Options for Older Scouts

[Hillis]

I am retired from the Youth leadership positions (SPL, ASPL, etc) of my troop and I have passed the torch off to others. What are so good ways for me to stick around the troop and do something productive. I'm a very active member of my Lodge's OA group, but I still want to be able to help at a troop level. Do JASMs have an age requirement? What other roles could I play in the troop besides JASM. For the last year I was a Troop Guide, a position in my troop normally given to retired leadership. I'd like to move on to something else. Any suggestions?

 

--Hillis

[Eagledad]

The BSA has an age requirement for JASM (16), but we ignored it. For us, JASM was an indication of maturity, experience and attitude. To put an age requirement would be restricting some really good scouts. Our JASMs were scouts who wanted troop responsibilities, had mastered the leadership skills developed in the seniour scout postions like SPL and Troop Guide, and were ready for the next step of advising scouts, not leading them. In most cases, the scout choose what he could offer or do for the troop. We had JASMs helping the Advancement Chairman, the PLC, CheerMasters and Grubmasters, JLT and Troop Guides. In each of these positions, the JASM basically had the responsibilities of the adult adviser. I looked at it kind of as on the job training for the ASM.

 

My suggestion is look for a weakness in your program, design a plan to help fix that weakness by guiding the scouts. Present the plan to the SM with you being a JASM.

 

By the way, I am impressed with your troop using older Troop Guides. We found using mature older scouts makes a big difference in the success of new scout performance.

 

Barry