Membership
Coming Online Applications
In the near future, BSA will roll out the Online Application for Youth and Adults.
They have already posted videos to YouTube to explain the process.
Below is the first video, an overview of the system. It will use my.scouting.org. It is important that your Unit Key 3 have access to my.scouting.org. The unit leader (e.g., Scoutmaster, Cubmaster, Venturing Advisor, etc.) approve youth applications. The unit committee chair and chartered organization representatives must approve all adults. This approval process is all electronic.
More videos about using this new system are available at the Scouting Multi-Media YouTube Channel.
Please note that the system collects only national dues and Boy’s Life subscription fees. This is a capability and not required. This means that you will have to verify that BSA has received these funds through the system. If it remains due and payable, you will have to collect it from the new member and pay to council before the application can be processed by BSA.
Your unit will be solely responsible for billing and collecting your unit dues and Crossroads of America Council’s insurance premium of $1.00 per member.
District Committee Agenda
At this Thursday’s Committee meeting, according to the 2016 District Chair John Wiebke the following topics will be on the agenda:
- Communicating around the District Planning and out intent to meet individually with people
- Winter Camporee- Stu Bowes, Camporee Chair will be seeking your input
- Finance- review schedule of FOS presentations
- Recruitment- Sharla’s ideas for the Spring
- Nominating committee update.
New Duty to God Requirements: Are we a religious organization?
As many scoutmasters have learned, January 1, 2016 brings new boy scout rank advancement requirements. The moving of requirements among the ranks is not getting much attention. Neither is the specificity of the type of service hours now required: specific conservation requirements.
The scout’s demonstration of observing his religious duties is getting attention.
The great Bobwhite Blather blog addresses the question of whether this demonstrates that the BSA is or is not a “religious organization.” His analysis is well worth a considered read.
Scoutmastercg.com’s Clarke Green contributed to this analysis, last June, when he took a look at how Baden Powell thought a Scout’s Own service should be managed. Clarke goes further in critiquing some of the current interpretations and inconsistencies in the current BSA definitions of Duty to God.
Clarke’s analysis clearly in another article demonstrates that encouraging a scout to examine his religious beliefs within the religious emblem program gives a scoutmaster the ability to avoid entering a debate on the subject of “what constitutes an acceptable religion” and still upholds the principles of Duty to God.
No matter how a scout answers the question for himself, the most important part is for his scoutmaster to encourage the scout to enter the realm of seeking answers to questions about his own beliefs. This seeking process can be either through his own self-study or with his own house of worship.
Scouting is an active process of learning. We put scouts in the position of making moral and ethical choices on a campout by deciding how to treat his patrol well, especially when things don’t always go smoothly. The Duty to God is supposed to put these questions into a realm of questions that rise about the current moment. A momentary conflict between patrol members can and should turn into a moment of learning about life outside of the patrol.
Having a working mental vocabulary of his own beliefs creates a tool for self-improvement. His actions and self-reflections within a larger context cause those self-discoveries to come faster and to have a greater impact.
These new requirements encourage religious self-exploration and not any mandatory conclusions, other than the scout is part of a larger world than just himself. He needs to figure out how he is a small part of a larger world.
Packs: Cross-over Ceremonies
Since Order of the Arrow, the scout honorary society, provides ceremonial teams as part of its cheerful service to Cub Scout Packs, our District’s chapter needs the Packs’ assistance.
The Chapter is looking for information from the Cub Scout Packs about when their Blue and Gold Banquets or Cross-over Ceremonies will be. The Chapter needs to put these dates on their calendar as soon as possible.
The purpose of providing ceremonial teams is to provide the young Webelos with their first taste of how Boy Scouts differs from Cub Scouts. The Boy Scouts provide the ceremony, not the parents. The Boy Scouts welcome the Webelos into Boy Scouts, not the Scoutmaster. The Webelos are welcomed into the boy-led fraternity of Boy Scouts.
Since many of the ceremonial team performers are in high school, their schedules are already heavily booked. The Chapter needs scheduling information to be able to put together a team to serve your pack. The Chapter also needs to know how many performers it needs to recruit to successfully serve all interested packs.
Using an Order of the Arrow ceremonial team is not required of Cub Scout Packs, but it is strongly recommended.
Please help your OA Chapter better serve you, by sending your Blue and Gold Banquet and/or Cross-over Ceremony dates, times, and locations to District Commissioner Jeff Heck as soon as possible.
To get a feel for what a cross-over ceremony might look like, here is an example from a different chapter of what they did with the idea.
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.
Tufts University’s Study on Whether Scouting Works
Dr Richard Lerner has been doing a 2.5 year longitudinal study near his school of randomly selected 1800 scouts and 400 non-scouts. He started by studying the boys as the entered scouts. He was setting a benchmark as to whether scouting changes boys character. Dr. Lerner’s final report is out. The summary is available at Scouting Magazine’s website.
The results are stunning. It shows in “a compelling way,” according to Dr Lerner, that the BSA has a significant ways in a least six characteristics:
- Trustworthiness;
- Helpfulness;
- Kindness;
- Obedience;
- Cheerfulness;
- Hopefulness.
So what about being solely focused on sports? Unfortunately, the sports-focused kids took a hit in how well the kids prioritize values, particularly in their priorities in caring for other people. They are not as interested in other people’s well-being, as were scouts. This effect becomes more pronounced as the boys stayed in scouting.
Unit Information Update Request for Blog
Please make sure that we have your meeting time and location information for your unit on the district blog. Fill out the information on this survey if the information is incomplete, missing, or wrong.
Eagle Boards: Need Board Members
UPDATED 10/17/15 to add videos.
UPDATED 10/20/15: boards for November and December have been fully staffed. Thank you for the willing participation from so many units!
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North Star District has a joyous problem. We have more Eagle Candidates than our regularly scheduled boards’ capacity.
District Board Coordinator Jerry Simon has set a goal of moving as many Eagle candidates through their boards before year’s end as possible.
District is planning on holding extra boards on November 11th to meet the demand.
We need board members to volunteer that evening, and possibly again in December. Please contact Jeff Heck if you can serve on a board or two that evening.
Please encourage new scouters in your troop to volunteer. This is a wonderful way for scouters to learn about Eagle process. Jerry will give new board members instruction on their duties. They can also learn more from the Eagle Board of Review YouTube video from the BSA, with this blogger’s favorite scouter on the internet Clarke Green as one of the presenters. Since Eagle Boards are nothing more than specialized Boards of Review, it also pays to listen to this YouTube Video from National on Boards of Review in general. More specialized topics on the subject are available on advancement from Scouting.org.
We may need nearly 20 volunteers to serve on these November boards.
Service Opportunities
Sometimes our units are looking for service opportunities. Sometimes we seek service where scouts to gain entry for future unit placement. Scouts do well at schools and churches where they offer service to their current or future host chartered organizations.
We are seeking access back into Pike and Washington Townships.
Our District Executive just received this request for service from Pik High School. Please make sure you let your scouts how much they are needed for service and as ambassadors for scouting.
Hello Con,
I am the event coordinator for Pike High School’s 2015 ISSMA Marching Band event being held on October 31st . It was suggested to me that the scouts may be able to help in our efforts to host this annual event. As a former scout, I know how scouts can make time for the community. (Trans Atlantic Council , Troop 1, Heidelberg, Germany) I understand some scouts may be needing community service requirements for Merit badges or other projects .
If this is something that would interest your troop, please let me know as soon as possible, as we are trying to fill as many spots as possible. I do have a “sign Up Genius “ set up that you could visit to see the type of positions available, anything from spectator parking to gate monitors , hospitality, admissions, hand stampers, water table monitor, and stand entrance monitors, We have two shifts available, or a person could volunteer the entire day, start times range from 9:30AM in the morning to 1:45 PM in the afternoon. All positions are over by 6PM.
The sign up genius is set-up for Parents , but we realize the maturity level of scouts and we know we can count on their assistance.
I do appreciate your consideration, and if this is something that can help your scouts, then Pike and the North Star District both win!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0b45aca62ca3fb6-2015
Thank you ,
Doug Reilly
Event Coordinator
2015 ISSMA CLASS B MARCHING BAND COMPETITION
810-6262 (W), 297-7886 (H), 515-9805 (C)
dreilly@arrow.com, indyhog96.dr@att.net
How can I add unit leaders to district email list?
From time to time, I receive requests for leaders to be added to our weekly email list. You can add yourself by clicking here.
You are invited to send an email to your unit and invite them to visit http://eepurl.com/bqJbcD to sign themselves up.
If you would like us to invite a list of people, send Jeff an Excel spreadsheet with a column for First Name, Last Name, Email, and Primary Phone each in separate columns.
Leaders to consider adding might include but are not limited to those handling Rechartering, summer camp, district or council events, advancement chairs, highly-active Assistant Scoutmasters or committee members, persons you wish to recruit in the future to bigger roles.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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