News
YPT Report
As of this morning, we have 50 volunteers whose YPT status is expired. We have a total of 183 volunteers who are expired or will be expired in the next 90 days.
We need this number to be dropping. All of these volunteers need to be renewed in the next 30 days.
Another 23 on the District Staff (including committee members, commissioners, and merit badge counselors) expire before March 1, 2017.
Anyone who has not completed their YPT before October 1, 2016 is at risk of having their membership dropped at rechartering.
Make sure that your unit is aware of its YPT status.
Cub Scout Leader Training Next Week
Next week, Tuesday through Friday, North Star District will be running training for new Cub Scout Leaders. Den Leader training will be offered each night. Cubmaster/Assistant Cubmaster Position Specific and Pack Trainer will be offered most nights. See the Council calendar for more details.
Most will be at the Scout Service Center. Wednesday night will be at Second Presbyterian Church (room number to be announced).
All are open to scouters across the Council.
Wood Badgers in the District (Willie Gillies) are especially asked to volunteer as faculty. Contact Jeff Heck or Steve James for more information. Volunteers can sign up here!
Membership Recruitment Report
Last Thursday night, Council held its Council-wide recruitment night for Cub Scouts. Many districts across the state had significant growth in its recruitment.
For example, our neighbor to the north in Carmel/Fishers’ Del-Mi District, their recruitment was up 47% year-over-year (i.e., comparison of the same time period in 2015 versus in 2016).
North Star District has 6 packs that have not completed their recruitment yet. Our numbers are stable year-over-year. Still we are on course to be ahead of last year. We just need a bit more patience to find out what is coming.
There were some truly astounding successes. District Executive Con Sullivan, Unit Commissioner Tom Sugar, and Pack 98 Cubmaster Mark Baskin have been working to re-introduce Cub Scouting to College Park Elementary School. They had 27 new Cub Scouts sign up! That is a 27 Scout increase year-over-year!
Thank you to all of the volunteers who served on Thursday night. A special thanks to the many, many Boy Scouts and Scouters who volunteered to support a nearby Cub Scout Pack. That mutual support is paying off in new members. That support was key at College Park Elementary in its success. The new parents witnessed many khaki shirts, so they did not feel alone.
Don’t forget that new scouts are now using the BeAScout.org or JoinINscouts.org to sign up. Your Cubmaster and Scoutmaster need to be up to date on their registration so that they can log in and accept the new members. See this article for more information.
District Membership Chair Sharla Merrick continues to move recruitment forward and has great plans for fall Boy Scout Recruitment. So keep working on recruitment. Attend the District Committee meeting tomorrow so that you can help us.
REMINDER: District Committee and Commissioners’ Meeting Tomorrow
District Committee Meeting for September is tomorrow Thursday, September 1, 2016 at 7:00 pm at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N Meridian St, Room 705, Indianapolis, IN 46260.
All Unit Commissioners and Assistant District Commissioners, as members of the District Commissioner’s Staff, meet tomorrow night at 6:00 pm in the same building but Room 701. (Jeff Heck needs to leave a few minutes early, so we will hopefully “meet fast.”) Rechartering procedures and preparation will be a key topic.
Cub Scout and Boy Scout Roundtables will be NEXT WEEK on Thursday, September 8, 2016 at 6:30 pm at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260.
Update from Camporee Committee
Last Sunday the Camporee Committee met. Past Chair and Interim Chair Brian Crow presided. These are the documents that Brian sent out after the meeting:
- Willie Award Judging Criteria (note: decorating the campsite will not be part of the competition, but is optional for the troop)
- Gladiator Challenge Camporee (the source document from another council on which we are building our ideas).
Further notes from the meeting are forthcoming from Brian.
The patch is not done yet, but Brian gave a preview of Willie dressed as a Roman soldier. I was impressed.
The cost will be $10.00 per participant. For every 10 scouts, 1 adult will be free. Webelos who attend can get a patch for $5.00.
Troops are encouraged to register as soon as possible with estimated headcount. No payments are required online, but will be accepted. Payments are not due until arrival at the camporee with final headcount. (Registration will be online through the council’s website. As of this writing, the camporee is not yet posted on the district calendar.)
Events will be scored in the traditional manner of ranking each patrol from best score to least score and tallying the overall results. The top 10 finishers in each event will be announced to encourage participation and better information on competitiveness of the patrols. Medals will be awarded to the top 3 patrols (one medal given to the patrol medal for attachment to the patrol’s flag.)
The committee will meet again on Sunday, September 18, 2016.
All troops are asked to submit their event ideas to Brian Crow. In the case of duplication of ideas, the troop with the earliest date stamp on their email will have priority in using the idea. The troops can choose to score their event however they see fit, so long as the patrols are ranked by best to worst. Troops may award points for patrol building traits, such as patrol cheers and patrols flags that are not directly related to the event, if the troop so chooses.
Each patrol will be assigned a number. This will facilitate scoring and management of problems such as ever-changing patrol names. Winners will be announced by patrol names (as finally reported to Rick Aker).
Adult training for Introduction to Outdoor Leadership, BALOO, and OWL will be offered during the camporee. Members of the Willie Gillies (i.e., Wood Badge recipient in North Star District) are asked to volunteer to teach an hour-long segment of the course. Contact Jeff Heck to volunteer. (Del-Mi District Training Chair Ted Taylor has graciously offered to open their October 1st Scoutmaster Specific Training to North Star District.)
Youth Protection Training will be offered after the Scoutmaster/SPL meeting on Friday Night.
Congratulations to our August 2016 Eagle Scouts
Congratulations to our August Eagle Scouts.
| First Name | Last Name | Troop |
| William | Beyer | 73 |
| Calvin | Robinson | 804 |
| Alexander | Huffine | 343 |
| Lucas | Sadenwater | 343 |
Back to School Night plan
District Executive Con Sullivan, on behalf of District Membership Chair Sharla Merrick, issued the final Back to School Night plan yesterday. The big push is this Thursday night!
If you would like to see a copy of the plan, click here.
We have already had two back to school nights. Sign ups are noticeably higher.
Unit Commissioner Tom Sugar has run a Boy Talk at College Park Elementary. He reports that more than 140 boys expressed interest in Cub Scouts. And there is no Pack there!
If this trend continues, we could have a great year.
It is only possible to make the best impact with all packs, troops, and crews helping. Make sure your unit contributes to this potential for overwhelming success.
Contact Con Sullivan if you can help. We have minimum staffing in most locations at this point, but now we need staffing to show that we support the new families.
Invite to Troop 18’s 100 Years of Eagles Celebration
As we have been reporting over the past month (here and here), Troop 18 in North Star District had the first three Eagle Scouts in the old Indianapolis Council 100 years ago.
Troop 18 will be having their celebration this Saturday. All are invited to attend.
District Rocket Launch Announced
As part of this fall’s recruitment campaign, the new Cubs are offered an opportunity to launch their very own rocket.
Thanks to the hospitality of Pack 358, our district rocket launch will be Saturday, September 24, 2016 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Zionsville United Methodist Church, 9644 Whitestown Rd, Zionsville, IN 46077.
Why be a Scout Leader?
I have written many times about the value of scouting to the youth.
Bobwhite Blather has a great article about the value of scouting to the adult leaders. It is worth your attention.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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