Who Failed: the Troop, National, or Both

[Eagledad]

On 3/18/2020 at 1:55 PM, JoeBob said:

Why do you assume that missing summer camp is a failure?  Is that a requirement that I am not aware of?  Can a scout not have a full and satisfying scouting experience through troop and patrol camping?

I believe our scouts would have a full satisfying scouting experience without summer camp. But, our average 16 year old scouts have attended at least 5 summer camps. And maybe that is indicative of our troop program because we add more program within our summer camp program. Add that our scouts are pretty much on their own with the adults in a separate camp site, summer camp is a great experience.

But I learned as a volunteer at the district and council levels that there are as many approaches to running a scout unit as there are adult leaders. If, units are given full autonomy for their program, then for better or more often worse, the unit culture tends to represent the personality of the the unit leader.
I would be curious to hear what district has to say of this unit.

Barry

[eagle90]

Having sat in on 50+ Eagle BOR's , and having done the same amount of SM conferences for Eagle, when scouts are asked "What is the highlight of your Scouting career?"  I would say the vast majority of them answered "Summer Camp". 

[MattR]

2 hours ago, eagle90 said:

when scouts are asked "What is the highlight of your Scouting career?"  I would say the vast majority of them answered "Summer Camp". 

Ours always said high adventure.

[fred8033]

On 3/18/2020 at 1:55 PM, JoeBob said:

Why do you assume that missing summer camp is a failure?  Is that a requirement that I am not aware of?  Can a scout not have a full and satisfying scouting experience through troop and patrol camping?

It's a failure because it's a core scouting experience.  It's a good that the scout has a path forward, but we want scouts at summer camp and camping in a variety of places.  It builds character and builds a positive experience.  

[Sentinel947]

4 hours ago, MattR said:

Ours always said high adventure.

My Troop, I'd say it's in order: High Adventure, Weekend Backpacking, Summer Camp, and in a distant 4th place NYLT. 

[Eagle94-A1]

22 hours ago, Eagledad said:

But I learned as a volunteer at the district and council levels that there are as many approaches to running a scout unit as there are adult leaders. If, units are given full autonomy for their program, then for better or more often worse, the unit culture tends to represent the personality of the the unit leader.
I would be curious to hear what district has to say of this unit.

Barry

You are not joking about unit leader personality affecting unit culture. SM is the one who does not understand why they need to camp every month, and stated he did not like camping.  He also earned Eagle in the 1970s when camping was not required. When I last conducted ITOLs, it was specifically for him and his ASMs, as he just assumed SM, and none of the adults were trained, let alone gone through ITOLS. He showed up, and no one else did because "it's too cold to camp." Temps were in the upper 30s, lower 40s. I do not know if it is still the case, but at one point all leadership positions were appointed by him. Rationale was the same boys kept getting elected over and over, and everyone needs a chance to be a leader for advancement. Multiple UCs (when we had them) have been sent in to help him out, including several former ASMs from that troop. They have been ignored, told Scouting needs to change with the times, and worse, told they don't know what they are talking about. I stopped trying to help when I was not only accused of stealing his Scouts (Webelos Crossing Over into Scouts) but also accused me of trying to take over a Cross Over Ceremony for our troops when the OA backed out at the last minute, and the CM asked me to write a single ceremony script incorporating the two troops.

 

Sadly the district is on life support. We do not have out own DE, but have been sharing one for years now. I hate to say it, but I lost count how long it has been without a FT, dedicated DE. I think it has been 7 years now, at least. Volunteers on the district have been burned out and frustrated by pros. Several have quit over pros overruling them and/or taking over events and duties they are responsible for. I would say we have a Key Three now, but no one has seen out DE since university of Scouting/Council Silver Beaver and Eagle Luncheon that was advertised with 2 weeks notice. That was a month ago. Prior to that, I honestly can't remember when I last saw him, maybe the district camporee.

Regarding the troop, they had major issues in the past. Hopefully things have changed. They got a friend of mine as ASM who likes to camp. Challenge is that due to health issues, he can only car camp. While there is nothing wrong with car camping, it seems that is all they do. I have seen one ASM show up to camporee in a popup camper.

 

[InquisitiveScouter]

@Eagle94-A1.

Unfortunately, the details of your story are not uncommon.  There are many systemic issues across the BSA and US culture that do not bode well for the organization.