Eagle92

PM me if you have questions. While i doubt anyone will ever see my old SE again, he works for a region now, my Old DFS did get promoted to SE, and is now a FD. Too close for my comfort in his current location. . PM me if you want more

I actually looked at Kudu's link. Not a bad idea for recruiting if possible, and in fact I did use some of the stuff mentioned, i.e. backpack full of gear, tent, flyers, and my personal scrap book. Couldn't do someof the stuff b/c of school regs. As to trying to bring the word out, Scout shows do help. We've done one in the past at the mall and local Walmart, but sometimes restrictions are in place. Also we had poor attendance from the packs and troops. We are gonna try again, this time to kick off Round Up and at the local park that has the new baseball stadium and soccer fields. Hopefully we will get some more attention. In addtion to the normal scout show stuff, we are also having a rocket launch.

Have you had a parents meeting with the newbies? I would have a parents' meeting, holding it with the CC, and time permitting the SPL. If SPL is available let him explain to the crowd exactly how the patrol method works, and how it is organized chaos b/c it allows scotus to fail and learn from their expereince. let them know how that this is the time for the youth to spread their wings, grow in maturity, knowledge, skills, abilities, and self confidence. Stress that by having parents interfer destroys the patrol method,therby weakenign the program to the point that it actually PREVENTS the scout from growing into the kind of men the parents' want their sons to be. I fyou can get a hold of the 3rd. ed SM handbook, there is a very good section on patrol method and hwo adult interference hurts. Then I as SM would also emphasis all the safety training that leaders have to go through so that they do develope a level of comfort. tell them that your job is to train the jr. leaders to put on the program via planning, skills training, and execution of plans, BUT that you ultimately are resposnible adn that anything you feel is unsafe or contravenes BSA policy, you will prevent from happening. If the CC is around, especially if he has or had a son in the program, I would have him talk about their experiences wit their son growing up in the troop. Another good source is an unregistered parent who has seen the growth and can really gicve a glowing testimonial on the patrol method. You may not be able to please everyone, so some may leave. good luck.

I was just commenting on how everything old is new again.

So EDGE is the new Show, Teach, Do, i.e. Show how it's done,Teach them how to do it, and then let them DO it?

Yep KAHUNA is right about SEs and DFSs moving about, generally every 3-5 years. However if you got a good boss, and do your job well, sometimes they arrange it for you to follow them. And yes in order to move up in the organization, you will also have to move every 3-5 years. SO you may end up being hired by a good boss, and then having to work for a horrible one. OR you may quit under a bad one, only to learn 2 months later you are getting a new SE, who has a good rep. Another thing to consider is the stress on family. While the BSA is the greatest family program for volunteers, there is alot of stress placed on the family. One coworker was on wife #3, two others had their wives leave them. Also several coworkers quit b/c of the stres on family life. Heck my wife, who dated me while I was a DE and knew what came with the territory, threatened to leave me b/c of the long hours, and we were married less than 3 months! The council I worked for went through 9 DEs, a FD and a FiD in a 19 month period. Not trying to scare you, but giving you the facts. I had challenges, but I also had friends from PDL-1 and my original council that I volunteered in who had it made. It is basically luck of the draw. I blame part of the high turnover to the SE and DFS. The other part of is the long hours. Good luck with what you decide. If you do pursue a career, the volunteers you work with will wonderful, despite some of the challenges they present. I loved working with the vols. Another bit of advice if you go in is TIME MANAGEMENT!!!!!!!!! Use a day planner and the backdater they give you in PDL-1. Secret I learned is if you plan far enough in advance, work with and empower your volunteers to execute the plan, then you will succeed. If something at the last minute gets thrown your way while doing something else you will be able to acomplish both. Like a council CS family campout being assigned to you with only 4 weeks to prep while you are in the middle of your FOS campaign. FOS vols knew the plan, were empowered to do it, and executed the plan, so I could focus 95% of my attention on the family campout. As a result FOS met goals a month and a half early, and fam camp was so good, we doubled attendence the following year as word of mouth promoted the event.

Can't wait until August when the new book comes out.

As a former pro who started almost immediately after college, the pay is decent, but be prepared to work long hours. Also the KSAs you will gain will help you in otehr careers. Depending upon the council and district you enter, it can be very good or very bad. Districts that have an functional committee are a blessing, but if you don't have one, can be a challenge. Also look for membership stats, and if possible visit with district committee members prior to becomign employed. If they don't want you looking at the membership or talking to vols, that's a bad sign. Also talk to your friends in you local council about the professional leadership in your council. If they hint at anything negative, i.e. "Oh XYZ council," or 'watch your back " DON"T GO! Pros, esp. at the higher levels, do have reps that follow them. Finally, google yourself, i.e. every possible configuration of your name, and see what is out there on you. It took my council 11 mos to find a DE for my district. SOme of the good candidates had interesting myspace and facebook pages that hurt them.

taken from the MyScouting community here: https://community.scouting.org/groups/national_volunteer_development_training/forum/p/4137/12563.aspx#12563 Highlights include TRAINING UP DATE June, 2009 -Selected councils will pilot required training for direct contact leaders in 2010. Plans are in development to require training for all direct contact leaders in 2011. Councils should prepare to make training more readily available and to expand their training teams. -New supplemental training courses now online include Interfaith Worship, Bullying, Leave No Trace and Disc Golf. These courses can be down loaded to be used as a course outline or they can be a self study. More new courses are in development. -The centennial edition (12th) of the Boy Scout Handbook will be available in August, 2009. It will feature a mixture of parts of many of the early hand books with a 21st century flair. The handbook features chapters on Leadership and Leave No Trace, which both are firsts. There will be a supplemental 100 year timeline book with the first printing and a mini-book with the rank requirements that is pocket size. A website will provide in-depth information on many subjects. -Training courses that require people to be re-certified include BSA Lifeguard (3 years) Paddle Craft Safely (3 years) Swimming and Water Rescue (3 years) Climb on Safely (2 years) Trek Safely (2 years) Safe Swim Defense (2 years) Safety Afloat (2 years) Camp Visitation (2 years) Chain Saw Safety (2 years) and National Camp School (5 camping seasons) -A new resource of information that you may not be aware of is now available on http://.blog.scoutingmagazine.org. -COR fast start training is in development and will soon be on the Online Learning Center. -Florida National High Adventure Sea Base will be the site of a Volunteer Development Training Conference the week of Jan. 18-23, 2010. Courses to be offered will be Strictly for Scoutmasters, Strictly for Cubmasters, Advancement Policy and Procedures, Webelos to First Class, Geocache and Scouting, and Administration of Venturing. Additional information and registration is available on www.scouting.org - The NYLT syllabus and supporting material is now restricted to being ordered only by councils. Troops were attempting to put on their own course, which is not the intent of this course.

Anytime anything offical BSA breaks, RETURN IT as their is a lifetime warranty (sp) on the stuff. Further, if it is a repeat case like BegginerScout, I would write a polite letter stating their opinion of the merchandise and submit it to the scout shop or mail directly to Supply in Charlotte. Yes they do listen to the customer. I remember when they did away with knee socks the first go around, a letter writting campaign brought them back.

Gern, In all the units I've everbeen in, 8 to date, every unit had it's own internal roster that was updated as soon as a new member joined. In the troops back in the day, it was the troop record book. Now a lot of units Troop/Pack Master software. let's face it we update our records faster than the beuracracy that is council does, b/c we ar edealing with much smaller numbers. I'll give you another example of why it's important to cooperate with the DE. My son visited a pack back in april. Officially he could not be a CS until June 1, but since we were invited to attend the pack camp out and functions, I registered him in April, and turned in the leader app to be a TCDL. We were both added to the pack's roster, and the paperwork was turned in to council. BUT since he cannot be entered into SCOUTNET until June 1, we were not put into the system at that time. To date I am still not listed as a TCDL on MyScouting.org, so my info, and I am assuming my son's as well, still has not been inputted into SCOUTNET in the past 8 days. However when the DE asks for the pack's roster in a few days, my name and my son'e name will be on the pack's form. The DE will then bug the registrar to hurry up the process, or if the apps are missing, get the pack's copies and enter the info into SCOUTNET. So the entire point of getting this info is to update the council's records if needed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think I know what the misunderstanding is . When the DE says roster, he means a copy of what the unit uses for records, i.e. unit notebook, phone list, etc AND not, repeat NOT, the charter. The list is compared to the charter to make sure everyone is registered. So what the DE is asking for is the unit's internal records to compare against the counci's copy of the charter. Once the comparison is made, then teh charter is updated. (This message has been edited by eagle92)

I forgot about day camp and summer camp. that was other times that we verified if people were registered. Gern, Yes the DE si trying to make a membership goal, but he alos is trying to make sure the coucil's paperwork is up to date. Wouldn't you be ticked off if a CS earned AOL, but council wouldn't recognize it b/c he wasn't registered? What about if your son was up for Eagle, but they could do the EBOR b/c he wasn't not registered according to the council.

ROTFL, You know back in the day my mom couldn't afford the BS uniform that Webelos were just able to wear. She scrounged around and got a bunch of second had BS uniforms, but couldn't find the blue loops, so she made them. And yes you do have units making their own red loops in my neck of the woods Most of the units HATE the new numbers and loops. Also I've noticed that it's hard from a distance to tell who is a CS leader, and who is a BS leader.

I used this approach twice a year, in June and in December. As I said I've caught a few folks who were active that were not on the charter, and by doing the checks we got them registered. one year I found a total of 7 folks. I forgot another reason why DEs do this. Membership goals! There are two deadlines that a DE must show membership growth at: June 30th CSE's Winner Circle deadline, and December 31st Quality District deadline. Grant you this may seem like a pain, but trust me it's important, besides the DE's goals. Usually the following scenario happens with BS. Tommy Life Scout is getting ready for his EBOR and gets everything ready, only to find out he is not on the charter and they can't have his EBOR until he is registered.

Gern, There are several reasons for this, so don't take it personally. #1 is about the situation already mentioned: folks sign up and are never hear from the unit they joined. Unfortunately that happens, heck it happend to me when i tried to join Sea Scouts the first go around. #2 Sometimes kids get left of charters and/or their info is incorrect on the charter. had that happen to a good friend of mine, somehow he got off the charter, and we didn't realize it until time for his EBOR! #3 To find out why some people don't move on and see if they would be interested in another unit. Some units are not very good and people do leave. I had a bad pack that would recurit a bunch of folks, but the CC and CM, a husband and wife team, drove off everyone who joined. Sometimes iwas able to get them involved with another pack. #4 National mandated a membership verification program to prevent "phantom" members and units from existing, i.e. Atlanta and greater AL. This was a major problem, and one reason why BSA membership has dropped ove the past 10 years. I bet BSA is growing, but the inflated figures from the past are still haunting us.

When I did my two 50 milers, when we first heard thunder, we started looking for a place to pull over. First go around, we were not able to get out the lake before we saw lightening, but we then began paddling so fast,a skier could have been attached to the stern painter Second trip, not with BSA but with Eckerd Foundation, we saw lightening, immediately pulled over, and lucked out that there was a river house that was open.

If they are older scouts, i.e. First Class and above, then let them run the meetings and program. They should be the ones who plan, organize, and run meetings and trips. Our job as leaders is to advise and mentor, amkign sure things are doen safely, BUT letting them succeed or fail as the case may be on their own. Also having them form their own Venture patrol so they can do a few extra activities occassionaly without the rest of the troop is another way to keep them going. In reflecting on my old troop, while not perfect, it was boy-run adn we had no problem retaining older scouts. Yes we would lose a few to the fumes and jobs, but for the most part we kept them until 18 or they left for college/military.

Some food for thought on the BMI scale. I just had my BMI done via an electronic pulse scale, and then compared that score to the CDC's BMI calculator. There was a difference. Also did the CDC's BMI calculator for teens, using some data from back in the day when I swimming 6 hours a day/5 days a week, duing the summer and 2 hours a day 3 times a week. According to that scale I was overweight then too.

Looked at the photo, and also noticed the venturer's green pants and lack of temp insignia and PORs. Also noticed all the CS have no neckers, several are missing Bobcat, no belt loops and progess towards ranks/compass/Tc paw. With the scouts, except for the one Arrowmen way in the back, no tempoary insigina, no flaps, PORs, and no AOL underneat BS rank. My conclusion is that this was a staged photo with models and no real scouts, save possibly the arrowman way back, and that whoever did this photo has no clue.

Well I made the comment on no more Program Helps last nite at a CSDC meeting and everyone was shocked, including the pro. The leaders there also expressed that they didn't like the Fast track format, stating that they almost lost people before reverting back to the program helps.

SMT, I would have to respectfully disagree with your assertion on lazertag. Several elements are incorporated into it. Off the cuff here are a few similarities. 1) It's entertainment, i.e. a game just like Scouting is a game. 2) It's a team building exercise. You work in small groups, like patrols, to acheive a goal, ie winning. A) Develops communication skills B) Develops planning C) Instills comraderie D) Gives members of a group a chance to evaluate themselves and their teammates. 3)Provides a positive way to relieve stress and interpersonality conflicts. When I was in the UK with the European Camp Staff Program, the camp used this as a team building exercise one nite. We had a blast and it definately improved how we worked with each other and morale.

best thing to promote OA is the following 1) dance team and singers performance 2) OA ceremony team opening the campfire 4) set the example the entire week. 50 OA nite

SM, If you plan on taking BSA Lifeguard, start working out NOW! BSA was the toughest course around because they included boating skills AND some "hand-to-hand combat" skills and situations that ARC and YMCA no longer teaches, at least when I was current ("what you mean there is no such thing as a double drowning anymore, we just had one a few weeks ago?"). I admit it's been a while and course has changed to a more pool/beachfront type course similar to ARC and YMCA, but"Be Prepared" for some challenges. I highly recommend every unit unit have 2 or more BSA Lifeguards, especially with the adults. One reason is that you then have Scouts and adults who have a very good water rescue foundation. Another reason is that in certain boating situations, you will need an adult certified lifeguard to have some of your non-swimmers go out in a canoe, raft, or sailboat. Now why an adult certified lifeguard and not a certified lifeguard, I can only think of liability issues.

Back in the day, they taught canoe and rowing rescues. You had to have First Aid, Swimming, Rowing, and Canoeing MBs as prerequisites for youth, or be able to demonstrate that you knew these skills for adults. Now it looks as if BSA Lifeguard is being watered down to only pool and beachside guarding. No boating whatsoever.