Scout Explosion

Since 2002, our troop has been gradually growing - from around 20 to 55 scouts. Throughout each year, some drop along the way, some age out, and then each spring we get an influx of new scouts. Pretty typical.

This year, 30 Webelos chose to join the troop - about double the average for the past few years. This has popped us up to 84 scouts.

Fortunately, I've been pushing to move from our cramped meeting area for awhile and we just got that to happen on March 1st. Now, we're overflowing this new, larger area already. :-)

Logistically, adding the new guys has gone very well:

• We have 3 new patrols - fortunately the dividing of new scouts worked out great. They came from 5 Packs.
• We have 3 Troop Guides - and these three are doing an amazing job!
• We have a 2nd Asst. SPL for the first time - just for the Troop Guides and NSPs.
• The Quartermaster created 3 new patrol boxes and got 9 tents assigned.
• I've done 26 scoutmaster conferences for Scout badges - just a couple hold-outs.

But, my feeling is that a troop over 40 or 50 is less healthy and should become two troops:

• The scoutmaster has less time per scout.
• The mob mentality pervades with anonymity allowing for more mischief and less participation.
• The SPL is required to devote more time than is healthy to his duties, negatively impacting school and other commitments.
• Too much structure and control is required to move the entire group along - much like turning a battleship versus a jet ski.
• Simple transportation and parking becomes a big deal.

Just this weekend, a patrol organized a "Bike Rally" campout for the troop. We had over 40 bikes congesting the 20 miles of trail at a local park. They did a great job of having patrols spaced 5 minutes apart so we weren't a huge mass, but I'm sure we disrupted the morning of quite a few people on the trail - much more than 20 bikes would have don.

I realize there are some very large troops that operate in a way that works for them. There are two troops using Troop Kit that have over 100 scouts. I would love to visit them and see how they have scouts manage the troop.

In my case, I believe a smaller group offers more opportunity to the scouts and allows them a better chance at ongoing success with less stress and frustration. By this time next year I expect to have a plan to divide the troop into two units. Since we have age-based patrols and multiple patrols at most age levels, the actual division is pretty easy. Getting families and the troop committee to support the change will be the challenge. It may be that someone else will be comfortable supporting a group this large and will take over the scoutmaster position. We'll see.

Until then, we've got an exciting summer of hiking, backpacking, sailing, and camping starting up and 50 scouts going to summer camp. It's an exciting time!

Scout On