Boy Scout
Thanksgiving Lessons for Scouting
As Thanksgiving arrives this year, we begin considering more time with extended family and friends. Scouting tends to be put on the backshelf. Even so, Thanksgiving is a great time to think about the philosophy and lessons of scouting. (While this article is focused on boy scout troops, the same lessons of unit cohesion apply to Cub Scout Dens and Venturing Crews, too.)
The history of Thanksgiving is not often as it is represented in the media. To truly learn the lessons of Thanksgiving, we need to return to the the true story of Thanksgiving.
When the Plymouth colonists arrived and were moored alongside shore, they entered into the famed Mayflower Compact, effectively the first constitution written in North America. The Romans had previously had their Twelve Tables, the Swiss their agreement of confederation, and the Jamestown colony their royal charter. All of these were written agreement of government organization, but were all written in Europe. The Compact did not emphasize powers and duties like the US Constitution. It emphasized that all the colonists agreed to be subject to a common government as it was constituted from “time to time.” (That phrase is lawyer-speak for changes that occur every once in a while.) So they agreed to stick to the colony as the rules changed.
This agreeing to be part of the group and be subject to its changing rules is the first similarity between the Compact and a boy scout troop. While the rules for troop organization and management are far more detailed in the Senior Patrol Leader’s Handbook, the new Troop Leaders’ Guide Book (which replaced the Scoutmaster’s Handbook this year), and the Scout Handbook than the Mayflower Compact, neither these scouting handbooks nor the Compact define the daily rules of performance. Neither tells who cooks food, cleans, or organizes the day’s activities. Those are left for future decisions. Consequently, both systems leave lots of room for future lessons to be built into the future activities and organization of the band of people participating.
Useful Camp Gadgets: Revisited
Back in June, shortly after I started this website, I posted an article about useful camp gadgets for Firecrafter requirements. It is read regularly each week.
This past weekend, I finally had a chance to go on a troop campout for the first time since I took the position as District Commissioner. I decided to use my own advice. I made a crude lantern holder.
As you can see from the previous post, my design is largely a knock-off.
While I was working with the hand drill by the campfire, one of our thespian scouts walked up and asked, almost as if reading from a script of the prior post, “What are you doing?”
I explained that I am teaching myself a pioneering method that is different the method in the scout handbook.
“What’s it called?” he asked.
“Cat drill. It’s based on a system I found on an Italian scout troop’s website.”
“Why are you doing it?” he continued.
I told him, “I want to be able to teach scouts who are interested how to do it. But, first, I have to make sure that I know how to do it. So I am experimenting on this campout.”
“Well, if you are doing it at summer camp, I want to learn how to do it,” he finished.
“Sounds like a great idea to me!” I exclaimed.
This entire project required a $12.00 hand drill from Amazon’s website, a $3.00 set of bits, a $1.00 ball of twine, and sticks I found near the campfire. Next time, it will cost me nothing but time.
Who knows who will join me. Maybe we’ll make something bigger.
Marching Band and Scouts
Do you have a musical scout or a marching band scout who you would like to keep engaged in scouts? Does marching band seem like an impediment to his scouting experience?
Two reasons why marching band participants can thrive in scouts:
- Crossroads of America Scout Band at Camp Belzer
- Madison Scouts.
Many are familiar with the 98-year old local Scout Band at Camp Belzer and registered as Crew 559.
Thursday Roundtable
This Thursday we will hold a Boy Scout and Cub Scout roundtable. We will meet on the fourth floor of second Presbyterian church as always. The general session and district news will begin at 6:30 PM with breakout sessions beginning at 7 PM.
Merit Badge Counselor Registration Open Forum
The Boy Scout round table will focus on merit badge counseling registration, education, troop counselor list maintenance, and related troubleshooting. The district merit badge counselor registrar Mike Yates will lead the conversation. We will focus on identifying problems, solutions, and procedures for maintaining a reliable District Roster of Merit Badge Counselors and their Badges going forward.
Cub Scout New Program Review
The Cub Scout roundtable will focus on “the New Advancement Program: How’s It Going So Far?” The discussion will focus on how to improve and clarify understandings.
Baden Powell on the Purpose of the Patrol/Den
The Patrol [or the Den] is the character school for the individual. To the Patrol Leader it gives practice in Responsibility and in the qualities of Leadership. To the Scouts it gives subordination of self to the interests of the whole, the elements of self-denial and self-control involved in the team spirit of co-operation and good comradeship.
Lord Baden-Powell, October 1936.
Hat tip to Clarke Green.
Eagle Report for North Star
North Star averages about 30 new Eagles per year.Starting in January of this year through October, 35 scouts have received their Eagle Rank. We will be doing six more in November and at least five in December.It looks like 2015 will be a banner year for us.Considering all the issues North Star has had trying to be a functioning district, we have great troops with great volunteers that are making Scouting happen.
How much responsibility to the patrol leader?
Many of our Boy Scout troops I have elaborate systems for keeping track of records and attendance. But even bigger question is who will be attending a weekend outing.
Many trooms rely on electronic means of collecting the information. In a recent article Frank Meynard of Bobwhite Blather suggested we may need to look at this a little bit differently. Take a look at his article for a different point of view.
Eagle Project Ideas
In our meetings with local community leaders, District Executive Con Sullivan and District Commissioner Jeff Heck ran into the Nora Alliance.
The Nora Alliance is a neighborhood advocacy group in Nora. They are looking for ways to enhance the Nora Community. Increased pedestrian space, parkway like enhancement, improvements to the Monon trail.
They want to make the Monon a more park-like environment, especially in the more sun exposed section from 86th St to 96th St.
As part of that goal, we discussed whether Eagle Scouts could do improvements along the Monon. Maybe each section of 40-50 yards could have improvements of slightly different character and elements, while being part of a larger theme. That way each Life Scout could give it his own twist, while making the larger project coherent.
The idea is still in the works, but there is the potential for at least 6-12 Eagle Projects in that area. This might take some adult coordination on themes and procedures to make the politics a bit more manageable for the Life Scouts. Still, in this vision, each Life Scout would have to observe the theme and general rules, while being responsible for the blue prints preparation and approval of his own section. Then he would be responsible for the time and materials to make his blue print spring to life.
We would like feedback on whether this idea has merits and how we could make it work.
Teaching the Scouting Way
As ever, Clarke Green brings us another lesson from Lord Baden-Powell’s writings. This time a wonderful lesson in how to teach without a lesson plan.
B-P makes some comments on the type of volunteers he seeks in scouters. He then starts talking about an impressive schoolmaster (note the term’s similarity to “scoutmaster”):
Yesterday I was talking with our village schoolmaster, a true educationist, by the way. He was explaining some of his methods which had rather raised the hair of an old-time school inspector, but which, in principle, are much in accord with our methods in Scout training.
Take one of his cases as an example. A girl was hopeless at arithmetic, so he had a talk with her, and asked her which of the school subjects she liked best. “Oh, cooking.” And which she liked least. “Arithmetic.”
“Well,”– very confidentially– “don’t tell anyone, but it is just the same with me. I don’t like arithmetic, either. And now, talking of cooking, how would it be if instead of the arithmetic lesson today you cooked a tea for two, with some good scones and a cake, and we can have it together. You order the necessary ingredients, but don’t make it too expensive.” This idea she joyfully carried out. The following day he said– “That tea was a huge success. Can you manage to cook another, on a larger scale, say for five, to which we can ask some pals?” It was duly and enthusiastically done.
The result was that in working out her quantities, prices, etc., the girl had all unconsciously had her arithmetic lesson. Interested in her job, and proud of being trusted with the responsibility put upon her, she was not only learning arithmetic but was realising its practical use at the same time.
It is on this same principle that the Scoutmaster, through the medium of Scouting items which interest the boy, inculcates such qualities as he wants. He educates the boy by encouraging his self — expression instead of disciplining him by police methods of repression.
Too many times, I see scoutmasters that wish to offer classes or push Merit Badge Universities. I teach at such classes. Even so, I try to emphasize the role of the boy in talking. I try to ask questions so that the boys become the lecturers. When I teach on different types of countries, their governments, and economies, the boys talk about their previously researched countries. I ask questions to encourage them to compare the different governments.
But what lessons can we teach our scouts that are more like the schoolmaster in B-P’s story?
Problems accessing online Troop Committee Challenge?
Since the BSA is migrating its online training to a new vendor, following the old web links land you on the new training vendor’s BSA LearnCenter.
BSA LearnCenter, the online component of Scouting U, is fully operational for Cub Scout leaders. 
It is not operational for scout or venturing leaders and will not be into 2016.
According to Crossroads of America Council Training Director Jay Soucy, scouters seeking online training for scouts and venturing can still access the legacy online courses. They will need to use their my.scouting.org account to do it.
- Log into my.scouting.org.
- Click “Home” in the upper lefthand corner.
- On the menu that appears, click “My Dashboard.” You should land on “My Training.”
- In the center of the title bar for the Dashboard, click “Requirements.”
- For any position you hold and that online training is available and needed, you can click on “Take Course” to start the online training.
We hope this removes some confusion during this transition period.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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