Author: Cheryl Bilsland - NS District Communications Chair
Check out Scouts BSA on Instagram!
If you have not already seen the email from Scouts BSA, you can now follow the Scouting adventures on Instagram!
There is a giveaway currently running for some pretty cool camping gear, start by following this post: Giveaway! Rules and details can be found on that page.
Individual Swim Test opportunity
For Scouts needing a swim test with a certified lifeguard – check out the Zionsville Aquatic Center at Zionsville High School, 900 Mulberry Street.
Call 317-733-4808 or email lbrown@zcs.k12.in.us to schedule a time.
Cost is $10 per Scout.
Please use that same contact information to inquire about swim tests for a group of Scouts, as that would be handled with a different schedule setup.
See this Zionsville Aquatic Swim test page for more details.
Don’t Forget! Saturday May 26
Please see the following two posts on service events for Scouts on Saturday, May 26:
Memorial Weekend Grave Dressing
500 Festival Parade Setup
Thank you for all you do for Scouting, and for your greater community!
Scouts – Your Service is requested at the INDY 500 Parade!
On behalf of Bill Hodgson, North Star District 500 Festival Parade Chair:
REMINDER!
Please recall North Star still is scheduled to set up 500 Festival parade chairs on Saturday, May 26.
Scouts in uniform should arrive to set up chairs at the 300 block of North Pennsylvania, between New York and Vermont Streets.
Please arrive between 8:30 to 9:00 AM. Good for 5 service hours!
Yours in scouting,
Bill Hodgson
Troop 73
317-560-0597
Scouts at the JCC Annual Earth Day Celebration 2018
On behalf of North Star District Executive Jessica Hofman:
North Star had the opportunity to host a few stations at the Jewish Community Center’s Annual Earth Day Celebration. Volunteers from Troop 18 and the Council ran a rope bridge, a fire starting station, and a catapult station for thousands of families to stop by and enjoy.
Through surveys done at the event, we were told that our stations were a crowd favorite! This event could not have been possible without the help of great volunteers! Thank you to Ray and John Matutes from Troop 18 for taking time out of their Sunday to help!
Scout Popcorn Festival – August 26, 2018
On behalf of North Star District Executive Jessica Hofman:
Hey Cubs!
Most of you have heard me talk about the Scout Popcorn Festival coming in August. This is the second year in a row for this event, and if you ask others that have gone… it’s pretty awesome!!! Some experiences at the festival below:
- National Guard inflatable obstacle course
- Popcorn taste testing station
- BMX show (last year’s event, we’re looking into something equally as cool this year)
- Prize showing station
- Face painting
- Popcorn sales pitch training
- And more!
When: August 26, 2018 1 – 4pm
Where: Camp Belzer, 6102 Boy Scout Road, Lawrence IN
This event is free and an open house environment. There are a few benefits to you adding this to your calendar for the late Summer/ early Fall:
- This event qualifies as an August event for your Summertime Pack Award
- This event qualifies for “Scout Training” which is one of the patches that a youth can earn in the patch set this year
- It gets new and old Scouts excited about selling popcorn… which in turn leads to larger sales and more money for you all to put on AMAZING programming.
Sign up HERE .
Be sure to RSVP as soon as possible please – even if you are tentative on how many will be in your group! This type of event take A LOT of work on the front end and I want to make sure there’s enough time and effort put into this event for all of our Scouts to attend. Let me know if you have any questions!
Jessica Hofman
Required Unit Reporting of District Service Hours
On behalf of North Star Program Chair Mark Pishon:
ISSUE: Two separate reporting databases
The national website, accessible through my.scouting.org, reports directly to National Council and is used for your unit’s national statistics such as contribution to the World Movement of Scouting’s billion service-hour challenge, but not Journey to Excellence scoring.
We know this is a problem because many of our largest and most successful troops have reported zero service hours on one or both of these websites. At the same time, these units have had Eagle Scouts reporting hundreds if not thousands of service hours. The scouts are getting proper credit, but it is not passing on to the units.
Journey to Excellence has a separate scoring for service hours which can receive a separate gold-level recognition.
ACTION ITEM:
Make sure your unit secretary or registrar is reporting the same service hours to both National BSA on my.scouting.org as well as to the Crossroads BSA website (service hours form found here).
To prevent this being a problem in the future, our District will be reviewing these statistics quarterly. For troops, we will be looking at Eagle project reports against unit reports. Discrepancies will be pointed out to units.
For Cub Scout Packs, we will be looking at zero-hour reports as needing updating.
Remember, we are part of a world-wide effort to demonstrate the value of scouting to our communities. Your reports help that marketing effort.
Memorial Weekend Grave Dressing 2018 [Update below]
Memorial Day is fast approaching. The American Legion would like to invite all of the North Star District for breakfast. The district will make a short trip to several local cemeteries and put decorations on veteran’s graves in honor of their service. In past years this has wrapped up before lunch.
Your service is Requested:
Date: Saturday, May 26, 2018
Start time: 7:00 am
Breakfast location: Broad Ripple American Legion Post # 3, 6379 N College Ave, Indianapolis, IN
Teams will be formed at breakfast to serve the various cemeteries.
Units will be asked to provide adult and youth headcount as well as a point of contact in the event updates need to be made during the morning.
*UPDATE* Please RSVP to Rees Morgan at bfbronc58@yahoo.com.
THANK YOU for your Service!
Be Prepared – for the SAT and ACT
BSA giving away $350 SAT/ACT programs
In alliance with Scouts BSA, eKnowledge and the SAT/ACT Donation Project are giving Scout families (past and present) $350 SAT and ACT test prep programs for just the cost of providing the programs (under $20). The fee covers everything, including materials, shipping, student support, and streaming. You may request your programs online at this eKnowledge BSA site (<== link here).
Already, over 4,500 scouting families have benefited from the SAT/ACT Donation Project. The mission of this project is to help Scouts be prepared for the SAT or ACT.
For more information please check out the BSA Info Center, eKnowledge site here
Best of luck on the exams!
Don’t Forget! Roundtable this Thurs 5/10
This week’s Roundtable topics are:
- Cub Scouts: “Recruiting… Youth AND Adults” ;
- Boy Scouts: “Ideal Year of Scouting / Supporting Cub Packs at Summer Camp.”
See last week’s post for more details.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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