Training
Foundation of “My Duty to . . . my Country”: 800 Years
Today, June 15, 2015 is the 800th anniversary of England’s Magna Carta or “Great Charter.” On this day, King John (of Robin Hood infamy) signed a promise in perpetuity to allow many rights. Many of these rights are enshrined in the American Bill of Rights.
White Stag National Youth Leadership Training slots still available
Attention Scoutmasters, Varsity Coaches and Crew Advisors! Space is still available for youth to attend National Youth Leadership Training / White Stag. Courses offered in June and July. NYLT is an exciting, action-packed program focused on developing your Scout’s leadership skills they can then use in your unit. Register a Scout today at the Council website.
Carolyn Small | Program Director – Special Initiatives
Scouting with the Handbook
“Do you have your handbook?” How many times at meetings have you asked this question?
As a passionate scouter, I enjoy the opportunity to interact with the scouts. As I sit to reflect about how to improve my skills, I often wonder if my passion is getting in the way of truly allowing the boys to play the game of scouting.
The story of the spread of scouting in the early 1900’s keeps coming to mind. There were two parts to the process: boys naturally grouping together in patrols to camp and play the game of scouting versus the adults trying to promote its spread for their own purposes. Each has furthered scouting.
District Training Status
One of the key duties of District is to encourage units to improve their programs in order to make the scouting more inviting to boys. BSA offers training for each position in order that adults can better understand the duties that they have accepted. Training is required for Rechartering.
Council records training records to be able to find out where training needs to be encouraged.
Among our units district wide, our training rate looks like this (if you are registered for more than one position, you can be trained and untrained simultaneously, appearing on this chart for each):
The pattern is clear. Units in Zionsville and northern Pike Township tend to have adult leader ship rates well over 50%. Moving toward the south and east, training rates plummet to the point where some units have no properly trained leaders.
Saturday’s “Ideal Year of Scouting”
Saturday is the annual training for “Ideal Year of Scouting.” Assistant Director of Field Services Darin Stendl reported at Roundtable last night that this is designed as an “open house.” This means that you can show up at the time that is convenient for you. There will be training sessions all morning and vendor booths available. These vendors will be happy to discuss what opportunities they have your youth.
The event takes place at Golden Burke Scout Service Center from 9 AM to 1 PM this Saturday.
This program is ideal for unit leaders, committee members, and the Patrol Leaders’ Council. Every unit should send a representative!
For more information, see the Crossroads of America Council website.
Go Away, Mosquitos!
USA Today has an interesting article about bug repellents. Good timing for camp!
What they seek:
Day says he is convinced it’s mostly about carbon dioxide: mosquitoes and ticks find their victims by detecting it and some of us produce more than others. That includes heavier people, pregnant women and exercisers. “The amount of carbon dioxide you produce depends on your metabolic rate,” he says.
What leads to CO2 production:
What you eat and drink may matter, Day and Bernier agree. Alcohol, in particular, seems to attract mosquitoes, they say. At least one study also suggested smokers were at higher risk – but probably because they spend so much time smoking outside, Day says.
What to use:
CDC says you want one that includes DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or a chemical called IR3535.
What to avoid:
• “Natural” repellent sprays made with plant oils, such as citronella, lemongrass, and rosemary.
Useful Camp Gadgets as Teaching Aid
As we arrive at our Ransburg campsite, the Firecrafter phrase “useful camp gadget” appears. For new scoutmasters, this seems to be a unique phrase. It is as mystical is the idea of “scoutmaster.”
In fact both of these phrases go back over a century. A scoutmaster is a reference to the 19th century word “master,” which was short for “school master.” The schoolmaster had a master’s degree, which gave him the authority to teach bachelor’s degree candidates. Baden Powell picked up on this notion of a master-as-a-teacher when he named “scoutmasters.” Simply this was a teacher of scouts. Scoutmasters were assumed to have deep knowledge of a particular area, scout craft. The biggest part of this was woodcraft.
Committee Planning Session
I look forward to planning with you on June 11th at St Luke’s UMC. This will be an opportunity for us to begin to gel as a team. North Star will once again rise to it’s #1 status in this council. What a great bunch of volunteers! GO NORTH STAR!
District Committee Planning Session June 11th
All members of North Star District Committee should attend Committee Planning Meeting.
To that goal, Vice President of District Operations Stroh Bronn and Director of Field Services Rob Hemmelgarn will be leading this session on the evening of June 11th. The session will be held at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Room N101 (the same room as the May District Committee Meeting). The class will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Cub Scouts for kindergarteners?
One of my son’s fellow Cub Scouts had a father a bit older than me. The father still had his Cub Scout shirt from the 1960’s with the Lion Cub Rank. This was the predecessor to the Arrow of Light and Webelos program. Webelos originally meant “Wolf, Bear, Lion: WBLs.”
In 1971, our current program started with the Tigers phased in the 1980’s.
Now BSA is pilot testing a reintroduction of the Lion rank. Instead of the highest rank, Lion would be a new rank for kindergarteners, similar to the Girl Scouts’ Daisies. Minnesota’s Northern Star Council was first. It has now expanded to the Garden State Council and Western Massachusetts Council.
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