Webelos to Scout Transition

[mikeylikesit]

Our Troop of 70 boys and 10 leaders will grow to at least a 100 boys next year. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar situation and can offer some suggestions on how to handle such a large influx of new scouts.

 

Luckily, I am also a member of the Pack that will feed into our Troop. Our patrols are made up of boys as they graduate into Boy Scouting. Therefore we have patrols by first year through 17 year old scouts. We are considering mixing the newer scouts with the older scouts to ease the transition.

 

The problem with separating the existing patrols is the possibility of losing some older boys due to "losing" their friends. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[jmcquillan]

Stick with the system you've already got in place. When all these new boys join, you'll end up with a bunch of new scout patrols. But having been there myself, (with as many as three new scout patrols in one year), it can work. You'll do yourself a favor by having a couple of ASM's to deal with the new patrols specifically. And you can have an experienced and willing older scout serve as a troop guide, one for each of the new patrols.

 

But I would suggest not trying to change something that works for you just because the numbers are a little higher.

[eisely]

jmcquillan is right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Personally I think a system that integrates new boys into existing patrols is better, but I can see advantages and disadvantages to both ways of doing business. If it has worked for your troop in the past, why change?

[jmcquillan]

Our troop has been through a couple of changes over the past 20 years or so, trying to find the best make-up for patrols (no matter what Texas says):-).

 

We've done the patrol make-up where everyone in a patrol is the same age, mostly because they all came into scouting at the same time. But the current method seems to work quite well.

 

When new scouts come into the troop, they're placed in "new scout" patrols for the remainder of the school year (usually Feb to June). The theory is, and we tell the kids this, that that time period gives them a chance to get to know the scouts in the troop, and give the SPL an idea of which existing patrol they'd like to be a part of. When the new year, and regular meetings start up again, late August of early September, the new scouts are placed in the patrol of their choice, to the degree that the numbers work. But normally with the number of patrols we have, that's not a problem.

 

This method, as eisely indicated, is a good one for introducing the new scouts both to the older scouts, and to scouting itself.