Author: Jeffrey Heck
Long-Range Planning: an Alternate Proposal
Traditionally in BSA units, National recommends that units do an annual planning conference one time per year. This is designed to discuss the budget, annual calendar, and longer-term projects, like high adventure outings. The idea is that at least once per year that the unit makes sure that it is staying on course. This is usually done concurrently with the annual program calendar.
The result is that the unit has a full agenda to talk about the calendar. Dealing with other long range issues gets varying discussion and analysis. For units that do the planning as part of an evening meeting, they run out of time quickly. For units that have a full retreat, they have plenty of time, but may have different items on their agenda.
Compounding the problem, most officers of the unit only plan to be with the unit until their son (and soon to be, daughters) leave the unit. This makes planning a much shorter term vision than the unit probably needs. But in terms of prioritzation, it allows the players to focus on what affects them and shorten the agenda.
Scouting already has a tendency to “meeting” our volunteers to death. We tend to have too many short meetings rather than taking the time to do a retreat once.
November Boy Scout Roundtable: Life to Eagle in North Star
We will have the members of the North Star District Advancement Committee, 
specializing in Eagle issues lead a discussion. The roundtable will be at 7:00 pm on Thursday, November 9, 2017 at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260.
Specifically, Eagle Project Coordinators Rick Aker and Bill Cherry will talk about how boy scouts go about getting their Eagle Projects approved in the District.
Eagle Board of Review Coordinator Jerry Simon will talk about how boards are scheduled, run, and successfully completed.
This topic is ideal for Eagle Candidates, their parents, Troop Key 3 members, Troop Advancement Chairs, Troop Eagle Mentors (scout and scouter), new and old Scoutmasters, Assistant Scoutmasters, and anyone interested in serving on Eagle Boards of Review. Oh, forget it; just anyone.
Come with your questions!
November District Committee Meeting Canceled
District Chair John Wiebke has decided to cancel the November District Meeting. This cancelation is due to several reasons:
(1) We will be holding the last scheduled recharter turn-ins at Immaculate Heart of Mary RCC at the same time, drawing some key personnel away.
(2) Our new District Executive Jessica Hofman will just be getting started in her position, while rechartering is going on. Trying to handle both while starting a new position is a bit overwhelming.
Please let others know about this announcement.
North Star DE Change
We are sad to formally announce that, on November 1, 2017, Con Sullivan, our District Executive since May 2015, will be transferring to Hou Koda District (Plainfield, Speedway) as part of his promotion to Senior District Executive at the Council. During Con’s tenure, North Star went from being threatened with dissolution to the highest scoring district in the Crossroads of America Council’s Journey to Excellence in 2016 with 2250. As he leaves in 2017, North Star is already at 2225 (with some JTE scores from units not yet submitted and no information for the fourth quarter yet).* We wish him well in his new assignment (just not too well, so as not to beat North Star).
Unlike in many transitions prior to Con’s arrival, Council has already appointed his successor, Jessica Hofman (jehofman@crossroadsbsa.org). She will become our District Executive on November 1, 2017.
Jessica came to the Crossroads of America Council in April of 2016, where she has served as Sugar Creek District’s DE (Lebanon and Crawfordsville). She has her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Purdue University and just recently finished her Masters in Business Administration degree from Indiana Western Governor’s University. She is a resident of northern Indianapolis. Jessica’s strength is in membership and she has a passion for program.
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*Other districts have stepped up this year, so the competition is tougher: Del-Mi at 2250.
Are we overprotective of kids?
There is a great article at https://reason.com/archives/2017/10/26/the-fragile-generation.
This author uses “resilience” as the opposite of “fragile.” I world read in “anti-fragile” instead. Otherwise this is a great article.
If you can articulate these ideas well, yo become very persuasive about why Scouting is a superior extracurricular activity over youth sports as currently run.
Unique opportunity for Indiana residents
Scouting is about citizenship. It is about citizenship in the Community, Nation, and World.
One of the requirements for citizenship in the world includes trying to speak to people from other countries. This is often hard for people in America because, especially in Indiana, we live so far from any borders. With one in five people now an immigrant to our land, it is becoming easier than ever before.
Even so, one of the best skills that a good scout can develop is the ability to communicate in more than one language. For residents of Indiana, we have a unique opportunity for incoming juniors, seniors, and recent graduates from high school. (The main target audience is incoming seniors). It is the Indiana University honors program in foreign languages.
My son and I are both alumni of the program. I studied in France and he studied in Spain. District Chair John Wiebke’s son also participated in Chile at the same time my son was in Spain. As a result we are highly conversant in our second languages.
They are preparing to close out their application season for the Summer 2018 trips. They travel to France, Spain, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Chile, China, and Japan. The students are required to speak exclusively in the host language for six weeks. This is a wonderful opportunity for a complete immersion experience.
Scouts make great candidates for this program because they must undergo an in person interview and demonstrate that they would be good ambassadors for America to the host country. Often this program is dominated by girls. There always eager to get good male applicants.
Well the program is expensive, there are ways to find financial help. Even if you doubt that financial ability will be possible, I still encourage students to apply. Being accepted into the program is an honor in and of itself. It helps raise the applicant’s self assuredness because they are capable of qualifying for such a respectable program.
If your child or a scout in your troop or crew is interested at all in international issues, I would commend this program to your attention.
More Info on Retroactive Eagle Palms
For those who saw the previous announcement that retroactive Eagle Palms now exist, there were questions about why the rules were written they were.
Now the new rules have been revised.
See this article for more information
.
Essentially, more merit badges before Eagle gives more palms.
Information for this Weekend’s IOLS at Belzer
This weekend, North Star in cooperation with Del-Mi, is running the only in-person, required training for Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters. It will be at Camp Belzer.
For attendees, please plan on bringing the following items
Watch this page for updates on any last minute updates.
Invitation to Pack 358’s Hayride
Pack 358 from Zionsville Christian Church is again opening its annual hayride and bonfire to other packs in the North Star District. To participate, simply visit this link.
For troops this is a wonderful opportunity to get to know parents and cubs from various packs and to help serve cub scout packs.
Known Issue with Rechartering Invoice
This year National Council has added local council insurance premiums for registered members. That means the $1.00 insurance premium per scout and scouter is automatically included in your invoice, which is an upgrade over the last rechartering cycle, completed in November 2016.
Unfortunately, all is not rosy in the invoice automation. At Council meetings last we were informed that the Adult Partners for Lions and Tigers (i.e., parents included on the Youth Application but have not completed a separate Adult Application for positions such as Den Leader, Assistant Den Leader, Committee Member, etc.) do not have that insurance premium included in the invoice.
Consequently, please count these adults and multiply by $1.00. This will need to be added manually to the amount of the invoice for your pack to be paid in full.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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