kahits

I hope the parents of my two scouts read every bit of this earnest research. Thanks for researching this for them, and their two scouts. I think they will be very happy doing Venturing.

Thanks, very much... I think this is a great option for a young person who has a need to move past the troop, but still wants to complete their Eagle. I started my daughters crew almost 2 years ago, and have since handed it over to my younger, more popular, Assoc. Advisor, but never read or heard how this part of the program worked for that teen boy, still wanting to make Eagle.

I am curious how a boy in a crew can complete their Eagle rank if they have no membership in a troop? They are both 15 and one is a Star scout and the other is 1st Class. The 2nd scout got a late start. Do they just go thru a District MB counselor, and get their POR time thru the crew?

Yes, it is a new troop and he is a new SM. His kids were wearing the face paint the whole weekend, and I guess that was their/his choice. At the time we didn't have neckerchiefs for our troop, having joined the year before, with borrowed neckerchiefs for the crossover. We went with square, yellow neckerchiefs, with a red binding, which was close to what the previous, home-made, neckerchiefs were like, before they ran out. I think we made a better choice, truth be told.

We have a relatively new troop here that adopted forest camo material for their neckerchief. The SM is an avid outdoorsman, and even got remarried in hunting camo clothing. The first time I saw his unit was two Camporee's ago, and all of his boys put matching camo face paint on when they showed up at the start of the camporee events, which was at night, so when you saw them in your headlamp light, you did a double take. I think they really got into it, and he sure likes his camo.

Tomorrow night is our troop Court of Honor. As I have posted, previously, we are still a small, struggling, unit and have 2 scouts up for their Star rank (my son is one of them) as well as crossing over 2 new scouts. As luck would have it, we have 2 of our Eagle scouts (with 2006 & 2007 EBOR's) who's parents have not taken the time to organize their individual ceremonies,and have requested to have theirs with the troop. It's been two years since my son and I joined the troop, with only one, unissued, neckerchief left when we arrived, so he got to wear a borrowed neckerchief for his crossover. I spent many months of 2006 talking with my DE and the troop committee, and finally got some new neckerchiefs made. They are large, square neckerchiefs, and can not be worn under the collar unless they are rolled, which was not the intention. They cover the collar, easily, and even have a extension on the edge binding to tie a good turn knot at the ends. A former SM is coming (2 SM's ago) and I'm curious what he is going to think. It is also our 70th anniversary (I just got the new unit number with the 70 year VB) in terms of continuous recharters, but the first eagle scout in the troop was 13 years before that charter year, so the troop is at least 15 years older, but not continuously chartered. Reading these comments reminds me to make sure the boys look sharp, and perhaps even have them tuck under their collars for this one. The previous SM was a pretty regimented guy, which I am not, but we'll see how it goes. I'm enjoying this discussion, because my son wore his collar tucked under the 4 years of cub scouts (his Tiger year was still the orange tee), and he loved it. I couldn't make the other boys do it, but he led by example, and continues to this day.

We have two Webelos that are going to crossover at our meeting, on Monday. One has already received his AOL, and the other is coming without. I have a bridge that I can use, but it sits up pretty high, and our meeting space does not have that much head room. I'm curious if any of you have a simple, yet meaningful, ceremony that we can use to put loops and a neckerchief on these 5th graders, that we might consider. There will be nobody from either of their packs in attendance, so it will be just their parents and the troop.

I think he is wanting some curve balls. Something to make it interesting.

I was asked to sit on an Eagle Board of Review. The young man was an officer (Program VP) in the Venture crew that I helped start (I stepped down at CA, about 5 months ago) and is now the new Chapter chief for the OA chapter (that I was asked to be Chapter Adviser, about 4 months ago). He is a great, motivated, and cheerfull, HS Senior, who has pretty much gotten this far without much support from his parents. He has 2 older brothers that pretty much burned them out as active Scouters in the troop. He is very excited to be Chapter Chief for all of next year, and obviously completing his Eagle rank with his 18th birthday just weeks away. He clued me about what he would like to hear, by referring to questions about the meaning of life as my contribution to his Eagle BOR. I'm curious if any of you have had some experiences that suggest something that I might contribute to this last BOR of his youth scouting career?

Thanks, GWD-S, Alot has happened since I first posted this, and it is still slow going. The oldest, active scout in the troop ended up recruiting 2 of his friends, which initially was great. We are are now in the process of inviting one of these two boys (the 3rd one to join) to seek another troop, which we hope can happen for him, but he chose early on not to step up with his two friends, to help lead the troop, and was more a catalyst for the troop going the other way. The other two friends are committed to the program, with the original scout having gone to Philmont on a contingent last summer. The 2nd scout did go with us to summer camp (the 1st was at Philmont that week) and is about to get his 2nd and 1st class ranks next month. The only thing that was holding him back was the 3rd scout, who just didn't care to do much more then disrupt meetings and encourage his buddies to follow his lead in making sure we didn't get the work done. I ended up bringing in one of my friends from the district to help as my ASM, and he has been wonderful. He is an Eagle scout and Desert Storm veteran, and just a great support for me. Not having that strong 2nd leader on campouts and meetings could not have lasted for too much longer. We do have 2 Webelos II boys coming to meetings, and they are wanting to cross over as soon as they can complete their AOL, which I hope will happen by no later then March of 08. My son's two crossover mates, which I am not sure I talked about, are still out of the troop. The one is gone forever and has since had some serious social breakdowns in his family and school, which I can only say is more then just hormones kicking in, and the other boy is still out of state waiting for his father to get legal custody, before he can return to town, to be again taken care of by an aunt and uncle. That poor boy is missing out on so much, that it breaks my heart because all he wants is to come back to the troop. In all of this, my son is up for his Star, and went thru his OA ordeal in May, and is now the VC of Indian Affairs for the chapter, which they asked me to be the new adviser for. I had stepped down from the crew I started last year, and ironically, it was my replacement as Crew Advisor, who was the Chapter adviser, that I ended up replacing. I did all that before I even went thru the ordeal, and then found myself switching places with him. When the district asks you to help out, particularly for a chapter that is in the same situation as the troop, I am afraid I could not turn it down. We would have left the district for another chapter, with the situation that exists in the chapter, and my son wanted to be active in OA. He danced at the Fall conclave and is now drumming with his school's powwow club, and wants to start a drum group with the chapter, so I'm in this up to my elbows, but I am not complaining (it will all be over sooner then I know...). We have a potential for 5 to 10 more Webelos in the spring of 09, but will work with the two that we have coming to meetings now, and will continue to hold our collective breaths. One of the 2 older boys has an 11 year old, 5th grade brother who is also interested in joining, but not until the other two WII's are officially in the troop, so that would be 3 more to offset the one that is moving on. Getting help from the district has been a hugh relief for me, and he is willing to deal with the day to day for the troop meetings, while I work with the Webelos and of course dealing with our parents. I don't know if this looks like a series of good decisions being made or just not being able to say no, but for now, I am reasonably satisfied that I am still working on getting the troop back the other way, as my first priority. What really surprised me was that we took a total of 4 boys to summer camp, with just me (we shared a camp with another local troop in the neighborhood, for that 2nd adult leader position) and had a great camp doing what is expected, but asked for permission to do a trail maintenance project for service requirements. We did a few other things on our own, but did not pursue Honor troop, because some of it required that second adult leader. When the Friday night campfire ceremony came, they awarded the honor troop certificates, which required alot of paperwork approvals. One of our newer, older (the 2nd one), scouts turned to our SPL and said do we get one of those, and was told that no, we didn't qualify. When they read off our troop number and our SPL went up to receive the award, those guys were pretty proud. I knew both signatures on the form and was humbled that they would do that, when we didn't exactly jump thru all the hoops that were required, but we apparently did enough.

Thanks, Mea... I was hoping for something beyond Cubs, and you reminded me of the VLSC from my daughters Venture crew. Perfect! A good means for all of these kids to become one, for that activity, and perhaps in a few months, a part of a troop.

My small group of boys met tonight to finalize plans for our open house/COH next Monday. They had no problem figuring out what to do, with the exception of what game to run that would work for Webelos and Boys Scouts, together. I thought there might be some quick comments that would be something that exudes Boy Scouting for these senior Cubs that will further encourage them to continue past their AOL, and put on the red tabs.

All I can find is the Lodge officer positions, but nothing at the Chapter level.

Having been appointed the new Chapter adviser for my district, I am trying to find a written description for OA chapter youth officers. For whatever reasons, there isn''t anything available from the lodge, and it sounds like it has never been created. Feel free to PM me the narratives.

Thanks, Diz.. This particular adult comes very experienced in Scouting and a learned historian of native culture, without having a native background. His wife was native and also an experienced scouter, before she died last fall. It''s been a long, several months for him, but he wants to help if he can. Although he can be a bit over confident in his dealings with youth, he has alot to share from his life experience, and I believe he can help a great deal, which is why I would like to give him an official position. The Vice chief of ceremonies sounds like a good, youth association with the chapter, but I''ll want to keep close tabs of the mentoring, as this new movement begins to take shape to outfit the chapter, to reinforce their ceremonies, as well as encourage dancing and drumming, as a result of their progress. I guess I''m not quite saying the skill and patience of this individual are at the same level, as they perhaps should be. Being originally from South Dakota (Dakota/Lakota), I would like to encourage as much adult scouter support as is being offered to this challenge, hence my looking for other positions for these learned, more experienced then I, OA adults, while maintaining control of the good works we are attempting to accomplish. Just the idea of having a Vice chief of dance, and perhaps drumming, is something to aspire to. My son will be dancing at next weekends conclave, and I hope this will be a beginning of many more youth members by next spring. In the meantime, my DE is telling me I need to dress in regalia, so I have some leggings and breech cloth to make, by Friday, to go with the rest. The chapter has not performed ceremonies at the lodge for many, many years, but until their regalia gets to where it needs to be, we''ll be mostly a group of dressed leaders and one 13 year old, Sioux OA brave, leading the charge to bring visibility back to the chapter. Thanks,

Thanks, Dizzy... the positions I was thinking about were having 2-3 associate advisers, to help run the South sub-group and to kind of back me up, since I sense some unease with my appointment and brief OA ordeal membership, since May. Also, there are a few leaders who have a great deal of interest in helping with regalia, and I heard mention of a Feathersmaster position. That made me wonder if there were other, different, positions that could be considered to give these people a position that will aid this relatively regalialess chapter, so to speak?

Having been just named to be the new chapter adviser for our long struggling OA chapter, I have some questions as it relates to adult leader/adviser positions. Our chapter is partially connected to a major urban area, but extends 70 miles into rural countryside. This has prevented the chapter from being successful with any of the new OA members coming to the intown chapter meetings due to the distance. I was involved in helping to start a subchapter, earlier this summer, in that area to try and encourage the previous (who dropped out) and current members to come to meetings again. Being an ordeal member as of last may, I can sense some apprehension from some of the other adult members, and am in need of some clarifications. Can you give me an idea of the positions that can be created to recruit as many of the experienced (most of which are Vigil members) members in the district to help me by serving in an official capacty. I have several great candidates available as associate advisers, and with this sub chapter to recruit more members to come back, I will need some other positions. I heard of a Feathersmaster for regalia related responsibilities, but without the current training (the lodge notified my a few hours after the training had been completed) I need a better idea of how many official positions I can fill, to move on with work of rebuilding the chapter. So far the only flack I have been receiving is from female sdult members, but I have been in respectful standing with them, previously, but clearly I need to surround myself with committed, experienced adult members to help give this effort some short term credibilty. Obviously, my reservation upbringing is what contributed to this move to nominate me, and of course my son who wants to start a drumming and dance team, had no other choices the for me to take a lead role and get them doing more then performing just crossover and tapout ceremonies (they have never done ceremonies at the Lodge), or not be in OA, because going to one of the other chapters in the city was out of the question. It is going to be a hugh undertaking, because I have been made aware of how much the Lodge has controlled the chapter (but they never worked to make it better then it has been for a very long time) and with my ordeal membership, I will need all the help I can get in the short term. For now I would settle for the adult positions you have seen used at the chapter level, and what purpose they serve. I appreciate it.

Thanks, B I think you are on the right track, and I have given this discussion web address to the CC, who is new to scouting (the unit is 16 months old), but has a good understanding as to what has been going on and is ready to bring in the committee, which has it's own big guns, to resolve this before too many unit meets are effected by both their suspensions. I'll put what my experience was and it was more then I cared to experience, let alone deal with, and this might just solve our long problem, but right now the accused needs to be fairly treated, and cleared quickly if this is what did not happen. If it had happened to me, I can't imagine the turmoil it would have caused in both of the units I am involved in.

the charge was harrassment during a campout, over a year ago... which I never observed, and our camps were across the road from each other (male and female).

I let my DE know, and he checked and nothing has been given to the council from her, so this will probably be a situation that will end up back in the unit committees domain, and they are very willing to deal with it. Most of the district leadership are actually on the committee. It just reinforces that even when dealing with an adult or youth, always have another person present to keep it sane.

Apparently with the council, because she didn't want to deal with the committee. Having been a victim of her accusations, although nothing this devastating, but just as painful to deal with, she is accusing my replacement, who she was upset with for the way he was transitioning into the unit. He has been there from the beginning and is a former OA Chapter adviser, with a great deal of scouter experience for his young years. The claim that is being alledged was from a campout over a year ago, that I observed nothing that remotely resembles what she is claiming.

Having no experience with this, apparently a female leader is filing charges against a male leader in my kids unit, for sexual harrassment. I am wondering if anyone has experience with this kind of situation, and what the policy from the council, or higher, is to resolve this. I won't go into specifics, but would like to know if any of you scouters know how this is handled. Thanks,

Thank you, GS... Yes, we are traveling a very similar path here. Althought I have not heard back from the WDL, I think he will find us very helpful. According to their new CM, he has 2, WBII's in the pack, one of which I have known since he joined in the spring of his Tiger year, coming in as a Wolf. I'm just amazed that he is still there, with his single mom's challenges, along with his younger brother. The WB DL's son is the other WBII, so these two would bring much to our troop, as small at it is. I realize my son would be the most logical candidate to be their DC, but I won't be in any hurry, with the school year just getting started. I will probably have him get the DC training, just the same, and see how it goes. Since I left that pack, some 19 months ago, so much has happened for myself, but I do feel the need to reconnect to the pack. No matter how many leaders you get to take your place, it always is painful for the ones the are given the responsibility of running the pack after your departure. They are doing great in that regard.

Thanks, John.... My son's den (5-8 boys) had a DC from Bears to crossover. I don't know what they are doing with this lone W2. I imagine he is in with the W1's, who could all probably use a DC, but only one of our older boys is 1st class, and he would be a good candidate, along with my son, but I need to find out if he is still in the pack. And if our older, and newer, scouts can get their act together, they might do well to invite him to attend some of our troop activities, but that is probably not the issue at hand. Getting the boys to get a handle on their group leadership is probably the most important.

Thanks, GB, for that summary.... my initial impression was for the boys to consider Dobins and Delatour, but I'll relay this summary for their consideration. Thanks, again.