Author: Jeffrey Heck
Troop 358 Fundraiser
From Troop 358 Fundraising Chair Mark Pishon:
2017 Troop 358 Hog Roast
Saturday, May 6, 2017 4 to 8 pm
St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church
1870 W. Oak Street,Zionsville, IN 46077Tickets For Sale
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS!
OR
CLICK HERE TO DONATE $50 TO THE TROOP!Come celebrate with Zionsville’s Troop 358 as the boys put on their 5th Annual Hog Roast.
The goal is to off-set Costs for Summer Camp and our High Adventure Programs.
Family Ticket Feeds Six (6).
The menu is our signature pork with a choice of two sauces, Carolina Sauce (apple cider vinegar base), or Tomato based. Meal includes rolls, Mac-n-cheese, home made signature potato salad, green beans, and baked beans.
We will also be serving hot dogs and hamburgers.
Desserts will be of a bake sale type format.
Drinks such as lemonade, coffee and water will be provided.
If you have a unit fundraiser that you would like to promote, please let us know! We will post your information, too.
Clarifications from Lodge Chief on Out-of-Council Ordeals
Lodge Chief James Colter emailed today to emphasize that going out of council is only an option if specific, “extenuating circumstances” cause the need to go out-of-council — to another lodge’s ordeal. He uses the example of a religious obligation. While we have tried to emphasize this point, we never used the phrase “extenuating circumstances.” If you do seek to go out of council, know that your letter requesting to go out-of-council must describe the nature of this extenuating circumstance. Inadequate explanation of the extenuating circumstance or an inadequate basis are both good cause for the request to be denied. Reading between the lines,
I sense that a conflicting extracurricular activity may not meet the extenuating circumstances test. In that case, you can write the letter and try to get it approved, but start with a pessimistic expectation. A religious prohibition or conflicting date is likely to be accepted with no questions asked. For example, my son had his confirmation Sunday on the day of his first opportunity to attend chapter ordeal, although he made Lodge Ordeal. Remember, just because the scout cannot make chapter ordeal, he will still have September’s Lodge Ordeal. Letters describing extenuating circumstances should deal with scheduling conflicts for both offered ordeals in order to be complete.
In our previous post, we told leaders to gather information about the scheduling conflict. This information just clarifies that this same information about extenuating circumstances needs to be in the letter requesting an out-of-council ordeal in order for permission to be granted by either lodge.
Thoughts on Scout Discipline
As we prepare to go to summer camp and the joys of summer high adventure, now is a good time to reflect on discipline in scouting. Discipline in scouting is easy: we don’t do it.
Is that so?
Well, let me be clearer. Dictionary.com offers this definition:
- training to act in accordance with rules; drill: military discipline.
- activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill;training: A daily stint at the typewriter is excellent discipline for a writer.
- punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
- the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc.: the harsh discipline of poverty.
- behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and ordermaintained by training and control:
Scouting clearly seeks to create a “disciplined” scout, in accordance with definitions 1, 2, 4, or 5. In these you can have the “discipline of scouting” as the rules and expectations of scouting.
Scouting does not do definition number 3. In this definition you get the sense of discipline as punishment. We don’t do punishment.
When you are faced with a scout who does not wish to comply with your unit’s expectations, what do you do?
I would recommend starting with an overview article by Clarke Green at ScoutmasterCG.com. With this quick overview, you can then dig into his larger analysis of expectation management and disciplines.
Discipline or punishment is handled by the parents. For other questions, Clarke clarifies many questions.
Order of the Arrow Unit Award of Excellence
Do you ever tire of recognition for your adults or streamers for your troop flag? If not, I have some additional opportunities for you.
In an effort to promote the Order of the Arrow, the National Boy Scout Honorary Society, the National Council has created the OA Unit Award of Excellence. Related to the unit award are separate recognitions for the youth OA Troop Representative (or Crew Representative), the scoutmaster, and the Assistant Scoutmaster tasked w
ith OA liaison responsibilities. (Both the troop rep and ASM have special position of responsibility patches.)
To learn more about these awards, take a look at the record sheet on the OA website.
Camporee Updates
Updates will be posted here as they come to the attention of Jeff Heck.
Friday night updates:
Official agenda: spring20camporee20planning20summary204_12_201720update
The three gun demonstration has been canceled by counsel without exclamation. Mark Pishon announced at the leader and SPL meeting that he would like ideas to fill one hour on the agenda.
Rick Aker announced that the center of operation to move to bunkhouse number two, immediately behind the climbing tower. This is where the first aid station would be. The dining halls too cold to serve as a safety station.
Roundtable: Dream Big, Good Programming
At April’s Roundtable we focused on the importance of Big Dreams to Good Programming. Boys join scouts for the programming: camping, games, and fun. They don’t join for to sit in meetings or to sit in classes.
We discussed how to make programs that excite the boys.
Take a look at the video for a quick review of the discussion. We went longer than the video, but you can see the overall vision that we proposed.
Share this video with your unit so that you can all be on the same page.
We also referenced thre every good links on the BSA website which were:
- www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/Planning.aspx
- www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/Resources/ProgramFeaturesVols1-3.aspx
- www.programresources.org/activities/
I also recommend using the PowerPoints on these pages to lead off your planning. It shares many of the same points, but with a briefer format.
Camporee Training Reminder
Please remember to sign up for Camporee Training for IOLS (required for Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters to recharter in the fall of 2017) and CPR/AED for Adults and Children, 2 sessions (required for some members of all high adventure crews; strongly recommended for youth crew members, since the adults are the most likely candidates to be the patient). (Scoutmaster Specific Training is required for rechartering, but is now available online as of this month. We will not offer it at Camporee as a result.)
Read this article for more details and sign-up links. We need your sign ups for CPR in advance the most, since we need to bring sufficient teach supplies.
SCOUTMASTERS: Remember staffing the camporee is higher priority than training. Plan accordingly.
Council’s Latino Outreach Announced
At Council’s Semi-Annual Operations Meeting on Tuesday, Director of Field Services for Council’s Eastern Section Marilyn Lopez announced a Latino Outreach Initiative.
Marilyn is bilingual. Part of the reason Council hired her is with a view to her being instrumental in building a successful Latino outreach. That program is now under way.
North Star District has been named as one of the three (3) traditional districts to receive the focus of this effort. We were chosen because we already have a significant Latino population within our borders. A parallel effort will be pursued in the after-school units.
The outreach will begin with a specialized committee. The committee will consistent primarily of persons with existing connections to the Indianapolis Latino community. In addition, Council will work with local colleges and universities to staff interns with bilingual skills to serve as a support network. Some of these internship positions will be paid; others will be unpaid.
The goal of the program is to build three new units in each district that are majority Spanish-language families with a total of 100 new scouts. These units will market to the Latino families for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts as a family affair, and not just an activity for a boy.
Along with the new units, the initiative will seek to serve existing units with Spanish language support. These bilingual scouters will be an invaluable resource in the success of the initiative.
If you know family or friends who are bilingual or are currently studying Spanish, this is a great opportunity to build your language skills. One way to prepare for this effort is to buy the Spanish lanugage material. Then read the English and Spanish language material together. For example, read one chapter of the English Cub Scout Leader guide, then read the same chapter in Spanish. Compare the vocabulary and syntax. You will quickly learn the Scout-specific language in both languages.
This initiative is intended to have a major impact in the fall.
Please let Con, Marilyn, or me know about any Spanish outreach resources so that we can Be Prepared come fall.
Learn about Cub Scout Recruiting
On Monday, May 1, 2017 at 6:30 pm, the Council Membership Committee will hold its first ever Facebook Live event. They will roll out to Pack Committee Members and Cubmasters what fall’s membership drive will look like.
It will be on Facebook at @Crossroadsbsa.
Learn about how an ideal Fall Recruitment meeting will look like. You will get to see the catapults that each new Cub Scout will receive that night.
OA Lodge Chief Interview UPDATED
UPDATE 4/26/17: Lodge Chief James Colter emailed today to emphasize that going out of council is only an option if specific, extenuating circumstances cause the need to go out-of-council. While we have tried to emphasize this point, we never used the phrase “extenuating circumstances.” If you do seek to go out of council, know that your letter requesting to go out-of-council must describe the nature of this extenuating circumstance. Inadequate explanation of the extenuating circumstance or an inadequate basis are both good cause for the request to be denied.
Due to the confusion over the Order of the Arrow Ordeals in 2017, I spoke with Jaccos Towne Lodge Chief James Colter. We wanted to make sure that some of the confusion could be laid to rest in advance of this weekend’s Tap-Out Ceremony at the Spring Camporee at Camp Ransburg.
First things first: there will be a Fall Lodge Ordeal in 2017. More on that in a minute.
James is the current chief of Jaccos Towne Lodge, that covers all of the Crossroads of America Council. James comes from Troop 335 in North East District. He is currently a student at Ball State University. As such, he also serves a troop in Golden Eagle District while at school.
Each Council has one and only one Lodge. A lodge can then be divided into chapters. North Star District has its own chapter.
James also shared with me that he was elected secretary of Section C6A for Order of the Arrow. This is Area 6 of the Central Region of the BSA, of which A is a subdivision.
James explained to me that the Ldoge is trying to redesign its programs so that stronger chapters can help support struggling chapters. Part of this plan is to have chapters carry out more of their efforts together. While Council’s overall restructing into three section, Lodge is following a completely different alignment of chapters based on the characteristics of the chapters, not their georgraphy.
From May 19 to 21, 2017, the Lowaneu Allanque (LOA) Chapter of North Star will be joining with the Kickapoo (KPO) of Wabash Valley District (Terre Haute area), the Tatankaskah (TAK) Chapter of Sugar Creek District (Crawfordsville area), and the Wundchenneu (WUN) Chapter of Hou Koda District (Plainfield area). This will be held at Camp Krietenstein a/k/a Camp K West.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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