Webelos to Scout Transition revisited

[Lisabob]

Eagle97, I'd be interested in hearing more about your March event. Is this a one day affair or is it a campout? What sorts of activities do you have the scouts doing at the stations? Can you give a couple of examples? Do troops that don't have a designated webelos group with them reap much from this (ie, do most of the cross overs occur where the webelos have camped with a certain troop or does the exposure to other troops in general help those other troops too)?

 

We did a troop open house night where three-five troops worked together and invited area cubs (not just webelos) to attend but it was just a short one-hour deal and cub attendance was poor. Might've been due to insufficient publicity too though.

[prairie]

All I have managed to do is talk to some Webelo parents about how scouting is diffrent than cubs, what we hope their boy will get out of his envolvement in Scouting and that we as Scouters have their wellbeing in mind. My thought being, "A mom and dad who believe that Scouting is important to and for their son will go a long way to bridging over the rough spots."

[LongHaul]

Lisabob,

Id like to address your questions and concerns about Transition. First Id like to pass along a link for the Webelos Transition material posted by Circle Ten Council in Dallas TX. http://www.circle10.org/programs/scout_transition.html While I dont agree 100% with their approach I find that it is a good place to start. Look at the letter to be sent to the parents of the New Webelos II den. If you have a District web site you could have it posted and each CM or WDL could make copies for all their boys instead of mailing them. One thing I like about the Circle Ten approach is that it cover all 12 months of the year. As I said a few weeks ago when I presented my Webelos Transition talk at our Roundtable, February is the half way point in Transition for the Graduating Webelos IIs. The second leg, though shorter than the first by several months, is no less important than the first. If the troop receiving these new Scouts does not have a plan to help them adapt to the Boy Scout Program then their Transition stands a 40% chance of not being successful. In my area charters are renewed in January so by next January most of the boys that are crossing over will reappear on the charter because they dont drop out in mid Scouting year. Those that drop will not come back in September of the 2008 year, this means that they will disappear from the charter in 2009. I consider them not to have Transitioned. Those that do transition and still drop out of Scouting usually do so when they enter high school. Transition at the Troop level starts with the Bear scout/parent orientation which the ASM in charge of working with Packs, the SPL and the Den Chief explain to the boys and the parents what the differences are in the Webelos program. The parents need to transition as well as the boys if the troop they end up in is to maintain a strong parent involvement.

You say that as part of the Membership chain you cant infringe into the Program chain. I say make them stop you! If Transition is going to be solely a Membership consideration then you might as well toss in the towel now and save yourself a lot of work. Without Den Chiefs you already know the difficulty in building relations with a troop. Without troop involvement BEFORE crossover, transition stands little chance of being more effective than it currently is, Im told by my Council membership advisor that we loose 40% by crossover and another 40% by the second September in a troop. 8 ou t of 10 Boys that are active Bear Cubs do not come back for the second Scouting year with a troop.

Once you have a plan and your Membership Chair is onboard with it announce it on the web site and at Roundtable. Why as a member of the District Staff are you not allowed to organize events? If you can convince the troops to participate in a campaign to make graduating Bear Cubs more aware of what awaits them as Webelos and Boy Scouts why should the Program people object as long you are not competing. One of the Districts Im in runs a Webelos Woods every September, they have good troop involvement and invite only Webelos Scouts. Dens get to see a variety of troops from their immediate area in action. Another District runs a Scout-O-Rama in May and invites anyone that wants to come, especially the general public. Troops come out and put on demonstrations. My troop did an outdoor cooking demo one year, I did bacon and eggs cooked in a paper lunch sack, my SPL and another scout did Ice Cream in a Dutch Oven, another patrol demonstrated desserts cooked in Dutch Oven Ovens. Our dinning fly is a 10 by 20 and the display side was shoulder to shoulder with people. Feed them and they will come . Troop participation and advertising is the key to this type of event. Not only can it attract new scouts it helps let the community know we are here and are a positive influence.

The Training Team in your district also needs to be onboard with transition. When we train new Webelos Leaders we emphasize the transition aspect of the program. New SMs and ASMs get a dose of troop involvement with the surrounding Packs particularly in the form of Den Chiefs. SMs, CMs, Troop Committees and Pack Committees must be told at training about their roles in the transition process. This is not a one person Webelos to Scout Transition Coordinator job.

LongHaul