Scoutmaster Musings

Day 22: When a scout comes prepared, it sure makes life easier for me. A scout stopped by to demonstrate fire making and backpacking stoves. He brought his own box of wood and his dad's stove - way cool! And, he had obviously practiced a bunch because he got right to work and zip, zam, zowie demonstrated the skills and was done. We even had time to do some first aid and he saved me from bleeding to death and from a rabid rabbit bite I got on my ankle. He did learn that he just doesn't have enough body weight yet to compress the chest on an adult when doing CPR - he's only 11. Reminds me I need to do the Flea Training scoutmaster minute at the next troop meeting.

Helped get a campsite for next month's outing. A different patrol with assistance from an adult plans each monthly outing. The patrol leader and adult had run out of ideas so they asked me for help. Since I know a guy that knows a guy I arranged a spot that will be great, and the first time the troop has ever camped there.

I also gave away a $25 scouting gift card, Class B $50 coupon, and a fire piston yesterday. If you didn't enter this month's contest yet, you're missing out.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 21: I Love Mondays! It's troop meeting night!
The SPL, along with some other high schoolers, was gone to a ski club dinner tonight so the ASPL ran the show. A first year patrol led the skills time and game time since their patrol is planning the campout coming up. It was all about knots - I'm not sure exactly WHAT knots, but I did recognize a couple bowlines and some half hitches. :-) The campout will be 'Pioneering' so they wanted to brush up on those skills.

I also met with a Tenderfoot this afternoon and an Eagle candidate.

This Eagle has 26 days until his 18th, but he's down to just signatures and turning in paperwork now.

I wonder what you thought when you read that last sentence? Maybe, "oh, another one waiting to the last minute."   Or, "huh, somebody must have pushed him and he didn't want it."   There's usually some reason a scout barely finishes his Eagle requirements in time, or sometimes not quite in time. In this case, it's the best of reasons as far as I can tell - Scouting is just one part of his well-rounded life.

This guy is the perfect example of what my personal vision is of an Eagle Scout.
Fitness: His sports training kept him from many scouting opportunities, enabling him to play varsity football and getting a college scholarship. He demonstrated his fitness in scouting on high adventure treks from Florida to Washington, swimming in oceans, climbing mountains, and backpacking hundreds of miles.
Citizenship: When he graduates in a couple months, he'll be serving his country in the military.
Character: In seven years with the troop, serving as SPL and other positions, he has consistently supported his fellow scouts. He never learned how to play "the Blame Game" - always taking responsibility for any failings of his team.

As I mentioned to my wife, "If every guy was like him, there'd be no need for Scouting." :-) I often wonder how much impact Scouting has - for example, is this scout the way he is because he was in Scouts or is he just that way?

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

---

If any other scouting bloggers want to use these numerals, they are at http://boyscouttrail.com/i/nums/[xx].jpg - replace [xx] with 01, 02, 03, ..., 98, 99
If you know HTML, you'd put something like:
<img src="http://boyscouttrail.com/i/nums/21.jpg">

Leave Comment

Day 20: Attended the last Blue Gold of the season and watched a pair of scouts welcome our last new scout into the troop.

Had the first scoutmaster conference with a new scout all eager to get going. He completed the Joining requirements and is anxious to get his Scout badge and neckerchief.

---

The past couple years, we've tried something we called "Scout Buddies". The SPL passes a sheet of paper with the names of the new scouts around to the older scouts during their patrol time at a troop meeting. Scouts write their name next to one of the new scouts. The hope is that the older scout or two will make a specific, meaningful effort to make that new scout feel welcome and part of the troop, without telling the scout what's going on.
I don't like doing this because it artificially forces behavior which I'd hope would happen anyway. It can also give an older scout the idea that he 'just' needs to deal with one scout and not be friendly to the rest.
I do like it because I believe it has really improved our retention rate and has caused more interaction from the older to younger scouts in this age-stratified troop.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 19: The new SPL and I met with his ASPL to start his training. We talked about the guys making up their leadership team, our visions for the next 6 months, including due dates when assigning tasks, ways to make troop meetings interesting, and the importance of communication.

We planned the agenda for the Troop Leader Training session which they will be running next month. We discussed how they'll get the patrols started brainstorming outing ideas for their Troop Planning session. And, we considered ways to help improve patrol spirit.

We have an interesting SPL & ASPL combination this term. The ASPL is three years older than the SPL. We talked about that and I feel they both understand that his experience is a great resource that a smart SPL would use as often as possible.

It's shaping up to be a very interesting six months - possibly the last six months for the troop in its present form. That means these guys will have extra work in helping to coordinate the division of the troop, if that winds up happening.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 18: Spent time setting up CPR and Wilderness First Aid training for troops getting ready for Philmont this summer. I've got 4 sessions scheduled now and possibly 1 or 2 more in the works.

Also worked out a plan to have the troop campout, district Outdoor Leader Skills training, and OA ceremony all at the same location - makes my life much easier that weekend. :-) Now, if it just all works out.

And made time to watch a movie with my wife. "It Could Happen to You" - a romantic comedy with Nicholas Cage on NetFlix, based on a true story. I liked it, so I thought I'd find out a bit more about the 'true story'. The woman that got half said in an interview, "Except for the part about us winning, it's totally fiction." So, I guess "based on a true story" can mean pretty much anything. I still need to see Scout Camp and see how true to life that one is. :-)

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 17: A larger troop means more paperwork, whether it be pulp-based or electronic. More rank advancements, more merit badges, more awards, more logistics, ... and all that takes paperwork of some kind. Honestly, the paperwork is the real boring part of scouting to me and that's why I've got us doing as much of it electronically as possible.

Day 17 was a terrific scouting day! Two Tenderfoots came over after school and consumed two hours with me showing off their woods tools, firebuilding, backpacking stove, and first aid skills. Their skill levels, and confidence levels, were quite different but they both demonstrated as required. They found it gets difficult to light a match with numb fingers and water dripping out of your nose when it's 20 degrees.
Best part about it was that the paperwork consisted of me just signing my name a handful of times - I can handle that!

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 16: Had a fun scoutmaster conference with a Tenderfoot candidate. Great scout moving along a bit slower than he had planned, but appears to be getting a lot out of scouting.

Gave a patrol leader some advice on planning next month's campout on Troop Kit. He had the whole thing pretty much done on his own already and just needed confirmation.

Scout On

Leave Comment

Day 15: Attended second Webelos cross-over this evening. Two scouts from our troop did the Order of the Arrow's Arrow of Light ceremony. This was the first time for one and 2nd time for the other. After this ceremony, they had to zip across town to a 2nd one for another pack.
It's great for me to see because I've been coaxing guys to take on this role for awhile now. My hope is they will get other scouts in the troop excited about having their own ceremony team and cover the Blue Golds for all five packs in our community each year.
Historically, the OA hasn't been very strong in our troop. Scouts tend to see it as getting a cool sash rather than the beginning of another level of service and growth. I and a few others have gone on to Brotherhood, but most pay their dues, get the pocket flap and sash, and that's it. Doing these ceremonies is a step in the right direction.

A scout completed his Eagle board of review tonight. Whoop-whoop!

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts<

Leave Comment

Day 14: Had a scoutmaster conference with the scout that had to cancel yesterday. Just in time for him to also have his board of review this evening.

I met with the two high school-aged patrols this evening to discuss their general leadership in the troop - and have rootbeer floats.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 13: We got blasted by snow all day, so a scoutmaster conference got cancelled in the evening.

It was pretty much a "day off" from scouting and everything. I guess that's ok once in awhile.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 12: The troop held it's Klondike Derby today at a local elementary school. The Duct Tape patrol scheduled, planned, and ran the event - they did a great job!

Each patrol built their own sled out of absolutely anything they wanted over the past month. At the end of the day, the sleds raced over a course that was about 1/4 mile. Fortunately, our warm weather than then big cool-down yesterday made for well-packed snow and scouts could run on top instead of through it.
There were also sprint races and most of the day was filled with stations. A compass scavenger hunt, winter first aid, boot hocky, scout law race, and building a snowblock house.

Just a great, fun day to be out scouting.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment

Day 11: Attended the first of three Blue Golds this evening. We had one older scout (8th grade) and four young guys there to welcome two new scouts. It was great to see this older scout that has never really had much leadership experience step up and organize the younger ones. I think he's going to have a great year.

Another scout from our troop participated in his first Arrow of Light ceremony with the Order of the Arrow. He was pretty nervous but did a terrific job. The ceremony was quick and looked good from the audience's view.

I also met with the new SPL for an hour, starting his training. He still needs to get a few more guys to fill out his leadership team, but he's chomping at the bit to get moving. So, I covered some basic job duties and gave him a handful of tasks to work on - getting his TroopKit.com meetings scheduled and preparing for the Troop Leader Training session.

---

It's interesting how every six months the whole feel of the troop changes when that new SPL takes over. Sometimes the meetings are chop/chop/chop and go home, while other times they are fun and rambling offtrack half the time. Merging the styles and skills of the SPL with his ASPL and the PLs is an important task for the scoutmaster to get done early on. It's a challenge to figure out the right amount of guidance that will help the SPL take charge but not alienate his peers or let chaos reign.

I'm really looking forward to this term and how things will unfold. I expect we have probably the most enthusiastic SPL in history - kind of like a pony running and bucking in the field but not getting anywhere yet. :-) Directing that energy will be fun.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts

Leave Comment