mikecummings157

We have done this several times; sending post cards out for an Open House. We have only had 1 response over the years, but it gained us a Scout who is on the verge of Eagle and enabled us to recruit his younger brother and his Den from a pack we did not traditionally draw from. It's a long shot, but it's a small investment too.

We sold some, but it was tough. Feedback was that the lineup of participating retailers was weak. We might do this on our own, design a better card, and keep all the profits.(This message has been edited by mikecummings157)

Don't assume the SM will be overruled. One of my predecessors as SM in our troop had a similiar issue several years ago and would not sign off. The scout appealed to council and they backed the SM.

We just did ours. All scouts 1st Class and above are invited. Myself (SM) and 1-2 other adults attend also for guidance only. Each scout must bring at least one monthly theme and an activity idea. These go on lists and get added to via brainstorming led by the SPL. Working with a draft calendar that lists school holidays the boys fill in the dates. It took about 2.5 hours to grind through.

I look at the maturity of the scout as a criteria for approval. If I feel a scout isn't mature enough I also make sure our Troop OA Rep and at least one of my ASM's agrees. I then talk to the scout to let him know what he needs to do in order to be eligible. My other criteria is to ask the candidates whether they will attempt the Ordeal if elected. We have had a problem with boys getting elected and not attempting the Ordeal. Even though it shouldn't effect the election under the current rules, it sometimes does.

With the permission of my PLC, I had my beading at a troop Court of Honor. Two of my old Scoutmasters participated in the ceremony.

I'm starting to prepare to use this syllabus for the 1st time. It came out just after I did last year's training. Any guidance from the folks who have done it on the time alloted per module? The syllabus says 60-90 minutes per module.

We get one every few years. It's usually 1 of 2 things: 1. Troop isn't active enough; scout looking for more outings/activities. No problem, we are active. 2. Some other alleged behavioral issue in the troop(poor communication, lack of opportunity for advancement, scout doesn't get along with others). These issues that they blame on the old troop almost always repeat themselves in our troop, as the problem isn't the troop, it's the scout or parent. It's easier to blame the troop than take personal responsibility.

Ditto what Shortridge said. This is a PLC matter.

Our Troop Guide is a member of the Senior Patrol and represents the new scouts on the PLC. He is assigned an ASM to support him (not the other way around) and is given the job of overseeing the advancement of the new scouts for a year, or until they reach 1st Class.

We've been shaking them up yearly to coincide with the SPL/PL election. This is what our PLC has decided the last few years. Future PLC's may want to do something different.

I have our OA Rep explain the the Troop what OA is about. Following that I meet with each eligible scout to discuss whether they are ready and just as importantly whether they want to run. Several of our older scouts have no desire to participate. Even though it shouldn't having them on the ballots impacts the other candidates.

What compounds some of this nonsense is the local Eagle Board making stuff up. We have a candidate going in to get his project approved and he was told he can't use the money in his Scout account to help fund it. Is is ok to solicits donations from relatives however. So the message is it's ok to have dad write a check but not to use funds he's actually earned?

Journey to Excellence. It takes about 15 minutes to fill out. We turn ours in with our Charter Renewal.

The summer camp we go to has an Ice Cream Social for all Arrowmen one night during the week, which includes the sale & trading of patches from the local lodge (there are a lot of out-of-council troops, including ours). They also offer a program called "Arrow Corps" the last week of camp. They offer a 75% discounted rate for Arrowmen to come back and form a provisional troop. They work on service projets in the camp until lunch, then have the rest of the day off to enjoy the camp programs.