RememberSchiff Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 We’re (BSA) looking for Scouts to give their input on topics that matter to kids and teens in a pilot Youth Advisory Panel (YAP). Serving on YAP consists of participating in a series of monthly digital discussions facilitated by a BSA professional. Live out the tenets of the Scout Law by helping the BSA serve you and other Scouts. This is your chance to guide the movement and gain resume-worthy experience! Applicants must be between the ages of 11 and 20. https://www.scouting.org/youth-advisory-panel-application/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Eagle94-A1 Posted September 1, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted September 1, 2019 26 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said: We’re (BSA) looking for Scouts to give their input on topics that matter to kids and teens in a pilot Youth Advisory Panel (YAP). Serving on YAP consists of participating in a series of monthly digital discussions facilitated by a BSA professional. Live out the tenets of the Scout Law by helping the BSA serve you and other Scouts. This is your chance to guide the movement and gain resume-worthy experience! Applicants must be between the ages of 11 and 20. https://www.scouting.org/youth-advisory-panel-application/ Maybe I am a pessimist, but why would they listen to the Scouts and Venturers on anything, when they do not even listen to the Scouters who volunteer their time and treasure to the program? Don't believe me, well there is the "Instapalm" survey of 2015 in which 94% were either against (18%) or strongly against (76%) the idea, and they did it anyway. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RememberSchiff Posted September 1, 2019 Author Share Posted September 1, 2019 (edited) I have the same doubts and would liked them to be unfounded. Edited September 1, 2019 by RememberSchiff 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RememberSchiff Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 22 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said: Maybe I am a pessimist, but why would they listen to the Scouts and Venturers on anything, when they do not even listen to the Scouters who volunteer their time and treasure to the program? Don't believe me, well there is the "Instapalm" survey of 2015 in which 94% were either against (18%) or strongly against (76%) the idea, and they did it anyway. Speaking of surveys, I found this new one, the BSA BEST Study. BEST is an abbreviation for Building Evidence in Scouting Together. It appears an invitation is needed to participate, i.e., only selected units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwazse Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 52 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said: Speaking of surveys, I found this new one, the BSA BEST Study. BEST is an abbreviation for Building Evidence in Scouting Together. It appears an invitation is needed to participate, i.e., only selected units. Discussed: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jameson76 Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 On 9/1/2019 at 11:13 AM, Eagle94-A1 said: Maybe I am a pessimist, but why would they listen to the Scouts and Venturers on anything, when they do not even listen to the Scouters who volunteer their time and treasure to the program? Don't believe me, well there is the "Instapalm" survey of 2015 in which 94% were either against (18%) or strongly against (76%) the idea, and they did it anyway. You know, if they really really were interested, possibly "they" (whomever they may be) that are in fact making decisions, policy, and program decisions could actually go out and see Scouts in the wild. I have asked this question to Council Board Members, Scout Executive of the Council, Council Camping and Program chairpersons; when was the most recent time you were on an outing? Typically their answer falls into two areas 1) I was at Jamboree, the Council Event, came to Summer camp for the day OR 2) I was a leader XX years ago. My follow-up is when was the last time you been in the parking lot as a troop assembles, driven to the outing, wandered about the outing as the youth setup and started camp, sat with the adults, cooked a meal, mentored a youth on properly cooking bacon (Protip - you have to peel the strips off the big hunk-o-bacon for it to fry up), participated in the weekend program, maybe administered some first aid, counseled two youth who may have had a disagreement, maybe sit on a BOR one evening, pack up camp, loaded the trailer up, waited at the church for the parents. That is where Scouting happens. If the powers that be were truly interested, there are lots of troops out there, camping every weekend. GO AND SEE, talk with Scouts and Leaders. Surveys tend to tell you want you want to hear. Real change or understanding involves actual involvement with the program. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle94-A1 Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 46 minutes ago, Jameson76 said: Surveys tend to tell you want you want to hear. Real change or understanding involves actual involvement with the program. That's because surveys lead to statistics. And Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David CO Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 On 9/1/2019 at 9:44 AM, RememberSchiff said: This is your chance to guide the movement and gain resume-worthy experience! This is the part I dislike the most. Too many people are promoting boy scouting as a tool to build a resume. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2Eagle Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 12 minutes ago, David CO said: This is the part I dislike the most. Too many people are promoting boy scouting as a tool to build a resume. I most often have this conversation in the context of becoming an Eagle Scout: "You should become an Eagle Scout because you want be an Eagle Scout, not because you think it will get you into college, not because you think it will ever get you a job, not because you think it will ever "pay off" in any way, but only because YOU want to be an Eagle Scout. I have had been involved in the hiring of hundreds of people over my career, I never hired anyone because they were Eagle Scouts, and no one has ever hired me for that reason. Being an Eagle Scout will not get you a job, will not get you a scholarship, will probably not ever get you anything. But 30 or 40 years from now you'll be happy you're an Eagle Scout if you become one because it's important to you." I try to have a similar conversation with parents, I think the scouts pay me greater heed. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattR Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 8 hours ago, Jameson76 said: I have asked this question to Council Board Members, Scout Executive of the Council, Council Camping and Program chairpersons; when was the most recent time you were on an outing? Typically their answer falls into two areas 1) I was at Jamboree, the Council Event, came to Summer camp for the day OR 2) I was a leader XX years ago. Most of the board of directors in my council got onto it by donating at least $5k. They haven't a clue. Add to this the very top down leadership in the BSA, that in turn comes from decades of paying dirt to DE's and then only hiring from within, and I'm fairly sure that the people running this advisory program have no authority to make any changes even if they knew what questions to ask. The problem is fairly clear to me and it's not even that the BSA doesn't know what's going on. If they wanted to they could figure that out. The real issue is they have put themselves in a bad situation where they can't worry about program because they have to worry about money. All of their decisions make a lot of sense when you think of them in terms of money. Even promoting Eagle as the best way to get a job brings in more members and more money. Yet when you look at them in terms of program it's what drives us crazy. It reminds me of a lot of small churches and congregations that have to have a building and then they spend all their time figuring out how to pay for it rather than the spiritual needs of their members. It turns out you don't need a building. There are plenty of places one can rent from. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jameson76 Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 12 hours ago, T2Eagle said: I most often have this conversation in the context of becoming an Eagle Scout: "You should become an Eagle Scout because you want be an Eagle Scout, not because you think it will get you into college, not because you think it will ever get you a job, not because you think it will ever "pay off" in any way, but only because YOU want to be an Eagle Scout. I have had been involved in the hiring of hundreds of people over my career, I never hired anyone because they were Eagle Scouts, and no one has ever hired me for that reason. Being an Eagle Scout will not get you a job, will not get you a scholarship, will probably not ever get you anything. But 30 or 40 years from now you'll be happy you're an Eagle Scout if you become one because it's important to you." I try to have a similar conversation with parents, I think the scouts pay me greater heed. Sort of agree. IIMHO it is correct that JUST being an Eagle Scout will not get you into college, a job, or will "pay off" down the road. However, if you actually ARE an Eagle Scout, the soft skills and lessons learned on the journey will put you ahead of the crowd, and will benefit you down the road. It is amazing how many people do not really understand how to actually get something done. Being in a storm and determining best path forward, salvaging a meal when somebody has forgotten something, having to make decisions quickly while your patrol looks on, trying to organize a group and complete a hike, watching the looks in the Scout you are working with finally gets up on the water skis; all of that imparts upon an Eagle scout the ability to get stuff done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitts Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 22 minutes ago, Jameson76 said: It is amazing how many people do not really understand how to actually get something done. Being in a storm and determining best path forward, salvaging a meal when somebody has forgotten something, having to make decisions quickly while your patrol looks on, trying to organize a group and complete a hike, watching the looks in the Scout you are working with finally gets up on the water skis; all of that imparts upon an Eagle scout the ability to get stuff done. I'll agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly. And in addition, I'll add that learning early on in life how to take a poor choice of your own making and then figuring out how to deal with the repercussions and gaining experience from it is a valuable skill. I know I met any number of kids in college that turned into absolute wrecks the first time they had things fall apart on them in without parents right there to backstop them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carebear3895 Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 facilitated by a BSA professional. Well that seems odd? National Pro's are so out of touch it's not even funny, this seems like a better spot for one of the national commissioner folks. And to echo some of the other posters, Dallas ignores volunteers and council pro's all the time, what makes us think they are going to listed to what Scouts have to say? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RememberSchiff Posted September 3, 2019 Author Share Posted September 3, 2019 4 hours ago, carebear3895 said: facilitated by a BSA professional. Well that seems odd? National Pro's are so out of touch it's not even funny, this seems like a better spot for one of the national commissioner folks. And to echo some of the other posters, Dallas ignores volunteers and council pro's all the time, what makes us think they are going to listed to what Scouts have to say? Facilitated or manipulated? I agree, this should be scout lead. My $0.02, 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setonfan Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 Carebear, you should call the Chief Scout Executive and tell him your concerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now