Cub Scouts
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.
Cub Leader BALOO Training
On Saturday, May 7, 2016 12:00 PM to 3:30 PM, Del-Mi District will hold BALOO training at Camp Belzer. Reservations can be made here.
BALOO training is required for at least one adult on every Cub Scout camping or trekking trip.
Participants learn about topics including planning for outings, acceptable camping locations for Cub Scouts, permits and paperwork, Cub Scout cooking, camping equipment, campfire program planning, health and safety, first aid and sanitation, and nature hikes and games.
Cub Leader Training is being held prior to BALOO. It is a required position-specific course for all registered Cub Scout leaders.
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.
Outdoor leadership training available
Del-Mi District is offering Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills and Webelos Outdoor Leadership at their camporee on April 16, 2016 from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. One class: credit for both courses! Reservations can be made here.
Their camporee will be at Camp Belzer . . . close to home.
IOLS is required to be certified as a Trained Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmaster. It is often hard to get it on your schedule.
Webelos Outdoor Leadership is required to take Webelos on a den campout. The magic of this 2-in-1 training is Webelos leaders can get trained on both programs.
The training never expires so get it done today!
District Pinewood Derby
Don’t forget that the District Pinewood Derby is Saturday, April 16th at 10 am.
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?”
New Facebook Page
In an effort to make the District current in its social media, posts from this website will now post to a Facebook page, too.
We realize that many individuals and units rely on Facebook as their primary communication method. For those units, families, and scouts, distributing valuable information easily through Facebook is highly desirable.
If you find an article timely or interesting, please “Like” the post. This will increase the number of people who can receive the same value.
As we enter the Fall Recruiting season, we will be using social media to push information to prospective families and scouts to learn more about what we offer. Sharing good posts for those audiences will allow us as a district to leverage information shared to persons who would not normally see our posts.
For example, a mother may have a new Tiger Cub in Pike Township also on a new soccer team. She joins a Facebook group for the soccer team. As a result, the new friends on Facebook may see a link to a photo of her son in a scout uniform. The next week, the new friends may see that the Tiger Cub mom liked an article about an upcoming hayride for scouts. The next month, they see an article about how scouting improves a boy’s cheerfulness and trustworthiness.
All of these examples are useful marketing for us. Very few took more than a few “Like” clicks for the young mom.
So, please have your unit’s Facebook page “Like” our new page. We would love it!
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!
Selling Scouting: Teaching Resilence
If you are like me, you are constantly reading random articles on the internet. Most are pop-psychology hogwash: “5 Ways to Become the CEO Tomorrow!” (Never forget the exclamation mark!)
Every once in a while, you find a good article. Generally, the quality of the article is best when it is a summary of monograph a/k/a a book on a single subject. One article I saw fits that description.
It is written for the stressed out helicopter mom that wants her child to be perfect and will stress the child out until perfection is attained.
The article is from Fast Company. It focuses on “teaching your child resilience.” (Which begs the question, how do you “teach” adaptation to stress.)
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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