AOL, crossover, and Boy Scout questions

[Tampa Turtle]

My (large) Pack always does a Feb AOL/crossover at the B+G. I think it is to reduce he work of the large pack meeting. I think it is a mistake. It makes things too rushed; I think the AOL and Crossover should be separate. Otherwise it implies you must get the AOL to join Boy Scouts.

[Eagle92]

Biggest reason for the Crossover in Feb/march is to allow the new Scout to knwo his troop before goignto summer camp. helps ease parents fears, gets scout comfortable with troop, etc.

 

Also it allows the parent time to pay summer camp fees. I didn't find out about summercamp until AFTER I joined my first troop in may, adn I couldn't come up with the money in a month.

[SMT224]

Our Boy Scout Troop has a close relationship with the Cub Pack at our church. We supply several Den chiefs and visit Den and Pack meetings on a regular basis. We have annual early April camping trip with the Webelos just before Crossover (takes place at the end of April). It's a great way for the Webelos and families to get to know the Troop and visit with the Adult Leaders.

 

We all do a service project on Saturday morning, cook a lunch for all back at the campsite, then have afternoon Scout games and skill building for the Webelos. Each Patrol in the Scout Troop sets up a station of activities, and the Webelos and parents break up into small groups and rotate around the stations.

 

This gives the Webelos and their parents an idea of what the Troop is like and have a fun time. The Webelos I Den & parents usually do not spend the night and head home late in the afternoon. They get a good taste of the Troop and are usually very excited about joining next year.

 

The second year Webelos camp out with their parents. They do their own cooking as a Webelos Den (usually with the Den Leader & Cubmaster), and join in with the Boy Scouts for the campfire program. Unless there's some scheduling conflict, we usually have 100% CrossOver, and the new Scouts then join us on our May and June camping trips and are all ready for summer camp in July.

 

After several trials & errors, this seems to work very well. April weather is usually very nice, and we stay at a nearby park that allows both parents and Webelos to feel comfortable about camping out when they are not too far from home. We've found the camping trip followed very closely by the CrossOver works very well. For years we did a joint fall camping trip, but by the time the springtime Crossover happened (sometimes in February at B&G, sometimes in March) many of the boys had moved on to other activities and did not end up crossing over.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Very smart program, SMT,

 

As a Cubmaster and former Scoutmaster, I'm convinced that Scout Troops need to be smart about marketing their program to Cub Scout packs, Cub Scouts and Cub Scout parents.

 

Both the Boy Scout program and the particular troop need an effective sales job. Few troops do a good job. Your plan seems EXCELLENT, and seems to work, too!

[Hawkrod]

For those that may not have seen it, here is the official BSA time line for the Cub program. Notice that Feb/March of the second year is the goal in the timeline for bridging: http://www.directservicebsa.org/pdf/13-027.pdf This timeline came from years of experience and thousands of units success and failure in retention. The idea is to get the Boy into Boy Scouts from Cubs at the right time to insure his success. It gives time to integrate with the other boys and learn the basics he will need at camp with a Troop as opposed to car camping with a Pack and also is not too early where he may "get ahead" which prevents him from getting the most out of first year camp programs.(This message has been edited by Hawkrod)