyone he was invited to. Unfortunately, he is an older man who is now in a nursing home. Fortunately, the new COR is even more involved with our troop. Since his appointment a short time ago he has attended one committee meeting (he has a scheduling conflict), our quarterly court of honor, our Webelos Crossover, helped arrange for a council fire (got all the borough permissions needed), took digital pictures (and gave us a CD) at the Webelos Crossove, got the VFW to pay for 1 person to go to Wood Badge (me), etc., etc.

On the troop side --

1. We clean the outside area for the VFW a couple of times per year.

2. We recently built a bridge so the VFW could use more of their property (this was a Wood Badge project).

3. We'll be helping with the Buddy Poppy sales later this month.

4. We hold our meetings in the summer outside at the VFW. During this time we basically maintain the pavilion (pick up trash, clean up area, etc.) as part of the meeting.

I guess, the lesson here is . . .contact is important. And the giving is a two-way street. We have found the more we talk OPENLY and regularly to our CO and COR the better relationship we have.

I have had EXACTLY the same problem as you. One of the things I finally requested was a copy of our approved merit badge counselor application. Took awhile but our DE got it to me. Now I have new merit badge counselors and we're going through exactly the same problem with getting the information as to whether they're on the list or not.

I'd love to hear how others have worked through this as well. If Council doesn't keep a list of who does what merit badges then how can they verify the merit badges for the Eagle rank application?

Another issue at our district (and probably council) is that once a merit badge counselor, always a merit badge counselor. No one at the district level is updating the list. One Scouter joked that there were dead people on our list. He might not be wrong. I know there are people on the list who have moved out of the area.

At the troop level I am trying to update our merit badge applications annually (like BSA says its supposed to be done) but that doesn't help us much since they seem to get lost at the council and/or district advancement committee.

I guess one solution would be for you to serve on the district Advancement Committee. :?

Bob White -- thanks for the reminder regarding the uniform and sales. Actually, I'm hoping to avoid those kinds of fundraisers for a number of reasons, #1 being that our community is inundated with those kinds of fundraisers from cheerleaders, band, chorus, wrestling, etc., etc.

Our PLC has done some brainstorming on fundraising ideas. They have come up with spaghetti dinner, hoagie sale, car wash, etc. All these are good ideas except for the competition from all the other organizations doing the same thing. We'll just have to be creative in our presentation.

Again, thanks for the feeback.

I need your input. How do you handle the two-deep leadership at your day camps?

At a previous day camp in which I was involved the kids were grouped by dens of like ages (a mix of different packs). Each den had a minimum of one leader. Since each den was traveling to individual stations that were attended by one or more adults this was used to cover the 2-deep rule.

The day camp that I'm involved with now (different district, different council) insists on two deep with each group of kids at all times. This has meant that the boys are grouped by packs rather than dens (to get enough leader coverage). This has also meant that some years packs have not sent their Webelos who do a different program because they couldn't get enough leaders.

The space where this camp is held is very open. There will be adults floating around at all times during the camp hours. We can probably also put a junior volunteer with some of the groups as a 2nd person.

Scout safety is, of course, very important to us. But, we're really tying our hands if we don't come up with other alternatives to our current methods. We'll never grow in number of boys served if we stay so limited in how the adults are used.

How have you handled this situation? What is your opinion?

Thanks,

Melodee

Howdy:

Anyone out there know of any good website(s) to visit regarding preparing for cub scout day camp? Our theme this year is Wild Wild West (or Go West depending on which handout I look at!).

If you have any ideas for interesting crafts or games I'd love to hear them.

We're thinking that one activity might be a Watergun shoot out on the last day. We're a little concerned about how this might be perceived. What do you think? This camp ALWAYS has one day of water games of some sort so we'd really like to tie into the theme. We don't have access to a pool, creek, stream, pond, etc.

Thanks,

Melodee

sctmom:

You're right 100 hours isn't mandated. However, most projects take more than 100 hours to complete. I know that members of the Eagle BOR look at how long a project took and really question when it's much less than 100 hours.

In fairness to the boys, the information I provided was what I have from newspaper articles. I realize that some vital information may (probably was) cut out.

I generally agree with Ed and jmcquillan

regarding project #3. With more information it might very well be a good Eagle project. Maybe I don't know what a kickboard is (#2) but I can't visualize at all how it involves leadership.

My problem with #1 is that it's a pretty routine service project that many troops take on for scouts to do for advancement. There are parts of roads and highways that have been adopted by Boy Scout Troops. Our troop has done so much clean up like this that I would have a really difficult time even considering this as an Eagle project.

Thanks for the input.

Are my expectations too high? Here are three Eagle projects that were recently written up in area newspapers. I feel like all of them were nice service projects but I don't feel like they're Eagle quality. Am I wrong?

"leading over two dozen scouts and volunteers in a roadside cleanup project along several miles of _____ roads. Where possible trash will be separated for recycling."

"His Eagle leadership project was to construct a kickboard at the ________ soccer field.

"______'s Eagle leadership project was the collection, assembly and distribution of 100 hygiene products for the __________ women's shelter."

Our troop historically sent the boys of all ages to summer camp to "work" (using this term VERY loosely)on merit badges. They didn't even try the Trail to First Class. Last summer we insisted that the younger scouts (and a couple older scouts who hadn't advanced at all) participate in the Trail (my son was one of the younger scouts).

Even though I was disappointed in the quality I will still support the new scouts going through this again since we're doing a much better job at the troop level. Clearly the camp program can only be supplemental at best.