Jambo 2012 rejected - Now What?

[rhol]

I have been a leader for about a year now. Yes I am new without too much experience. I have done more than my share of training including the Wood Badge weekends. I have completed 2 tickets so far. I have done every required personal and online training class and them some along with EDGE. By time Jambo is here I will be 2 1/2 + years in, completed Wood Badge, be Wilderness First Aid and Powder Horn trained. My Wood Badge vision is High Adventure. This is supposed a High Adventure Jambo? Because of this I also got my amateur radio licencee and handheld radio just in case an emergency occurs in the wilderness and there is no cell phone signal. My goal is too be over trained so that if my type-1 diabetic son would want to go on any Scout sponsored event I would be allowed to go. NOT THE CASE! I was turned down as an assistant scout master for Jambo 2013 so now my son will not be able to attend. My son received a letter congratulating him on being chosen to be able to attend the Jambo by Council but my wife wants me to be there to make sure he does his blood testing and gets the correct amount of insulin. The school has screwed this up so we are not comfortable with other taking care of this now. Is there anything I can do now? Anyone else out there looking for an assistant scout master for their Jambo troop? It seems like the Jambo board here already had it all figured out as to who they will allow to go and is very political! I will not go with THEM. I will laugh when those heavy weights are not allowed to go because of there BMI is not within the requirements and are looking for replacements.

[Basementdweller]

a lot of great scouters in our council were passed over going to the Jambo. I know two super scoutmasters who applied and were both were passed over of ASM positions. So being a new scouter, irregardless of your training, you were probably passed over.

 

I don't know about your council, but there is an old Guard who takes the troops to the Jamboree, they have done it for the last 5 I am told.

 

Far as BMI goes at the last Jambo meeting they are taking it on a case by case basis with a physicians statement.

[Twocubdad]

It's a tough ticket to get in on. Assuming you are an ASM in your home troop, you're eligible for only one spot on the jamboree troop leadership. Of the four troop leaders, the Scoutmaster and First Assistant SM must be regularly-registered Scoutmasters (not ASMs). The Third ASM is between 18 and 21 y.o. So that leaves only the Second ASM slot available. And of course for every Scoutmaster registered, there are several ASMs, so the competition gets tough.

 

So apply for staff. Do some research and find out what job will put you in close proximity to your son. What I'm hearing is that staff positions are still rather open.

[Eagle92]

Yep there is a waiting list and a half for Jambo ASM spots. And some council start working on that item as soon as the previous jambo ends, so that the SM and ASMs are already in place except the 3rd ASM who needs to be 18-21 if memory serves.

 

Staff is another option. It's cheaper as you are not going with the council contingent and thus not doing the extras. BUT you may have to arrive earlier and leave earlier.

 

In regards to testing, I don't know the details of your son's condition, nor is the the place to go into details, but you do know that there are medical staff at the Jambo? Heck I was thinking about applying on med staff for 2019 to see if the med staff needs a medical librarian to do research for them if the need arises

 

 

[vol_scouter]

rhol,

 

I would recommend that you make an appointment with the Scout Executive of your council and talk with them about your son's condition, etc. Type I diabetics are very brittle and he can get into a life threatening condition very quickly so you have a valid concern. The appeal will likely not change the outcome but you never know what might happen.

[Trevorum]

My son is also type 1 and I completely understand your need to help him monitor. I urge you to let him have this adventure, even without you. You need to trust him, his adult leaders, and the on-site medical staff. Next summer, he will be a year and a half older than he is now and that's a long time for a young person to mature. Help him learn to accept responsibility for his health. My son went to Philmont (no refrigeration for meds in the high country!) and he is terrifically glad he accepted that adventure.

[noname]

A_Go to the Jambo website directly and apply for staff on your own. You have a lot to offer the jambo not just you own troop.

B_ Do not give up and ask for written verification from council why you were you were rejected. Get everyones name and push the matter with national,

you are trained better than most of the local staff, more than council and probably more than the national staff!

Forget the local good ole boys and at Hey you can say at least you 'did your best'...Good luck and let us know what happens.

[SR540Beaver]

rhol,

 

What Trev said!

 

Let me address two different issues. First, I'm a type 1 diabetic and went to the 2005 and 2010 Jambo as an ASM. Of course, I'm a 54 years old who found out I was diabetic when I was 17, so I kind of have the whole thing unnder my belt. As a father, I understand your concerns about your son. That being said, part of scouts is letting them spread their wings and stepping back. He needs to learn to control his diabetes on his own. Your Jambo leadership has accepted responsibility for taking any kid who has paid the fee. That means ADD, celiac, diabetic, allergies, etc. If your council is anything like mine, the Jambo committee which includes your leadership will be meeting monthly to prepare for every possibility and contingency. One of the things they have to do is put together an emergency preparedness plan of medical facilities along their travel route. At the Jambo, medical staff (real life doctors and nurses) are a stones throw away and they are open 24/7. The medical facilities will store your sons excess supplies and insulin for him. We had a kid with lots of food allergies and he was allowed to bring along a big box of acceptable foods to supplement what he could eat on the Jambo menu. Start working with him now to become more responsible for his care and let him go. He'll do fine.

 

Second, I sit on my council's 2013 Jambo committee. I can't speak for your council, but I can give you some insight on how we do things. We spread the word that we were taking applications for Jambo leadership. In that communication, we listed a number of qualifications we were seeking, gave a deadline and a date that interviews would be held. Obviously, we received more applications than we had spots open, meaning that some were going to be told yes and some were going to be told no. The vast majority of the applicants included in their application that they would like to go because their son is going. Honestly, that didn't really mean anything to us. Each troop has 36 boys going and there can't be 36 parents per troop. We looked at training, but experience was more important. We looked at experience, but personality was more important. Just as an interview for any job, we could tell within a minute or two of how the person carried themselves and the image they projected whether they were a candidate or not. Trust me, we had some highly successful businessmen who are significant supporters of the council who were turned down because we didn't feel they were right for the job. The most important factor in making our selections was were they within BMI (and a judgement call on whether we thought they could reach it) and how we felt they would interact with the boys. Are they fun or stern disciplinarians? Are they easy going or easily excitable? Are they in it for the boys or do they just want to go to a Jambo for the notch on their belt. There was no good old boys club going on. About half the committee is made up of former Jambo leaders because we have been to a Jambo, know what to expect and are needed to provide continuity and not reinvent the whell every four years. If any of us wanted to go again, we had to fill out an application like anyone else. I can tell you that none of us did because one of our goals was to provide these desired roles to as many people as possible. Why you were not picked, I don't know. Being in the position of those who make that decision, I ask that you give them the benefit of the doubt. It isn't an easy task and no one likes telling another scouter no.

 

The good news, I have heard rumors that the Jambo staff isn't filling up as quickly as they thought. That means there are still staff positions available. Going on staff gives you the opportunity to be at the Jambo with your son and to got to experience the Jambo. You get a good amount of time off. The added benefit is you don't spend the next year going to Jambo committee meetings and Jambo troop meetings and it costs way less than going as a leader. You should seriously consider staffing. There is far more staff than troop leadership.

[rhol]

All good stuff to ponder!

 

Some more about the issue:

 

Our scout master jim was the one who told me to wait a year to do Wood Badge. I did it anyway. I told him before Wood Badge started that I had discussed it with many Scouters including the DE who told me I should go for it. jim also knew I was interested in going to jambo with my type-1 son. I asked him for a recommendation as he went to the previous jambo. jim said he was not going to this one because he would have to work too hard to get to the acceptable BMI. At the interview I told the jambo committee that I knew jim and they jokingly said, "If you know jim then there is no way you can go". Then they told me that the committee had filled out jim's jambo application and would be calling him to come back. Talking with jim he never went to an interview and then I find he is going as scout master to jambo. He new I was not accepted. I was told by the jambo leader during a Wood Badge breakfast that I was not picked. I drove jim to to WB breakfast and it was quite a difficult ride home as jim knew of my disappointment. I tried to stay out of talking about the jambo rejection as it seems to me he does not like me getting too involved in "his" scouting activities. I am now there for my son and his needs. I will be volunteering for our and other district and council events as long as it does not involve jambo or jim. About our troop events, I no longer trust jim as he does not like my be too involved, so I will limit it to just supporting my son's needs.

 

Next up I am looking into starting a Crew in about 3 years from now. I hope I can keep being interested until then.

[ScoutBox]

Sorry to hear you got passed over. I was asked this week. I haven't decided yet to go or not. Money is the problem. And I don't know if my son can also go.

 

 

[Eagle92]

I do hope that you will apply for staff. As mentioned lots of opportunties, and they are even offering a program for folks to work only 1/2 the time.

 

On another note, I do think that no matter if you are able to go or not, your son needs to go. As mentioned previously, part of scouting is growing up and taking responsibility for yourself. I know this is going against the current cultural trends where society consider 25yos, and in some states 32yos, as children still. But this is a problem your son will need to deal with on his own someday. One of the benefits of scouting is that there are folks who know what to do in an emergency. Especially at Jambo where you got MDs, DOs, PAs, RNPs, RNs, and LPNs on call 24/7.

 

Good luck.

 

[Basementdweller]

As always the rest of the story.

 

Just a thought......Stop using Type-1 as an excuse or a path for special treatment.

 

I hope you did not put that on your application

[rhol]

I did NOT put that on my application. But every one of my references knows about it.

 

When telling the jambo master about it after being rejected at least the jambo master said he would look into it. He did not know about it even though scout master jim knew about it in great detail and he was told before me that I was rejected. I would think scout master jim would at least tell him about it to give me a second shot? I know that jambo master did not talk with any of the other references. If jambo master knew about this from jim and was I rejected I would say at least jim tried for me.

 

I am just trying to get this out of my system and move on.

 

Thanks for the responses. I will see if staff is a possibility with me? I have heard from jim that another Scouter was on fishing staff and was given all the responsibility and all the previous fishing staffers did little. But then many be this is jim trying to have me not do this also?

[nldscout]

What strikes me about this post is you seem to be under some illusion that your the best and most qualified to go as a leader.

 

You said that by the time Jambo gets here you will have 2 1/2 yrs as a leader. That means right now you have about 1 year as a leader, sorry but your not qualified. In our council you probably would not have even been given an interview. Most leader of Jambo troops have 5-10 years as a leader around here.

 

I may sound harsh to you, but maybe its about time someone said it to you directly.

 

When I went as 1st Asst SM, we had several boys that had serious medical issues. They all made it through, because we knew what they were, what they and we needed to monitor and do. Its time to teach your son to stand on his own and do it himself under others supervision. Let him sprout his wings and fly.

[Twocubdad]

If enthusiasm counted, you'd be a shoo-in, but nldscout is right. That the committee sought out your Scoutmaster due to his experience should tell you what they're looking for.

 

Keep in mind you and your Scoutmaster were not applying for the same job -- please see my earlier response regarding second assistant scoutmaster. In our council, in the past, there haven't been enough registered Scoutmaster to fill the SM and first ASM slots. They had to go out and recruit them. On the other hand, last time there were nearly 10 applicants for each second ASM slot.

 

Very likely there are a lot of guys equally qualified for these positions who have been waiting much longer than you.