A Scoutmaster's Blog

The PLC Meeting.

The patrol leader council held their monthly meeting today to review April and plan for May’s meetings and activities. Although they did get sidetracked a few times, they were able to plan next month’s meetings and service project.

There was one thing that came up that I was disappointed to hear. The program, menu, and duty roster for this weekend’s camping trip had not been planned yet, and more Scouts decided they would like to attend the outing, even though they should have been registered two weeks ago.

It looks like we may have to postpone the camping trip one week to get everything planned out at next Monday’s troop meeting. Luckily, it is a local campout held on some nearby private land.

This week’s YouTube Tuesday video comes from the Circle Ten Council of the B.S.A. It features Boy Scout Denzel Long. He talks about how the Boy Scouts have helped him raise his life to a whole new level. I liked the video, and I think you will also.

Around The Scouting Campfire #22 is finally released. In this episode, Scoutmaster Steve talks about the Scoutmaster Award of Merit and a scout leader’s reality check. Buttons answers questions from a few Cub Scouts from out west. Buttons also reads some feedback left on the PTC Media forums about his awesome pictures from summer camp.

Send us your emails. Steve and Buttons would love to hear from you. What do you think about the show. Do you have any suggestions? You can contact Buttons at buttonst68@yahoo.com. You may contact Scoutmaster Steve at stevejb68@yahoo.com. Please rate the show and/or leave a comment at the iTunes store.

You can also follow the hosts on Twitter at twitter.com/stevejb68 or twitter.com/buttonst68 .

In 1989, five women who were involved with the Scouting program in Melrose, met at the local community access television studio to do a talk show about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting in Melrose. The show was titled The Women Of Scouting. It was broadcast several times over the years, usually during Boy Scout anniversary week in the first part of February. This program has been broken down into five parts for use on this podcast.

In this final part of the show, Ann B., Clara N., Patty D., and Betty S., discuss Philmont Scout Ranch, and share their memories and feelings about the Scouting program, and what it has meant to them, their boys, and their families.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast
or watch it at MSPP channel at PTC Media.

Subscribe to Melrose Scout Productions Podcast through iTunes (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Leave feedback at iTunes or on the forums at PTC Media.

One goal of the program of the Boy Scouts of America is to provide leadership training to the youth of a troop. This occurs through troop meetings, patrol leader council meetings, weekend sessions, conferences, and the National Youth Leadership course.

Troop 68 holds elections every six months for the offices of patrol leader and senior patrol leader, in March and September. These leaders than appoint the other troop and patrol leadership. Ideally, I like to hold an afternoon training session after an election. This has not worked out for the last year because of scheduling conflicts.

The troop’s theme for this month’s program was scheduled to be “Laughs For Lunch”. We had planned to practice songs and skits for a community campfire style program. (See post about Laughs For Lunch HERE.) Unfortunately, due to a small troop roster and some high school sport conflicts, we had to drop the Laughs For Lunch theme. The patrol leader council decided to use this month’s meetings for leadership training. We would break down the afternoon training session into three parts for our January meetings.

The first of these meetings was held last night. Six of the eight troop members attended, four of who had never taken part in a youth training program. We watched the first portion of the video which covered styles of leadership training, sharing leadership, communications, and knowing the skills of your team members. The game activities helped to demonstrate these leadership points.

The meeting went well. The boys seemed to enjoy the session and even picked up a few leadership points. I hope next week goes just as well.

The Board of Review. Terrifying to the new Tenderfoot Scout. Confusing to the new committee member. How does the Scout prepare? What are the board members supposed to cover and ask?

I have been scoutmaster long enough to see a lot of people come and go on the committee. Many times the new committee members are confused when it comes to serving on their first board of review. I usually let the more experienced committee members instruct the newer ones about what to do or say. However, during the past 25 years I saw they could use a suggestions or two, so I made a Board of Review sheet for them to use during the BOR. It seems to have helped them quite a bit during the years. In fact, I think newer members now think it is a sheet required to be filled out during a BOR. I have to correct them that it is a sheet of suggestions to cover for our own troop use, it is not a national requirement form.

So, what does the sheet have on it? It has seven areas I suggest the BOR to talk about with the Scout.

Participation. How has the Scout been doing with attendance at meetings, outings and fundraisers? If he has not been showing up for functions then it is time for them to ask about the reasons behind the poor attendance. Many times the Scout has valid reasons, but sometimes he does not. Sometimes the board will discover things that the scoutmaster does not know about. It is also a good time to praise the Scout who has a great attendance record.

Scout Spirit and ideals. Does the Scout know the Scout Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan? Does he know what they mean? Does he try to live by them? Of course, the board members better know and understand these oaths themselves or it may look awkward if the Scout catches them in a mistake of understanding.

Merit badges and advancement. First of all, this is not a re-test of the badges! My suggestion is to ask which merit badges were fun to earn and why? Which ones were difficult? Did he find any of the skills learned while earning the badges to be useful in everyday life? Keep the questions about general topics.

Service Projects. Did he participate in the troop’s service projects and/or help out with other troop members Eagle projects? What were the purpose of the projects? Did he learn anything while doing them?

Leadership. What position of leadership did he hold in the troop since the last board of review? Was it difficult or easy? What type of leader was he? What were his duties? Did he do them well? Most of the time the BOR members really don’t know much about how the Scout did with a leadership position because the members do not regularly attend troop meetings and outings. However, they should ask the Scout questions, and also talk with the scoutmaster before the BOR.

Religious principles. Of course, a Scout must have a belief in God. How does he practice his faith? What does he believe is his duty to God? We have to be careful with this topic because there are Scouts of many different religions. We don’t want to make the Scout feel uncomfortable with the wrong questions. However, I think we do need to touch on this subject and not ignore it as if it is unimportant.

Goals. Everyone needs goals. What goals has the Scout set for himself, both in and out of Scouting? Does he have a goal to complete his next rank? Does he have leadership goals? Is there a goal to attend a high adventure base and a national jamboree? Does he have any goals in school? How does he intend to meet those goals?

Of course, the BOR members can bring up other subjects also. But these few areas cover a lot of territory. If asked correctly, they can begin a great dialog between the board and the Scout.

A copy of this form can be found on our troop’s website at:
http://melrosetroop68.org/advancement.html
Leave a comment if you have any other suggestions that you think would be good topics for a board of review to cover.

In 1989, five women who were involved with the Scouting program in Melrose, met at the local community access television studio to do a talk show about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting in Melrose. The show was titled The Women Of Scouting. It was broadcast several times over the years, usually during Boy Scout anniversary week in the first part of February. This program has been broken down into five parts for use on this podcast.

Part four of this five part series features Betty S. who is the mother of three boys who went through the Cub Scout program and graduated into the Boy Scout program. Betty was a pack committee member and very active in the Cub Scout Pack. She graduated with her older son when he became a Boy Scout and joined the troop committee as the treasurer. Betty was on the committee for about ten years. She and her family were very supportive of the Scouting program.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.

Subscribe to Melrose Scout Productions Podcast through iTunes (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Leave feedback at the forums at PTC Media.

In 1989, several women who were involved with the Scouting program in Melrose, met at the local community access television studio to do a talk show about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting in Melrose. The show was titled The Women Of Scouting. It was broadcast several times over the years, usually during Boy Scout anniversary week in the first part of February. This program has been broken down into five parts for use on this podcast.

Part three of this five part series features Clara N. who is the mother of a boy who went through the Cub Scout program and graduated into the Boy Scout program. Clara was a pack committee member and very active in the Cub Scout Pack. She graduated with her son when he became a Boy Scout and joined the troop committee. Her son went on to become an Eagle Scout. When you watch the video you will see her enthusiasm for the Scouting program.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.

Subscribe to Melrose Scout Productions Podcast through iTunes (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Leave feedback at the forums at PTC Media.