Boy Scout
REMINDER: District Committee August 4th
A quick reminder that the District Committee will be meeting August 4th at 7:00 pm at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N Meridian St, Rm 407, Indianapolis, IN 46260.
Fall Camporee planning is full swing. Please work on your troop’s event. Some ideas are available on a previous post.
We are also working on finalizing basic information about the Winter and Spring Camporees, so come with your thoughts.
Membership subcommittee is in full swing preparing for Back to School Recruitment. Your packs and troops plans to participate (yes, troops helping packs recruit) is crucial for our success. We already know that some packs are spread thin on manpower. They are small and cover many schools on August 25th. Your help is needed for their success.
Fall also has many special events like a Rocket Launch in support of membership recruitment, Cub Scout leader training, Battle of Belzer, Cub Family Camp and many others. We need your help in planning for their success.
Centennial Celebration for Troop 18
Save the date: Troop 18 will be celebrating its 100 Years of Eagles on August 27 & 28, 2016.
They have been researching their troop’s history and Eagles. We will post more about their history in the coming weeks.
For right now, Scoutmaster Steve Bye shares just a few tidbits.
In 1916, Troop 18 had the first three Eagle Scouts of the Indianapolis Council (later merged into the Crossroads of America Council).
- Hall Marmon
- Noble Butler
- G. Vance Smith.
Jaccos Towne Lodge History, page 10.
Also in 1916, Edson T. Wood Jr. earns bronze honor medal for saving a lady from drowning (Boys Life, 1916).
Key 3 Conference at Camporee
On Saturday morning of camporee, we will hold a Unit Key 3 Conference for all the units in North Star District. All unit Chartered Organization Representatives, Committee Chairs, and Unit Leaders (e.g., Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Venturing Advisors) or their substitutes are invited and asked to attend. This includes all Packs, Troops, and Crews.
We have confirmed that we will have special guest speakers Council Scout Executive Patrick Sterrett and Council Commissioner Rick Tardy.
Youth Leadership Training at Camporee
Remember at Camporee, District will offer basic leadership training for youth. It is called Introduction to Leadership Training for Troops. Make your reservation now!
Duty to God: Ten Commandments Hike
The Crossroads of America Council’s Chaplain Corps is sponsoring a “Ten Commandments Hike” at Fort Benjamin Harrison on Saturday, May 7, 2016. 
This event is for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. The hike serves to meet several advancement requirements, especially the new Duty to God requirements and 5-mile hike.
Please Ten Commandment hike benefits.
How Do We Know What a Scout Needs to Develop?
In explaining scouts, we do best when we ask what a mother would like to see her child grow to be. If she wants an athlete, we can discuss athletic activities in Cub Scouts and athletic merit badges in boy scouts.
If a father wants a STEM focused child, we can focus on those activities.
Scouting can meet those needs because scouting is the only liberal arts activity for youth. We serve all interests.
More importantly we encourage our scouts to expand their interests. An athletic scout may show little initial curiosity about the stars. Yet a little introduction to astronomy in Cub Scouts may open his eyes to the skies. That exposure to ideas and concepts that they never had considered is only part of why scouting works.
We know what a scout needs to develop because it has been well studied over the last century.
One of the summations of what a youth needs has been compiled by the Search Institute. They have summarized the skills and experiences that a youth needs at each age level in order to develop into a well-rounded and upstanding citizen. For each age level, the Search Institute has developed a chart of 40 Developmental Assets appropriate for the child’s age.
In reviewing these assets, place a checkmark next to each developmental asset that scouting touches. Then repeat the exercise for each activity that you child participates in. You will find an average Cub Scout Pack or Scout Troop outscores most other activities.
When you are talking to parents who don’t know scouting, these charts are a great method for the parents to formulate questions and independently determine that scouting is worth their family’s time.
For parents who are considering withdrawing their son from scouting, these charts are a perfect method to diplomatically challenge their thinking.
If you cannot explain how scouting serves most of the developmental assets, talk to your unit commissioner or the district membership committee. You may be losing scouts because you are struggling to explain “Why Scouting?”
April Camporee Planning
Remember as the weeks tick by we approach Camporee.
We need to set a theme in the next week or two. If your troop would like to contribute their idea, time is running out. We need to order patches and inform troops how to prepare.
April Camporee is also where the Order of the Arrow tap-out and invitations occur. Remember to encourage your OA candidates to attend the Camporee.
Your prospective troop leaders can also benefit by attending the Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops and Crews. This is a prerequisite for National Youth Leadership Training also known locally as White Stag.
Adult leaders who are Scoutmasters, Cubmasters, Committee Chairs, and Chartered Organization Representatives should plan on attending the Unit Key 3 Conference from 9:00 am to 11:00 am on Saturday, April 23rd at Camp Kikthawenuend for Camporee, too. We will review and summarize district plans for recruitment, programming, events, administration, rechartering, and unit support. Mark your calendars now.
Thursday’s Roundtable
Roundtable this week will be about camping and scout honoraries — Firecrafter and Order of the Arrow. The Roundtable will be in the outbuilding Luke’s Lodge on the campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 West 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260 at 6:30 pm.
Cub Scout Roundtable will focus on summer camp, tour permits, and BALOO training. This means that every pack should have a representative present. Do you have a new Den Leader in your pack? This would be a good session for them to attend to learn more about camping in Cub Scouting. Do you have an incoming Cubmaster or Pack Committee Chair? These persons should know this information cold. Remember healthy packs’ registered leaders attend roundtable regularly.
Boy Scout Roundtable will focus on summer camp and the scout honoraries’ role in camping and scouting. This discussion will be led by OA Chapter Advisor John Ruggles of Troop 343 and Firecrafter Advisor Greg Hoyes of Troop 804. Your current or prospective youth OA Representative and Firecrafter Sparks and their parents are encouraged to attend.
Remember: scout leaders attend roundtables when their unit leaders pick up the phone and ask them to attend. Please pick up the phone and ask!
Ideas for Spring Camporee Theme
It seems like we just finished Winter Camporee. Now we dive into planning the Spring Camporee.
It will be here sooner than you think. For us to be able to order patches for delivery at the Camporee and begin planning in detail, we need to find a theme for the Camporee before February 29th.
Please ask your PLC and patrols to discuss what they think would an interesting theme and would have the most scouts from their patrols attend. Then send us an email of the best idea, selected by your PLC.
What is a “Boy-Led Troop”?
A phrase I hear often is apparently heard many times by other scouters, too.
Clarke Green writes, “Many Scouters claim, ‘We have a boy-led troop’ but what does that really mean? ‘Boy-led’ is not what adults do, it’s what they don’t do.”
He goes on to write,
Defining what we should not do is nowhere near as useful as sharing what weshould do, but before I do let’s address one common misconception;
Boy-led is not boy-defined.
Every once in a while I’ll hear something like; “We don’t have patrols because the Scouts decided they didn’t want them, we are boy-led after all.”
Imagine a basketball game where the players were carrying the ball rather than dribbling. You ask a coach why and they tell you; “the players all decided they’s rather play this way.” Can you still call that game “basketball”?
Just like any other game Scouting has limitations and definitions. We all play the game within those definitions and limitations, the players don’t re-invent the game.
Adults should help Scouts maintain focus on fulfilling the promises of Scouting and understand the limitations and definitions of the game we are playing.
One of the commenters, Richard Andersen, adds, “I personally don’t like the term ‘boy-led,’ I prefer scout-led.”
Mr. Andersen really helps to clarify Clarke’s point extremely well. If the troop is “boy-led,” there is not inherently a strong sense of limitation of what the “boys” can do in defining the troop. On the other hand, describing the troop as “scout-led” always requires that the scouts revisit the idea of what it means to be a “scout.” Using the word “scout,” emphasizes the importance of working the system of scouting. It clarifies the difference between a scout’s choice following the Scout and what their friends would do outside without the Scout Law guiding their choices.
As modern-day scouters, we often see scouting as another extracurricular activity that a boy does.
When Baden-Powell opened the first scout encampment at Brown Sea Isle, the first thing he did was to put the boys “on their honor” to live within the scout system. For Baden-Powell this oath of honor set scouts apart from other boys.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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