Summer Camp and t-2-1 programs

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello shortridge,

 

 

Yes, I think too often the program for new boys is aimed at replacing a troop program for new Boy Scouts. And these programs are so often available across the country at Scout camps I would suppose this kind of program is designed as a summer camp program by National, although that's a guess.

 

Hawkrod has a program he likes for new Boy Scouts. Frankly, I can't tell too much how it works from his description.

 

To me, learning about camping can be a combination of teaching, practice and experience. Ideally you will have older boys teaching new boys the skills, and then coaching them as they practice those skills. Ideally this is not artificial practice, but the process of setting up camp on an actual trip. After boys get that coaching, they then practice that skill till they can do it reliably themselves.

[Beavah]

I think shortridge has the right of this.

 

In da BSA camp program, the camp staff should not be signing off on T-2-1 requirements. That's not their role, that's the role of the unit leaders. Their role is to assist the unit program by teaching. A Scout Learns, eh? That's what they're doin', helping a scout learn. A Scout is Tested is the province of the Scoutmaster and his designees.

 

Any camp that has its staff signin' off on T-2-1 isn't followin' the real BSA program recommendations.

 

Sadly, in many cases such camps are respondin' to the requests and desires of their customers.

 

Beavah

 

[Hawkrod]

Sorry SeattlePioneer, I could have expounded! The transition program is a weeklong camp where the boys are immersed in the patrol method and taught by a Venture crew. The entire focus is about working as a patrol and the details of it. For example (and I still laugh) during meal planning a couple of years ago, the boys decided on hamburgers so they create a list for the quartermaster: 1 pound hamburger, 1 package hamburger buns, 1 onion, 1 tomato, 1 bottle ketchup, 1 bottle mustanrd, 1 head of letuce, cheese. So they got what they asked for including that single slice of American cheese! LOL You know those particular boys will never forget to say "6 slices of cheese" ever again! They do work on a couple of basic MB's as a group but the entire focus is the boys learning to work together and share the load. They come in and are asigned to a patrol and then live with those boys for a week with very, VERY little adult interaction. They are taught to look to the older boys for guidance and the Crew members know how to do it. The boys come out with a very clear understanding of how to get things done in a group and why everyone has to share the jobs, both good and bad, so that they all succeed. I was just talking to the program director this afternoon and although this is not a new program, she is dealing with SM's who are not happy that the boys have no choice in MB's as all the boys do the same thing as a group. Too many don't get it but thankfully their boys will! It isn't about advancement or MB's, it is about learning to be a Scout at the most basic level.

[skeptic]

Hawkrod; Is that camp held at Emerson or Helendade; or perhaps now at the Big Bear camp? You mentioned fire damage, so thought it might be Helendade. Did you see the three graphics I posted on the Inland Empire Facebook?

[Hawkrod]

The program is at Helendade. They are trying to do the same thing at Emerson but they are doing with the rest of the Troops in attendance and that just does not work as well in my opinion. It is too distracting and the boys do not remain in the patrol for the entire week (unless they changed it since I last saw it there) as they regroup with their Troops in the evening and break out again in the morning. The idea of isolating them and keeping them in a patrol for the week is part of what makes it work. Also the lack of the distraction of the other things going on around them helps as well.

 

Helendade is a smaller camp with a smaller potential group attending and so holding Target on Transition and the Tribe of Wisumahi brings camp to capacity and because the two programs are very similar in structure but very dis-similar in program lets them work side by side without any issues that I have seen at other camps.

 

I am a huge proponent of these types of programs as I have experienced many different programs and these are ones that seem to "stick" with the boys. I have come across men who went through the programs and who have volunteered to come back and work them! These are the kinds of programs that produce "AHA!" moments!

 

I do realize I am biased but I am biased but that is based on the reasons I have given. The Tribe of Wiumahi program for 2nd year Webelos has been fine tuned over the last couple of years and is very much aimed at teaching leadership skills and the patrol methods through cooperation and teamwork and each year it gets just a little bit better. The new camp director is a great lady who is an amazing outdoorsman with a family of Scouts and she firmly believes in these programs and has gone above and beyond to make them happen and make the experience as good as it can be.

[desertrat77]

Though I mentioned earlier I'm not in favor of the T21 program, I thank the pro-T21 for sharing their perspectives.

 

A couple thoughts:

 

Everything listed that the new scouts learn in the program, I keep thinking "Shouldn't they learn this stuff from their patrol leader?" Are we "outsourcing leadership" by having cadre and ASMs run T21 at camp?

 

Also, I reflected on my own experience as a first year camper many years ago. I think I was a Tenderfoot--maybe not even that. I didn't know much about anything, started a few MBs but didn't finish a single one, but I sure enjoyed my week at camp--exploring, hiking, being with my fellow scouts, etc.

 

I'm also thinking about my experience as PL and SPL...I had some success and many spectacular failures teaching scout skills (this was well before the T21 era). I wouldn't trade the good days and the bad for anything.

 

Does summer camp T21 deprive the PLs and SPLs of the experience of passing along the traditions and skills of scouting?

[Basementdweller]

Just shows how inconsistent program delivery is....

 

I did not participate in the t21 program as a youth either....somehow I fumbled my way to eagle......

[shortridge]

If the goal is consistent program delivery, the only way to guarantee that is to go to an all-professional program team.

 

As long as BSA is a volunteer-run, CO-controlled organization, we can have the highest standards in the world but delivery will still be spotty.

 

Summer camp is no different. Hiring a motley crew of teenagers, college students, teachers, retirees and laid-off workers, with low wages and high turnover, means you never quite know what to expect.