Author: Jeffrey Heck
Volunteers Needed for 2017 State Fair’s Base Camp
From Council:
Did you know that #Basecamp17 at the Indiana State Fair is right around the corner? Running the site to promote the Scouting program to potential a
nd current Scouting families takes serious manpower and we could use your help! Register today to volunteer at Base Camp with your family, unit, or friends. Volunteers will have free fair entry so that they can explore before or after their shift. Learn more and register.
For more information, read the FAQ and overview flyers.
Congratulations to our April 2017 Eagle Scouts
Congratulations to each of the following Eagle Scouts, who made rank at the specified Board of Review:
At a separate sitting of the Eagle Board of Review on April 21, 2017, Michael Knapp from Troop 180 (recently of T’Sun Gani District and now of North Star District).
Congratulations once again!
Building Healthy Units: Oasis Teams
As the academic year winds down, many scouting units are thinking about leadership transitions and upgrades.
Transitions occur when Cub Leaders leave their packs to follow their son(s) to a boy scout troop. They occur when Scoutmasters retire when their son(s) reach Eagle of 18 years old. They occur when a scout leader has health issues.
Leadership upgrades occur when a handful of scout leaders seek to fill the many vacancies in their unit’s committee. Upgrades occur when leaders switch roles to refresh their own excitement and engagement or move into positions better suited to their individual talents: a banker moves into a treasurer’s role, a teacher moves into a scoutmaster corps role.
Some units are in communities where there are few adult volunteers available or few scouts to recruit. We informally call these areas “scouting deserts.”
District is looking to build teams of experienced scouters who can help offset some of the problems with scouting deserts. These experienced scouters are being asked to serve as part of our new “oasis teams.”
In our ideal vision an oasis team would be a semi-permanent team of scouters who would work together for a year or so. In that period of time, they would work together to rebuild or refine existing units or serve as an organizational committee for new units. In the vision, the oasis team would consist of 4-6 members per team. They would serve as a temporary unit committee or supplementation to a beleaguered unit committee.
The oasis team would assure that the unit has an annual calendar of activities and meetings; a unit budget that identifies the cost of a year’s program to a scout’s family; a fund raising plan to make sure all scouts can afford scouting; and a succession plan for the unit’s families to take over full time management of the unit with 4-6 months.
The transition plan would have the annual calendar and budget done in the first 60 days with the Oasis Team taking the lead. The plan would have the Oasis Team identify successor for each key position in days 61 through 120 and implement a training plan to have those successors 100% trained by Day 120. The successors would shadow the oasis team member who is mentoring the new volunteer. From days 121 to 180, the oasis team would switch roles. The oasis team mentors would shadow the new volunteer’s first steps in the role. At the end of six months, the oasis team would be replaced with a New-Unit Commissioner to advise the entire unit.
Ideally, North Star could use three Oasis Teams right now. That means we would like 18 experienced scouters.
Please contact Jeff Heck if you know a candidate for serving in this role. We would love to build these teams and begin implementing them before the end of May 2017.
Looking for Fundraising Ideas? Follow 343’s story
Brian Crow of Troop 343 announced that the Troop is raising funds through Crew Car Wash sales.
Visit this special link. Buy a few car washes to support Troop 343. Find out how the program works from the customer side, then contact Crew Car Wash or other local vendors to find new and creative ways to raise money for your unit.
Facebook Live tonight: Cub Scout recruiting 2017
Don’t forget that tonight at 6:30 pm is the night that Council will hold its first ever Facebook Live session. The subject will be Cub Scout recruiting for the back to school cycle of 2017.
I do not have the direct link to the event. I cannot find it on the council’s Facebook page.
I would recommend simply going to this link.
Please note come on a previous Facebook share, I had indicated the wrong time. The actual start time is 6:30 PM.
District Nominating Chair named
District Chair John Wiebke has announced that he has appointed Matt Rekeweg of Troop 358 at Zionsville’s St. Alphonsius RCC as the new District Nominating Committee Chair.
We learned the importance of the Nominating Committee from Council Vice-President of Operations and District Support Stroh Brann at the re-organization meeting for North Star District in March 2015, At that time, Stroh told the District to get a nominating committee in place. We did. Stroh told us to keep the nominating committee active to keep a healthy district. We did. As a result, North Star scored the highest of all district in 2016 Journey to Excellence. (The linked article is not quite right. We later learned that North Star was only 300 points from perfect.)
Matt Rekeweg works at Dow Agro and is a newer member of the Willie Gillies (that is Wood Badge recipient in North Star District; a Willie on his way back to Gillwell.)
Matt will be working with units to find volunteers for the District Committee and Commissioner Service.
Matt has been tasked with working with Chartered Organization Representatives to find positions in the District for those representatives to fulfill their duties to District.
Matt is tasked with holding meetings of the Nominating Committee and recruiting additional member for the Committee.
Nominating Committee Member is a position that can have an enormous impact with very little time spent. A Committee Member who identifies a prospective District Committee member and helps recruit that future volunteer will often have an impact that last long after the Nominating Committee member has rotated off the committee. If you are asked to serve on Matt’s committee, please seriously consider it.
We are delighted to have Matt Rekeweg as our new chair. Wish him well.
I’m a Scout leader – and I can’t recommend it highly enough | Opinion | The Guardian
The U.K. Guardian, a strongly leftist newspaper, ran this favorable article about being a scout leader. We don’t often hear from scout leaders about the value to the adult leaders.
Please send me your experiences and benefits from being a scout leader. Or share your thoughts on the comments below. I would like to run our own Indiana version of this article.
Is the Decline of Free Play Causing an Epidemic of Childhood Depression?
An article about free play time disappearing and its effect on kids makes an interesting starting point for a series of articles I am planning on posting.
People who meet with me about their Scouting unit often hear me recite the phrase, “If it is efficient, it is not scouting.” I know this often confuses some as they look at articles on this website. I’m also looking at best practices for improving the scouting experience. The question should arise in many people’s heads that best practices are often about efficiency; so, how can best practices in scouting not seek efficiency?
For me this is a very simple and obvious answer, we are not building a business to maximize profit. We are building young men of character. If it were simple to form a young man of character by a simple recipe, we would have no crime, we would have no conflict, and we would have figured out the system already.
Wrap up of Spring Camporee 2017
Our Winter Camporee 2017 in t-shirts and shorts was followed by our Spring Camporee 2017 in hats and gloves. Oh, the joys of Indiana seasons!
Here are some thoughts from camporee staff afterward.
(MORE TO COME. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR UPDATES AS THEY COME.)
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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