Programming
ScoutmasterCG: Top 10 Ways to Frustrate Youth Leaders
It is time again for our monthly weekly homage to Clarke Green at ScoutmasterCG.
Clarke, a thirty-year veteran as a scoutmaster, points out 10 ways to frustrate your youth leaders. While Clarke’s articles always have their sweet spot for the boy scout program and higher, I contend that many of these lessons need to be learned by our Cub Scout Leaders, too. Even more so, we often commit the same errors at home with our own children.
I would be fascinated to hear from readers in the comment section below or on Facebook about their thoughts on this article. (Remember to comment, you must have a Word Press or affiliated user name. Comments are moderate for spam, germaneness, and compliance with the Scout Oath and Law.)
So do any of you have personal stories where you violated one of these 10 pointers? What did you learn from the experience? How do you handle similar situations now?
While you are looking at Clarke’s site, make sure to check out his latest book So Far So Good (print or audio). It is the story of a new Scoutmaster learning the ropes as he works with the scouts. While it focuses on boy scouts, Cub Scout leaders can learn, too. They can learn how to teach without being classroom teachers. They can learn more about the goals the Cubs will be attempting to achieve in Boy Scouts, so that the Pack is better preparation for things to come. The Cub Leader can learn how better to explain scouting to new parents, increasing parental involvement and scout retention through better understanding.
Just don’t frustrate your youth unnecessarily!
Memorial Day Honoring Late Servicemembers
North Star District through historic relationships between its Zionsville units and the Zionsville American Legion Post and between some of its Washington Township units and Post #3 of the American Legion (where OA and Firecrafter monthly meetings are held) have honored deceased service members for years.
This year, the District and Troop 56 are working on adding American Legion Post #153 (54th St and Keystone area) to the Posts that we serve.
If your unit is not currently helping to place flags on deceased service members graves in the month of May, in preparation for Memorial Day, please contact Jeff Heck to work with one of these posts.
This is a very important service. As Jerry Gould, a Korean War veteran, explained on Monday night, each post is especially responsible for placing flags on the graves of their deceased members. Unfortunately their membership is aging and can no longer provide the service adequately by themselves. They need the scouts and scouting families to provide the manpower.
Please help with this important Duty to Country task.
The posts have different methods for handling this. Some work on a scheduled basis. Other posts schedule around the scout units’ schedules. We can help direct you to the post that best fits your unit’s needs.
Recruitment: Task #1 – Community Event Calendar
Last year in recruitment, we were late in starting to plan due to the administrative state of the district. Now we are starting planning for the August 2016 recruitment campaign. We need your help quickly.
District Vice-Chair for Membership Sharla Merrick and District Executive Con Sullivan are working hard right now to develop a detailed district recruitment plan to support your units‘ recruitment plans.
Part of this planning requires gathering data. Since we are a large group of talented and dedicated scouters with different perspectives, we are hoping to pool information about recruitment opportunities. We think you have the data. Let me illustrate what we are trying to do.
For example, last year, Con Sullivan reached out to his one of his counterparts in Girl Scouts of Central Indiana Tashianna Avery to discuss her recruitment efforts. (Tashianna has worked with Con and me on several projects and has become a valued colleague.) Tashianna shared with Con several of the community events that she was participating in and invited North Star District to come alongside. One of these was the St Luke’s United Methodist Church Backpack Attack. As a result of networking with Tashianna, we gathered a list of over 50 prospective members of North Star District.
While we did not do a good job of converting these prospects last year, we know that we can develop prospect lists easily at community events. In fact the BSA literature on recruitment emphasizes the importance of these types of events for exposure to the community, relationship building, and identifying prospects. It can serve as more than one of the necessary “7 Contacts” to recruit a new scout.
Sharla and Con want to build on this lesson learned. We would like to find as many events in the communities surrounding our units as possible. Then we will prioritize the events with the greatest likelihood of helping us develop prospect lists and community relationships.
Some of these events will naturally staffed by the home unit. For example, Pack 35 and Troop 35 at St Joan of Arc Catholic will naturally want to staff their parish’s French Market in September, if there is a booth there. Even so, we would like to have it on the district list to help develop a district-wide view of recruiting. The hope is we will minimize the number of good opportunities to make scouting connections.
If you have community events, please contact Sharla Merrick or Con Sullivan through your Membership Coordinator or Committee Chair.
Also don’t forget the Cook Out on the Circle on June 16th as a way to contribute to a Council-wide marketing effort. Many of your best prospective volunteers or families work downtown. Your unit’s presence can generate surprising results.
OA Ordeal Weekend May 13-15
From OA Advisor John Ruggles:
Arrowmen,
Whether you are a Brotherhood candidate or a general member, we would love to see you at Ordeal weekend in two weeks (May 13 – 15 at Camp Kikthawenund).Attached are the registration forms and letters. If you plan to come, please follow the instructions in the letters.Hope to see you there.John RugglesChapter Advisor317-201-1851
Presidential Service Award
While becoming an Eagle Scout is one of the highest honors a boy can obtain, there are others out there.
Recently a mother in our troop introduced me to the Presidential Service Award. I was not familiar with it. The award requires a non-profit sponsor the youth. I passed the question to Con, and he was able to confirm that the Crossroads of America Council is a sponsor of the award.
If you, as a Scoutmaster, have a scout who is interested in pursuing this award, please contact our District Executive Con Sullivan or your Unit Commissioner (if no unit commissioner is assigned to you, please contact District Commissioner Jeff Heck). They will each have the code that you need.
District Pinewood Derby Winners
On Saturday, April 16, 2016, the District held its annual district-wide Pinewood Derby.
Congratulations to the winners!
- Jacob Dennis, formerly of Pack 18, now Troop 18.
- Jackson Herbold, Pack 105.
- Jack Jent, Pack 35.
District Appreciation Dinner Thursday
Are you planning to attend the District Appreciation Dinner this Thursday at 6:30 pm?
You should.
It is at St Alphonsius Roman Catholic Church, Zionsville at 6:30 pm.
Make your reservations at www.crossroadsbsa.org.
See you there!
Prototype Unit Handbook: Request for pack and troop forms
I am beginning a project that I want to complete by May 30th. I am looking to design a prototype of a new parent handbook.
I am asking for your help.
First I am asking each unit to email me a copy of their current handbook, annual calendar and handout on costs of membership by May 5th. We will use these as sources of best practices. Documents in a word processing file are preferred.
Second, I am looking for a panel of editors to assist in assessing the result and focusing on simplification and clarity.
Some of the concepts I will be building come from Scouting Magazine’s article last spring. They had to be more generic nationally. Ideally we as a district can put in more specifics in a prototype.
May 1st Firecrafters to Train Units in Flag Retirement
Spring Camporee Success. The Firecrafters of the North Star Ember would like to extend a warm thank you to all the troops who came out and participated in the Spring Camporee. One of the goals of our organization is to encourage continued participation by our youth in camping, outdoor activities, and Scouting. The activities and fellowship promoted at district camporees is a great opportunity that benefits these goals.
Importance of Scouts in Flag Retirement. At the evening campfire, we were excited to be given the opportunity to perform a flag retirement ceremony. The Boy Scouts is one of the largest organizations that gives communities opportunities to have worn American Flags properly retired. Organizations that also offer this service include the American Legion Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and other civic associations. Using flags donated by the Broad Ripple American Legion, one of our service projects for the year will be a flag retirement this Sunday, May 1st.
Invitation to Units and Scouts. We would like to invite Scouting members of the North Star District to attend. We will not just be retiring flags, but also answering any questions you have about proper flag retirement. This may be of great value to upcoming Firecrafter candidates, if they want to include a flag retirement as part of the candidate campfire. One of our goals in carrying out this service project is educating you in this area. We hope to improve your confidence so that in the future, you might consider conducting a retirement as a troop service project or include in your troop ceremonies.
Where: Second Presbyterian Church
7700 N. Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46260
(fire ring in picnic area at north end of the parking lot)
When: Sunday, May 1, 2016
Time: 1:00-2:00 PM
What: North Star Firecrafter Flag Retirement Seminar
The weather for Sunday is not predicted to be as beautiful as the camporee weather. In the event it is raining between 1:00 and 2:00, the meeting will be at the Broad Ripple American Legion Post #3 at 6379 N College Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46220. We will still have a mock retirement and answer questions from an inside location.
Jacob Danek
North Star Ember Chief
Greg Hoyes
North Star Ember Advisor
Winners at Spring 2016 Camporee
Polaris Award:
Troop 586, Patrol Drumstick.
Willie Award:
Troop 269.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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