Aidan_MacAnBhaird

The council adjacent to ours has a district solely for Venturing, whereas, we are one of the only crews in our council. I asked about their program and if they had a district run VLSC or would be interested in having us jump in with one of their more experienced crews. They have provided a goodly amount of information, and passed my name on to their coordinator to further this along. In our situation, being only 6 months old, this may provide the greatest benefit for the crew. Just a thought about looking outside the "box", as our inexperience may provide some challenge and interest to a

Thanks for the input folks. The reason I used and stated personal experience was precisely because many municipalities and schools tend to blame the ACLU on virtually everything. I personally have a great disdain for misrepresentation and biggotry, both of which I found without short supply in some Texas communities, unfortunately. And even more unfortunate, both can be found virtually in every corner of this country to some degree, still. I happened to be online this a.m. due to a frantic phone call from our current Eagle candidate. He of course needed one more paper trail, and was havi

purceIce - how old is your crew, and have you done this before? Emb - when dealing with a young crew that has not gone through VLSC before, would you find it acceptable for the youth to choose an area most interesting to them, learn it, then present it to the rest of the crew at vlsc? Or do you think it would be better to find a crew who has experience with VLSC and and see if they can jump in with them? Thanks

That is correct Merlyn. These incidences took place about 7 years ago. I did not provide the city or school districts names as they have been through enough. There was some news coverage of the flagpole event, which is how the various alums including myself found out about it. The others did not. This is an open forum. There is no guarantee any of the people reading these posts or even the posters themselves are involved in scouts. There is no need to have an untold number of viewers, and the people to whom they send copies of or redirect to these posts calling any school districts. This

Hi Merlyn - Sorry for the confusion - I was in a rush & did not even read before sending. In every single one of those cases I was present. I don't know about cites. The e-mails and info I would get from the ACLU regarding cases I personally saw was usually quite different than the actual actions and statements made without cameras rolling. Personally, I found their tactics deplorable. Their soundbites and web bits are either non-existent or relatively contrary to the actual acts and statements I witnessed. I have no idea where they stand on "prayer around the flagpole" now. At t

Love the idea purceIce! The ACLU has had some really nobel ideas, unfortunately, they also have had some of the most misguided litigation known to this country, costing millions of dollars to individuals, companies, and organizations. Merlyn_LeRoy - the ACLU ensured the public schools in our neck of Texas could say absolutely nothing about Christmas, yet demanded these kids learn about a number of festivals to do with Wicca, Kwaanza, and some new age group to help "round" out their education. A kid praying over his own lunch silenetly usually brought disciplinary action until someone

Where do you plan to hold your training and how long are you planning to be there? How many adults do you have lined up to help? Which part or parts are you talking about specifically? Do you find them boring or are you looking to add more meaning to what they learn? Do you have access to electronics during the training?

Seems like the same answer to the original question keeps poping up in different forms: Troops that are run on the BSA model are successful model units. Units that try to re-invent the wheel or only follow part of the model (aka - adult led) are losing scouts. And to think, it only took 9 pages of repeat the obvious, again! Brianbuff - I think your original question is quite worthwhile; however, and with all sincerity, I believe the spirit of scouting is completely lost to you. I say that with all humbleness and humility. I haven't read your website. After perusing scouting

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU To everyone who posted their ideas and opinions to my original question. Thanks also for the PM's full of useful data, programs, and resources. The roundtable introduction was a great success! I've been attending RT meetings plainclothes while we were all making sure we had a solid foundation as a crew and all of the adult leaders (including myself) were fully trained and prepared to communicate knowledgably with other Scouters. This tacit was also useful in providing a great deal of curiosity, as our district is very big on "shirt reading" and the collec

Hey mmhardy - yello-hammer has a very valid point. We as adults who have perused the myspace web site, and especially those that log in as 14-16 year-old boys and girls have a pretty good working knowledge regarding what to expect. We as adults can often sense when a conversation or a chat thread is turning unacceptable, but most teens just don't get it. So yes, we can monitor away, but what would be your advise to a daughter that just fat fingered a button from an unsolicited cam-chat, only to see a grown man about your age performing live on screen. Of course delete it. Now delete it from yo

Did anyone notice all the links in this thread are broken? Any new links?

I FORGOT ABOUT THE SPEAKING MERIT BADGE - AND THAT'S PART OF MY JOB - have some boys speaking at a roundtable and they have either already finished or just finished their communications. This one's a no-brainer. We have mentors for our youth, either as SM's, ASM's, DL's, ADL's, A's, AA's, merit badge councilors, consultants, and more. What mentoring program do we have for the adults? Why isn't each new unit started with the assistance of a mentor who ensures the spirit of scouting shines through? Why doesn't this mentor check on each pack, troop, team, or crew in BSA on a regular sch

So, since we all know of at least a few units that would not hold up to this type of scrutiny, what would be the preliminary action to ensure each troop would be prepared to receive recruits with a factual perception of scouting? Not every troop can meet the needs of every boy, so SM's would have to be honest about who would do best in which troop, but otherwise, how to help obviously lacking troops raise to the scouting standard? Do you think the districts or councils these troops are in just don't care, don't have the resources to help, or what? Just curious.

Thank you emb021 for the web reference. I am going through all of the materials we have had to create on our own and make sure they are in the right format. Eamonn - You asked about the need to "win over" scout masters. We are in a highly rural area. When something negative is said to a youth (the venturer), or group (the troop to which the venturer belongs)about venturing, it is passed through the school chain to a large segment of our recruitable youth. Thus, the potential scout/venturer is lost. Add to that the negativity these youth receive when at their troop meetings and events. Th

1ST AND FORMOST, I AM SO THANKFUL FOR ALL THE POINTS MADE TO MY INITIAL QUESTION. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS RESPONDED SO FAR AND A THANK YOU ALSO TO THOSE WHO WILL BE MAKING POSTS AS THIS PROGRESSES. This has helped prepare me for the Roundtable more than any other notes or necessities as this has given me insight into the types of questions which may be asked; however, the greatest benefit has been the need to me to examine these points and ensure my information and understanding are bang-on solid. embo21 - The Venture/Ranger handbook states, "venturing is a catalyst." on page 2. The

Monitoring your child's activity closely and having a profile on MySpace is fine, but if you really are interested in just what type of people populate the site day and night, set up an account and make yourself a 14 year-old girl, and another as a 14 year-old boy. Log on to a chat that looks active, but not over-crowded. Now count to ten. That is usually the maximum length of time for the first pedophile to make and "approach". Keep up the sharade of a young girl. Try to "sound" just like your daughter (or son), with mispells, paraphrasings, and the like. When asked if YOU personally would li

Gee whiz folks, thank you for all the forthright and pertinent information! Plase keep it coming! I am starting to understand why there is so much confusion in BSA regarding Venture. My perspective goes back to when we were called Explorers, and tends to run along the lines of a purist approach. Venture was created to enable older scouts an opportunity to utilize the interest and initial training in various badgework to a more fuller extent, while requiring a greater level of leadership training to provide highly-skilled future scouters. The latter was accomplished by requiring leadership

Thanks OGE - My son saw this on his way out the door to school this morning, and I got the most disgusted "how pathetic you are" look with the eye roll and all. How could I be confused by something as simple as a movie? That was right before the innocent blink and the "can I have lunch money?" with the outstretched palm act. So wise one second, so clueless the next.

Eamonn - I have met a few Sea Scout Advisors over the summer at the Cleveland Tall Ships event, and have the wonderful benefit of watching a crew in action. I CAN ONLY DREAM OF SEEING OUR CREW THAT TIGHT AND THAT FOCUSED! WOW! The "one year wonders" have popped up in Ohio also. The CO, committee, and Advisors are committed that this crew not be one of them, with the goal of a well set foundation to continue the program long after most these adults are gone. Lisabob - thank you so very much for your perspective and for keeping an open mind regarding all the possibilities within scouti

Oh too seriously cool SWScouter. Could you imagine adds somewhat along the lines of the marine corp recruiting spots, with an MTV/VH1 twist? Completely disregarding how that would help our recruitment efforts, could you just imagine the massive morale booster that would give scouts across the country. My son still loves the plug in one of Brad Pitts' international spy movies with Sean Connery when Connery asks Pitt where he learned to shoot like that (expert sniper) and Pitt looks so innocently shocked when he replies, "scouting, Sir." Two words. Imagine 20 seconds.

emb021 - We received information on venturing in leader essentials (these were not syllabus readers and had advance notice of the frustration I had been going through to get trained). They made an effort to educate the pack and troop leaders that were present, but from what I am hearing from seasoned leaders, this can not be the norm. It seams (and this is only my impression) that once a scouter takes a training, it would be beneath them to ever take that training again. Any ideas on this? How do you aproach these people when they already "know everything," or is it best to just ignore th

Awsome in just 3 posts, 3 wonderful amounts of information. Thanks for the perspective OGE. Where did you learn about venturing and form your opinions prior to being a part of the organization? I have run into this issue too, PurceIce, and am in the process of getting it corrected. And my next internet stop after finishing helping one of our boys with his eagle will be the powderhorn site! I have not stated any information in posts or on this site since I have a great deal of questions, and did not want anyone to take them out of context or for anyone to look at the council

That is utterly cool OneHour. Many of us are doing this because our kids wanted to do this, and the only way that would be accomplished is if we stepped up to the plate. But the fact is, each unit also has other youth with other interests participating. Are we concentrating on their needs as well? Do we take their interests into account to ensure a well-rounded program that keeps them challenged and engaged? Not to get off topic here, but I will be starting a new thread related about venturing that has a great deal to do with packs and troops. I am still highly interested in the issues brought

We are a relatively new high adventure crew in the northeast and are finding a good deal of confusion and anxiety from other scouters about venturing. Therefore, I am asking den leaders, troop leaders, and other crew advisors to give their take on venturing. What do you think is the definition of a Venturing Crew? Do you use the resources available from a Venture Crew near you? How do you think a Venture Crew fits into the scouting program?

Wow Gentlemen: This has been utterly fascinating. It is like a virtual tour of so many other live meetings from committees to councils where scouters come together to address the issue of shrinkage and never get around to address the issue of shrinkage. Maybe it's because I'm new to scouter.com and have no "history" or for whatever reason, but I attempted to get this thread back on track and asked some very open questions. Instead there is a tit for tat between two posters and a really impressive volly reminiscent of Shakespearian word play. After reading some of your posts, I was truly h