New Troop New Patrols - Scouts Are Amazing!!!

[WVCubDad]

As some of you may recall, my Troop is brand new Troop, a resurection of a unit that has been dormant for 15 or more years. We began this past October with 5 boys, organized into a single patrol. In November we added a 6th boy. Of these, 4 were "experienced" Scouts (1 Life, 2 FC, 1 Scout) and two were brand new with no prior Boy Scout experience.

 

In December my son's Webelos Den crossed over to Boy Scouts and of the 4 boys in the den 3 came to our Troop and one went to another Troop. We still operated as a single patrol. I also stepped down as the Cubmaster and crossed the bridge a few minutes behind my son to devote myself full time to being the Scoutmaster.

 

In January the other 2 Webelos II dens completed their Arrow of Light requirements and crossed on the last Tuesday of the month. We added another 6 boys to our Troop and 1 went to the Pack's sister Troop. One boy who just joined the Pack in September went to work with the Webelos I den to finish off his Webelos and AOL. So we went from 5 to 15 boys in 3 months.

 

We have one more boy from another Pack who will cross to us at the end of February at his Blue & Gold. He came to his first meeting with us today and knows a lot of the boys from school and Cub Scouting events. Also today our Webelos from my son's den decided that while his new Troop was okay, he didn't know the other boys very well and wanted to come back to a unit where he knows more people. 17 Scouts!!!

 

Knowing that we would need to sort out into patrols and get started on the business of Scouting, I had discussed with my ASM's some of the ideas I read about here on the Scouter forums. Several were leaning very much towards the adults deciding who went where and sowing our seasoned Scouts among the three patrols. Today was our day to get them at least split up into patrols. Initially after another discussion we went with the adult sorting process, when the list was given to me I saw several conflicts that wouldn't have survived the first patrol meeting. I told the ASM's that this wasn't going to work and that we'd discuss it further after we'd finished rehearsing our Scout Sunday program with the boys. The boys were not made aware of this first attempt.

 

After the practice, we discussed it further and the Committee Chair suggested having the boys draw names from a hat. I suggested we modify that to draw numbers and then they would have some ownership of the process. My position all along was one that the boys should sort themselves out and we would let the seasoned Scouts pick where they wanted to go with a minimum of 1 per patrol. So we gathered the boys together explained that we were going to have them sort themselves into patrols. As we went along each Scout drawing a number, it worked out that they sorted into their old Webelos dens. The seasoned Scouts who were present drew their numbers and my son's former Den Chief was in his Patrol!!! I do not know how this happened, the boys drew numbers in random order, it just happened. Each Patrol immediately raised their voices in dismay as the ASM's voiced thier disbelief.

 

At this point I said, "okay we'll do it this way - Senior Scouts each go to a corner (3 of them were present today.) Here are the rules, adults will leave the room, you will have 5 minutes to sort yourselves out, you may have no more than 6 in a patrol to allow for recruitment and future growth. I will see you in 5 minutes, remember the Scout Law, be kind and courteous as you make your decisions. Good luck."

 

In the outer room we continued to discuss how the second sort ended up just like our old Dens. In the middle of this one of the Scouts came out and said we're done. They had finished in 3 minutes. When we walked into the room each Patrol was in thier corner, all smiles and looking very happy with themselves. I asked them if they were happy with thier choices and reminded them that they were going to have to live with their decisions until after summer camp at least. I also laid out the Patrol Leader's Challenge that if they thought they wanted to be a PL and form a new Patrol they could have 2 boys from the Troop but they needed a minimum of 5 boys to form a new Patrol, setting them up to recruit new boys.

 

In my original post back in November or December, one of you answered my question with a question, what do the boys want? I think that they knew, I knew that and I'm glad that they proved themselves very capable of doing what they needed to do. Thank you to all here who helped me to arrive at my decision, I am looking forward to seeing how well this works out. Based on thier first decision, it should be an exciting time.

 

John

Scoutmaster

Troop 25

Shenandoah Area Council

 

 

[Stosh]

Congratulations, you've just discovered one of the best kept secrets of the BSA program.

 

Yes, the boys are amazing! Just give them the chance and they can do great things with very little direction from others. Kinda like street gangs, they are highly organized and no adult involvement. At least with scouts, they have a legacy of honor that is supported by 100 years of commitment to a high standard to follow. Give them a chance and stand back and be prepared to be amazed over and over again.

 

Stosh

[Troop22]

You may get a few more Scouts after Shenandoah Area Councils Webelos II crossover camp in April.

[WVCubDad]

Re: SAC Webelos Woods Crossover - That's another reason we limited the Patrols to 6 right now, just in case we get additional Scouts we're not aware of who want to come to the Troop. Also it gives us an opportunity for the boys to do some peer to peer recruiting to flesh out thier Patrol.

 

Interestingly none of the boys in my old Pack wanted to wait that long to go the crossover, all of them wanted to get to the Troops as soon as they earned their Arrow of Light. In my time with the Pack, only 1, maybe 2 Webelo II's ever went to that and it wasn't for lack of advertising

 

John

Scoutmaster

Troop 25

Shenandoah Area Council