Advancement Chair working with Troop Leadership

[Shell in WA- USA]

Okay, I do wear many hats, I'm also the Advancement Chair for my sons' troop. It hasn't been done correctly for a long time, so I"m spending alot of energy right now tracing down all the records for the current boys in the troop. But once I've done that, I'd like to be a role model or guide for the ledership roles at the troop level. I know I could work with the Troop Scribe and possibly with the troop historian or Quartermaster.

 

My question is for those of you who are Advancement Chairs, how do you work with your boys in these roles? What kind of shared duties do you have set up with the Troop Scribe, for instance? I don't want to take away his job but I need to do mine as well, how you do share it? Make sense?

 

Thansk in Advance for your help!

Shell in WA, USA

[frankj]

I am also an advancement coordinator for our troop, so I'll take a stab at answering the question.

 

We have not had an active Scribe, so there hasn't been any work to share. After doing the adv. records for a few years, I am not sure I would want to share a whole lot with one of the boys. It requires a fair amount of attention to detail so that the records are done correctly and in a timely manner.

 

The one area where I see the Scibe helping with the advancement recordkeeping is in keeping track of which boys went on which outings, who slept in a tent (for Camping MB and other advancement); who worked on which service project; etc.

 

I am on many of these outings, but not all, so a Scribe might be assigned the job of collecting this info and passing it along to you. It is true that a call or e-mail to the SM or another leader would accomplish the same thing, but this gives the Scribe something useful to do. Another area might be keeping up the e-mail addresses of troop members -- we do a lot of stuff by e-mail in our troop.

 

Another item might be to have the Scribe and the Historian work on a Troop scrapbook that would be a record of outings, summer camps, hikes, service projects. In my mind, it would not have to be exhaustive, but enough to be interesting. The Historian's role might be to help document w/ photos, and maybe track down past members of the troop and talk to them, get a picture and maybe a quote or two for inclusion. Such a book might be a great recruitment tool.

 

The Scribe might be tasked with compiling a record of outings, campouts, hikes etc., with information on a template form of some sort, kept as a permanent troop record. For example, for a hike: driving time to the trailhead, availability of water, is a parking permit needed?, where do you get one, hike distance, elevation gain, round trip hiking time. All the stuff that would be good to know when, at some future date, the troop is planning a trip and considering options.

 

If others see ways to involve the Scribe and Historian in creative ways, please chime in because at our last meeting the boys elected new troop leadership and these 'staff' positions such as Scribe, etc., also rotated.

[Bob White]

i would think that if you worked with the Troop Scribe to keep advancement records updated by use of the troop advancement chart. The scribe could work with the scouts to transfer advancement from their books to the chart and then you could take info from the chart to your records. You could also work with the scribe to publicize Board of Review dates. The scribe could also get advancemnt news from you to place in the troop newsletter.

 

In a ddition you could work with the librarian to keep him informed and supplied with current merit badge books and other advancement materials. When new topics are requested he could go through you to get them purchased by the committee.

 

Hope this helps,

Bob White

[Gardyloo]

Bob and Frank,

Thanks so much for your suggestions for troop scribe. My son is one, and there seems to be nothing to do for the job in his troop. He wants to learn more leadership, and I do too, so his "leadership position" will have some meaning and lessons learned.

 

He and his dad thought about putting together a quality roster and e-mail addresses, which is currently not done; I suggested he could do a monthly e-mail newsletter. The Scoutmaster, SPL, ASPL (all the same family) brushed him off when he wanted to talk about it.

 

Should he just do this on his own? He's 13 and just became Star; and is somewhat intimidated by the older leadership. I can see the child maturing into a man through some of the things he's learned in BSA, and it makes me very happy. He went to BSA camp over the summer for two weeks and came back with a revitalized attitude, towards life and BSA.

 

There are some very wise minds on this board (not wiseguys ), so comments or suggestions are welcome.

[dsteele]

I think I have a few ideas for Scribes and Historians.

 

I really like Bob's thoughts on the role of the scribe in advancement and frankj's ideas as well.

 

If the troop has a web page, the Scribe could work with an adult advisor and be the one to maintain the site and keep it current.

 

The historian can research the troop's history and help the scribe to publish it on the web site or write it up for distribution to the troop.

 

I think about the Troop Historian from a future, rather than a past point of view. Imagine this -- the year is 20XX and the troop is preparing a major reunion of all past members to celebrate 75 years of existence. What if the scribe of the troop way back when had kept details of all members of the troop while he was scribe, who was on what campout, and that stuff were preserved electronically and could be easily retrieved. What if the historian of the troop had written narratives of all the troop's outings and courts of honor and other highlight events that were also stored electronically (with pictures) and could be used as a highlight of the reunion.

 

Just some thoughts.

 

I keep a journal from time to time and jot normal every-day thoughts, but also capture how I felt at key moments. The journal isn't for me and certainly not for my glory. But it's one of those leather volumes with the special paper that lasts 100+ years. In 100 years if some historian wants to know what an average american wrote about on September 11, 2001 . . . it will be in my journal waiting for him/her to read it.

 

DS

[Shell in WA- USA]

DS, not a bad idea about the Journal. More importantly, it will be good for your descendants to read about their ancestor. When I was doing my family roots. I found the same such journal kept by my 9th great Grandfather and his days in New England. Talked about all sorts of family members and their day in the life. As well as town events and even an entry about the President's decision at the time. IT was a "wow" find!

 

So keep that in mind as you write yours. Your future (Many greats)grandchild could be reading it!

[mk9750]

Shell,

 

Like you, I was trying to find a way to get our Scribe more active with the advancement records, without giving away too much of my job, and without turning gray worrying that it would get done correctly.

 

After reading oh, about a billion posts here, I came to realize that turning over work to the boys isn't only OK, it's expected!

 

I have continuously followed a number of posters here. One of them, Eagledad, has spoken about this topic in terms that have really helped me understand that it is our duty NOT to do what a boy could do himself.

 

Now, our Scribe records all advancements in Troopmaster (which, by the way, I recomend highly). He prints all of the reports and presents them for me for signature. I forward them to Council (I have access to a fax machine at work). He fills out the backer card that goes with rank or merit badges. He makes the presentations when we circle up at the end of the meeting. And he is responsible for advising the PLC what rank requirments need to be covered as they are planning campouts and doing meeting agendas.

 

I can't say that this has caused less work for me, as I have been almost as active reviewing everything he does. But as he got better at it, I began to realize that this is the perfect job to allow boys to do. Let's face it: As much of a mess as it could be if a mistake is made, as long as you catch a problem within a few weeks or so of it happening, and as long as it doesn't effect a Scout close to Eagle, anything can be fixed.

 

I was lucky. When I realized I should be handing this over, the boy who was Scribe was problably our most organized guy. He is now SPL, and a new Scribe has taken his place. So I've got to start the training all over again, but it'll be worth it.

 

I also like the idea of keeping track of attendance at outings. We stopped keeping attendance a few years ago because we realized that we weren't using the info for anything of value. However, one recent Eagle Scout had his entire record of attendance, and wanted a summary included in his Eagle CoH program. It worked so well, we would like to beging doing that more. Troopmaster can track all of that, if someone gathers and enters the data.

 

Someone mentioned the Troop website. We appoint a seperate Webmaster for this job.

 

Welcome to the forums! I think you like it!

 

Mark

[NJCubScouter]

The Scoutmaster, SPL, ASPL (all the same family) brushed him off when he wanted to talk about it.

 

Hmmm. Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else's ears perk up at "all the same family"? Like in a "Danger, danger, Will Robinson" sort of way. I am sure there are many troops where the SM's son is SPL, and it's ok assuming that the SPL is elected as the book says. (I was one of those SPL's, and until a month ago our SM's son was SPL.) But when you add in that the ASPL is in the same family, presumably the SPL's younger brother, and the SM is their father, I begin to wonder whether the troop is being well-served. There was nobody else that could be ASPL?

 

I know, it's not really on-thread, but I couldn't help but wonder.

[Eagledad]

Hi Shell

 

>>I don't want to take away his job but I need to do mine as well, how you do share it? Make sense?