A Scoutmaster's Blog

The Boy Scouts of America offers a unique youth program. It has five distinct features that other clubs and organizations do not offer today’s youth. Granted, some clubs do offer one or two of these features, but no other youth organization offers all five of them.

What are these features that makes Scouting so special?

Scouting is a value based program. The B.S.A. asks boys to take an oath when they join, and then live up to that oath. Scouting teaches values, promotes good citizenship, and provides good adult role models. The program is diversified. It is not the same thing every day as some youth activities can be. In fact, Scouting compliments other organizations by providing program that they may be missing.

Developing leadership is another feature of Scouting. The boys plan their own troop program. They learn new things through hands-on experiences, not just by text book learning. They will receive the chance to be a leader by holding a position of responsibility in the troop. (Troop 68 holds elections every 6 months so many of its members will be given the chance to hold a troop or patrol office.)

Scouting is an educational program. Through the advancement program a boy will learn many new skills. Some of these will be just for fun, but many will help him later on in life. Subjects introduced through the merit badge program may help a boy discover a new life-long hobby or even a career choice. As he earns his merit badges and ranks he is recognized in front of his parents and peers for his accomplishments. This builds self esteem and helps him to develop a sense of pride.

Scouting encourages service to the community. An important part of Scouting is doing service for others. The Scout Slogan states that a Scout will “Do a Good Turn Daily”. Troops do countless hours of service conducting food drives, road and park cleanups, and conservation work, to name a few. By doing service a boy develops a pride in his community, a pride that will carry into adulthood.

Scouting can be a vehicle to bring families together. Many families find scouting to be a neutral topic, one in which parents and children can participate together. It offers parents a chance to spend ‘quality time’ with their sons. And the program is already there. All you have to do is participate.

The Scouting program does has its advantages. And families that participate in the program can attest that Scouting pays good dividends.

The other day I received my latest copy of Scouting Magazine. (For those of you unfamiliar with that publication, it is the B.S.A.’s official magazine for adult leaders of the Scouting program.) I have always enjoyed reading Scouting and often got a pointer or two from each issue. The cover of this latest edition caught my attention. I did not realize that it is the 100th anniversary of Scouting magazine, but the front cover announces it boldly to the whole world.

According to the Scouting magazine website:

How many magazines do you know that can say they’ve published for 100 years? As of April 2013, you can count Scouting magazine among them. For 100 years, we’ve published more than 900 issues — all with the same goal: serving the BSA’s adult leaders and volunteers.

To celebrate our centennial anniversary, we’ve partnered up with the University of North Texas Digital Projects Unit to digitize every single issue of Scouting that ever rolled off the press.

You can view the initial product from this partnership at scoutingmagazine.org/archives. Here, you’ll see scanned editions of magazines from as early as 1913 to the mid 1920s. Visitors can search these scans, zoom in to examine photographs and illustrations, and read stories that describe issues faced by early Scouters.

http://scoutingmagazine.org/2013/02/welcome-to-the-scouting-magazine-archives/

This got me thinking. I signed up as an assistant scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68 in May 1980. I have been receiving Scouting Magazine ever since then, for 33 years. That means I own one third of all the Scouting Magazines ever published. Yes, that is correct. I still have them. They are stored in a closet in the basement, along with 33 years of Boy’s Life Magazine. For some reason I never threw them away. A little weird, huh?

Congratulations to the folks at Scouting Magazine! May you have another 100 years worth of issues in your future.

I had a dandy dream this morning. I paid an “out of season” visit to the Buckskin Camp of Many Point Scout Camp to check in on the campsite Troop 68 has been using for a number of years. I was quite surprised to find the camp staff at the Seton campsite preparing to set up the new climbing towers. This shocked me! But I knew the camp was making improvements. After all, in real life a new Handicrafts Lodge and Nature Lodge had been built this year. Back to the dream, I decided to help the staff prep the site for the new towers. The campsite would actually be a decent site for the towers, more centrally located, but I had always thought the old site was a good place for the towers also. Oh well, our troop would have to move to a different campsite next year.

In the dream I left the campsite for a moment (it seems to be just a few minutes). When I came back not only where the two towers completed but other things had been added. There was a new course for gas-biking (?), and a short zip-line which ended at a new small manmade lake. And there was still more construction going on for other things. My first thought was that the Seton Campsite is not this big! (Typical for a dream, isn’t it?) My next thought was that they are turning summer camp into an amusement park. It is at this point that I woke up.

Needless to say, I was a little upset and confused when I woke up. Then I began thinking. I hope I never see a Boy Scout summer camp turn into an amusement park atmosphere. That would really kill the whole premise of the Scouting program. Valleyfair, Six Flags, and Disneyland are not good places to earn merit badges and learn life skills. This is one dream I do not want to see come true.

Today, for Youtube Tuesday, we are leaving the USA and the BSA. The UK Scout Association has produced a great video that does a great job of promoting Scouting and asking adults to volunteer in their local units. What I find fascinating is most of the information in the video could apply to the Boy Scouts of America. This video was uploaded in October 2010. Check it out and let me know what you think about it.

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100 Days of Scouting: Day 57.

Everyone knows the song by Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World.” It is a classic. Even young Boy Scouts are familiar with the tune. I have a feeling that the song will still be around during the next hundred years.

In August of 2009, a video was posted to YouTube  that featured Doug “Satchmo” Stone performing his unique Boy Scouts themed take on Armstrong’s classic. Doug was very active in Scouting and his council’s camp. His rendition of “What A Wonderful World” is fantastic.

I think you are going to enjoy it so it is this week’s featured video. It is a fitting way to recognize the half way point of this year’s 100 Days of Scouting. (8434)

100 Days of Scouting: Day 50.

Wow! I never expected to see something like this posted to Youtube by the BSA. But I think it is very well done. Welcome to Patrol Z, an action comic strip to promote the next Jamboree at The Summit. This video kicks off a program by the BSA to recruit Scouts with tech savvy skills. According to the Patrol Z website:

“WANTED:MULTIMEDIA, WEB-SAVVY SCOUTS

The Summit needs campfire stories. Digital ones. And we need you to tell them online. Scouts with skills – making videos, producing quality photos, writing blog posts. Designers and web developers, too.

We’re putting together a team. That’s Patrol Z.”

Do you have what it takes to be a member of Patrol Z? For more information check out the site at https://summit.scouting.org/en/PatrolZ/Pages/default.aspx
But in the meantime watch the video below. (As I write this the video has received 338 views.)

What do you think about this idea?

100 Days Of Scouting: Day 24

A few days ago I wrote about a full page ad in the weekly newspaper celebrating the anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and the local Scouting program. The spread featured pictures of the local Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. It was pretty impressive.

I received a copy of the Sauk Centre Herald yesterday. (That is the weekly newspaper in our neighboring town that is also owned by the same group as our Melrose Beacon.) I was quite surprised to see a two page ad about Boy Scouting in the center of the first section. The spread features photos of Sauk Centre Troop 25 and Pack 25, Brooten Troop 66, and BBE Pack 667. Sixteen businesses sponsored the ad. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture.

Does your local newspaper do something similar? Let us know about it by leaving a comment.

Note: The names of the boys have been deleted from the picture as per the Guide To Safe Scouting guidelines.

The Melrose Beacon, our local weekly newspaper, arrived in the mail today. I was pleasantly surprised to see a full page “ad” celebrating the anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America, along with pictures of the Melrose troop and pack. The spread included The Boy Scout Oath, the Cub Scout Promise, and the Law of The Pack. Information about our council and hot to join a pack or troop was also covered.

The Melrose Beacon was recently purchased by the same group that owns a local weekly newspaper in Sauk Centre, our neighboring city to the west. The Sauk Centre Herald has included a two page ad featuring the local troops and packs (including Melrose) for the last few years. This year our troop and pack were featured in our own community newspaper.

Boy Scout Troop 68 and Cub Scout Pack 68 would like to thank the Melrose Beacon and the local businesses who supported this week’s full page feature. The businesses were CAP Enterprises, Kraemer Lumber, Melrose VFW Club, Freeport State Bank, Stearns Electric Association, Loren Pundsack Collision Center, Spaeth Sodding and Nursery, Rahn’s Oil and Propane, Catholic Aid Association, Melrose Pharmacy, Diversicom, and Hennen Lumber Company.

Isn’t this a great story for 100 Days Of Scouting, Day 2?

Click on the picture to see a larger picture of the ad. The boys names have been removed in keeping with the B.S.A.’s Youth Protection policy.