Author: Jeffrey Heck
Ham Radio at Belzer: New Crew and Existing Opportunities
The WD9BSA group is looking for youth ages 14-21 (boys and girls), for a new Scout Venture Crew forming in the Crossroads of America Council, Boy Scouts of America.
It is based at the amateur radio station WD9BSA at Camp Belzer on the Northeast side of Indianapolis, we are looking for youth that are interested in amateur radio, radio technology, emergency communications and preparedness, severe weather spotting and just talking to others around the world on a great amateur radio station. Feel free to contact us for more information at wd9bsa@crossroadsbsa.org
Also, the WD9BSA station is open for all scouts and the public on the second Saturday of each month from 1-7pm (closed July and August). Entrance to the station is located at the northwest corner lower level of the Learning Center. Visitors who have amateur radio licenses may call the station in camp on 147.420 fm simplex or use the 443.000 (+100hz pl) repeater. Upcoming activities may be found on our website. www.wd9bsa.org. Next Open Operations Day is June 11th followed by ARRL Field Day at Camp Belzer June 25-26.
We are also running a weekly net, or on the air gathering, every Monday evening at 7:30 PM on the 443.000MHz repeater, with a 100hz PL tone. All scouts are welcome, boy or girl, licensed or 3rd party traffic, current or former members.
This is not a broadcast radio station. We don’t play music and read the news and weather (although we do sometimes share news and weather information, particularly during Skywarn severe weather nets). As noted above, it’s an amateur (ham) radio station that has applications in emergency preparedness and other areas where Scouts might be interested, as well as just communicating generally with people all over the world.
Amateur Radio is very much a STEM activity and can be integrated as part of the BSA STEM initiative.
Scout night at the Symphony
Scout Night at Marsh Symphony on the Prairie- Friday, June 17, 2016
Scouts and their families are invited to Marsh Symphony on the Prairie for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on Friday, June 17, at 8 pm. Scouts (18 years of age and younger) in uniform who bring a 16 oz. package of pasta for Second Helpings will be admitted at no cost. Accompanying adults must purchase a ticket.
REMINDER: Roundtable Thursday
This Thursday is round table. We will be meeting at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church outbuilding,Luke’s Lodge.
Cub Scouts topic: National Den Award. This is a powerful way to bring your den together and enhance retention.
Boy Scouts topic: using Junior Assistant Scoutmasters. This is a great use of your oldest scouts before they age out. Successful use of JASM’s will increase your rank advancement and participation of early teenagers.
How Do You Encourage Adult Involvement?
Some units struggle for adult volunteers. Some units struggle with adult hyperactivity (different from plentiful adults). Either struggle often reflects poor volunteer management and delegation.
New adult volunteers will always try to make scouting more like other volunteer organization or corporate situations — unless the unit leaders teach scouting philosophy first. How do I know? I have been that adult struggling to find my place in the unit and frustrated with the youth’s mayhem.
When there are too few volunteers or excessively hyperactive adults buzzing around, these are both symptoms of the same problem. The committee chair is not corralling the adults and letting the unit leader (e.g, Cubmaster or Scoutmaster) do the leader’s job.
The committee chair needs to know the scouting philosophy and be teaching the adults, “Don’t just do something! Stand there!”
We have the luxury of brand new Troop Leader Guidebooks having been issued in two volumes (ok, volume 2 is due later in July 2016; close enough). These volumes replace the Scoutmaster Handbook. These Guidebooks are meant for all leaders in a troop.
These guidebooks do a wonderful job teaching how an adult should participate in scouting at the boy scout level. Offering these guidebooks early to new troop parents allows them to see the program clearly, early. They can learn the power of standing and watching a scout struggle to light a fire. The new parent can learn the power of that silent adult presence in encouraging the scout to keep trying.
Once the new parent sees the philosophy of scouting they are easier to lead to the clearer common goal.
Now an adult who is tasked with teaching the scouts how to purify water on the hike can be directed to a ScoutmasterCG article and told to “help the scouts.” The adult is now better able to see, that does not sit the scouts in a classroom for a lecture. It means find a scout who can lead the class and the adult can sit in the back of the room as a resource. For a novice adult, this likely means reading the article, pulling out the equipment, experimenting with it, seeking coaching from the scoutmaster, putting the equipment away, then inviting the scouts in to learn the skills. Now the adult is ready to teach by sitting still.
How does the adult know when to intervene? The author of the new Scout Leader Guidebooks Mark Ray as a guest on ScoutmasterCG Podcast 317 (at the 37:00 minute mark) tells of a troop that has a catch-phrase for knowing when to intervene”CFD.” That stands for “Confused, Frustrated, Dangerous.” The Scoutmaster can just walk by and say to the hyperactive adult, “CFD,” and walk away. The hyperactive adult then knows that this situation did not constitute confusion, frustration, or danger, so the adult should be silently or courteously present but not interfere. In many situations, the adult should walk away silently.
So now our new adult who is assigned the role of helping with water purification can know when his role is most valuable. The teaching scout is in charge until CFD-boundaries are needed. The adult becomes a calming force to cut down confusion and frustration. The adult imposes limits on dangerous behavior. So scouting is not scouts left in a room by themselves or off in a corner of the campsite without adult interaction. The scouts are trusted players in the game of scouting with quiet coaching from the Scoutmaster Corps.
Many adults who avoid volunteering are afraid of too many demands being placed on them. Teaching them CFD-boundaries early can remove many of their fears about truly volunteering because the load is much lighter than they feared. (Yes, this is true for Cub Scouts, too, it just takes more study and preparation on how to carry it out.)
So the lessons here to recruit more volunteers and make them feel valuable:
- Ask them to read the Troop Leader Guidebooks (vol. 1 for all, especially novices; vol. 2 for adults having done some troop campouts already).
- Hold the adults accountable to CFD boundaries of involvement.
- Oh, and feed them well!
The will learn their place in scouting and enjoy it.
50th Anniversary of Ransburg
A message from Council:
Join us as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Camp Ransburg [on Sunday, July 17, 2016]!
Schedule of Events
3:00pm – Arrival – Meet at Firecrafter Circle
3:15pm – Tour to the Inlow Aquatic Center
4:00pm – Waterfront Dedication Ceremony
6:10pm – Opening Flag Ceremony
6:20pm – Dinner
8:30pm – Campfire
You can register here.
For more information on the history of Camp Ransburg, visit the front page of their website. Make sure to scroll down.
Reminder: District Committee
Reminder that this Thursday is the District Committee for June at Second Presbyterian Church 4th Floor. at 7:00 pm.
Commissioners will meet at same location at 6:00 pm.
Scout night at the Symphony
Scout Night at Marsh Symphony on the Prairie- Friday, June 17, 2016
Scouts and their families are invited to Marsh Symphony on the Prairie for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on Friday, June 17, at 8 pm. Scouts (18 years of age and younger) in uniform who bring a 16 oz. package of pasta for Second Helpings will be admitted at no cost. Accompanying adults must purchase a ticket.
Memorial Day Participation
Our Packs and Troops made a mighty contribution to honor our deceased service members. Various units made their contributions at different times and different cemeteries. Here is a sampling of some of the stories and scenes that I have collected from this year’s efforts.
American Legion Post #3 in Broad Ripple hosted their annual breakfast this past Saturday morning. Representatives from Packs 18, 35, and 830 (and a recent graduate of Pack 179) and Troops 18, 35, 56, and 269 were present to my knowledge. The Post’s organizer of the event, long-time North Star Scouter Rees Morgan, emcee’d the breakfast. The scouts enjoyed a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, and other nibbles. Scout parents (uniformed and non-uniformed) squeezed into the back dining room. The Post is looking forward to completing its remodel of the main meeting room, because they had hoped to have 80 scouts and scouters attend. Instead we packed in 101 scouts and scouters! They need the bigger room.
At the conclusion of the breakfast, Mr. Morgan assigned packs and troops to specific cemeteries. This post mostly covers Union Chapel Cemetery near Keystone at the Crossing and part of Crown Hill Cemetery near the Indianapolis Art Museum. The cemetery pictures above are from the Union Chapel group.
Some older scouts attended as part of our Firecrafter Ember’s contribution to the service project.
Traditionally our Zionsville scouts and scouters work in conjunction with the Zionsville American Legion Post. I do not have any details about their service this year. (Stories and pictures are welcome so that I can update this story.)
Troops 56 and 514 and Pack 514 participated in grave dressing in conjunction with other American Legion Posts. Some of the pictures that Troop 514 Scoutmaster Michael Rodriguez provided to me are below.
Troop 343 meets at Bethel United Methodist Church in Pike Township. Their Scoutmaster Ron Wells sent me the following story:
Troop 343, based out of the northwestside of Indianapolis, has once again placed American flags on the graves of veterans buried in the Bethel Cemetery located in the 5200 block of West 52nd St. Scoutmaster Ron Wells had been mulling over taking over the flag detail for some time and finally contacted the cemetery’s caretaker, Sandra Profant last year.
The Profant family has been maintaining the grounds and placing flags at the cemetery for several decades. Needless to say, Sandra was relieved to pass on her detailed maps, a box of flags, and her own self-assembled binder containing research she found on some of the true heroes of our country to the troop! Last November the troop assembled in darkness and less than favorable conditions to place the flags for Veteran’s Day.
Last Monday, the troop performed flawlessly under more inviting weather and lighting conditions and placed over 200 flags. Our troop has always placed a high value on patriotism, wearing the Scout uniform properly, and respecting those brave citizens who served our country.
Thank you to all the scouts, scouters, and scout families who participated this year to make this a wonderful and memorable event.
Cook out on the Circle
25th Annual Marsh Supermarkets Cookout on the Circle- June 16, 2016
Every Scout deserves the opportunity to attend summer camp. The Annual Marsh Supermarkets Cookout on the Circle raises awareness of Scouting and supports Scouting’s camp scholarship fund which enables hundreds of central Indiana Scouts to receive financial support they need to attend summer camp. For more information, contact Leslie Anderson by email or by phone at (317) 813-7113.
To sponsor the event or to purchase corporate ticket packages prior to the event, complete the Cookout on the Circle sponsorship form and return to Leslie Anderson no later than Friday, June 3, 2016.
The 25th Annual Marsh Supermarkets Cookout on the Circle, co-chaired by Bruce McCaw and Mike Semler, will be Thursday, June 16, 2016, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. Thank you to our major event sponsors Marsh Supermarkets, WISH-TV, WFMS, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and Weber Grill.
Photos of the 24th Annual Marsh Supermarkets Cookout on the Circle- Thursday, June 18, 2015
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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