Success Story

[KenDavis500]

Our small Troop is growing. We rechartered 5 Scouts and have been actively recruiting. Sunday was the District Cross-over. I knew of 2 WebII's that were coming to us but we ended up with 3. #3 made the decision based on #2. They are all 3 friends and came from the same Pack.

 

What recent success story do you have to share?

[PbW]

This year I had nine Webelos-II in my pack. Five of them decided to crossover two weeks ago while the other four chose not to.

 

The weekend of our Blue & Gold the Webelos-II group went on a camping trip with the Troop we're connected to (same charter org). They came back and attended our B&G a few hours later where the OA Dance/Ceremony Team performed the Crossover. I learned a week afterwards that three of the four holdouts have decided they enjoyed the campout so much they want to crossover too. So we'll be doing another crossover in May and sending eight new scouts to the troop.

 

[scoutergipper]

In recent months, we have by some miracle managed to slough off to other Troops all of our problem Adults. There is some evidence that - eventually - even problem Adults come to realize that everyone else isn't going to conform to their viewpoints no matter how much they might badger someone and/or that their son will have to follow the BSA program if they stay in our Troop.

 

We had 3 new Scouts for the last Campout, and are expecting at least 3 and perhaps 4 more next week. We have also had a little success with recruiting older boys (12-13) in recent months. Remember, your best recruiters are your current Scouts!

[andysmom]

We gained 4 of the 5 crossovers this year! We had none last year. One pack had no Webelos 2, another pack NEVER has scouts come to us and the third pack's den leader older son went to the other troop 2 years ago, we expected this year's den to follow. Turns out the other troop turned the den leader's son off so much he dropped so we got most of the den. Yeah us!

[SeattlePioneer]

<>

 

 

 

What's missing here is your plan to KEEP those new boys in the troop.

 

There should be a well thought out plan to do that.

[JasonG172]

Held our first OA election in over 10 years. Our Chapter is fairly large and combined with a couple other districts. We on this side of the river were forgotten about. Won't be anymore!

[SeattlePioneer]

Monday we had two new boys at our Tiger Cub Den meeting and a third boy who had his dues paid by his parents for the year.

 

At least one of the new boys was invited by his buddy who is in the Tiger Cub Den. THAT is especially promising!

 

We decorated the stilts we made at the previous den meeting then the boys practiced walking around on their stilts. Our next activity was making simple catapults using a paint stirring stick and then shooting miniature marshmallows for distance and accuracy.

 

Boys winning each shoot got a sticker for their catapult.

 

Personally, I find stickers to be a terrific ways of rewarding performance. Boys love to display a symbol of winning, they are cheap and can be handed out liberally for pretty much any kind of contest.

 

The best way for boys to learn about competition is to experience winning and losing in low stakes but fun kinds of competition. Often when boys are exposed to that kind of competition they can be whiney and pouty when they don't win.

 

But with repeated experience of winning and losing when the stakes are low, they learn to take satisfaction when they win and to look for ways to improve when they lose ----just what you want to see!

[wdfa89]

last year my son crossed over w/ the rest of his den and several others (16 total) to a good troop. However they really didn't know what to do with all those boys and it took a long time to get them all thru Scout and on the journey to 1C. It also was chaotic on getting the new boys integrated with the basics of the Troop (like uniform practices, troop meeting flow, how to advance, MB/blue card procedures, who were the Scout leaders, who were the adult leaders). Basically, the new guys were put into 2 patrols and left to fend for themselves.

 

we got it together thru campouts, summer camp, working with the senior scouts and that incoming class is moving right along.

 

fast fwd to this crossover season. I was determined not to have that repeated. We had a very strong outreach program to several local packs and again have 16 incoming webelos! But this year we have plans in place for the Scout leaders to take the new boys aside and work with them on Scout their first meeting and have them earn their Rank at the next meeting. We have been successful with all our new boys so far. They are really fired up and feel like Scouts a whole lot sooner than last year and this has built the bridge with the current Troop members as well as giving them a great chance to lead. With a little guidance (like goals, not how to) the Scout leaders are dedicating March's meetings to teaching these new boys Flags, uniforms, meeting procedures, advancement procedures, MB procedures, etc so they aren't flailing at the admin or basics. Then they will work with them on TFoot and beyond--again those who need to teach get to and those who need to get trained get that and these new boys really become accepted Troop members and skilled Scouts much faster than last year

 

anyway, while I had the idea it was total support from my fellow ASM's, CC, and the SM. Really the credit goes to the SPL. Basically we presented the idea and goal to him and he and his PL team have made it happen.

[Hedgehog]

Still pending... Three cubbies from a pack to the east, three likey from the pack to the north, one who wasn't in cubbies. Next week is cross over of "our" pack (I'm the former CM) and in a couple of weeks the cross over from the pack to the south. Probably 2 to 3 cubbies from each pack for a total of 12 to 13. That will put the troop at almost 60. Build a boy-led troop with a variety of outdoor adventures and they will come.