A Scoutmaster's Blog

Boy Scouts have been doing skits since the dawn of the program. The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 sometimes do skits during courts of honor as a bit of entertainment for parents and family members. The old scoutmaster and the new Life Scout did just that during Troop 68’s June court court of honor. And they did not even practice it before the ceremony.

The Candy Store has been an old standby for decades in this area. I have seen several versions of it performed by dozens of Scouts and troop leaders. It is an easy skit to do, one that is mostly ad-libbed. Just be sure not to blow the punchline at the end.

How many times has your troop performed this skit. How many times have you seen it done during campfire programs? How well do you like it? Leave a comment and let us know how you feel about The Candy Store.

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The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 held their summer court of honor on Monday, June 27th. The recognition ceremony began at 7:00 pm at the Melrose City Hall. All ten members of the troop attended along with many of their family members.

The award presentations began with the Year Pins which are given to Boy Scouts on their yearly anniversary of joining the Scouting program. Noah received his One Year pin. A Five Year pin was presented to Thomas. Dakota received a Seven Year pin. Very few young men stay in Scouting long enough to receive a seven year pin.

Three Boy Scouts received the Tenderfoot rank, which is the first of the six ranks a Scouts may earn, with the rank of Eagle Scout being the highest. Alex, William, and Noah received the Tenderfoot rank with their parents standing proudly by their side.

Troop 68 surprised committee member Chris Massmann with a Community Service Award. Chris began her service to Scouting when her oldest son, Dakota, joined the Melrose Cub Scout Pack. She joined the pack committee and became the pack treasurer. When Dakota graduated into the Boy Scout troop, Chris moved with him and became a member of the troop committee and its treasurer. She has been with the local Scouting program for about ten years. Chris plans to retire from the troop committee in August when her son leaves the troop to attend college.

Congratulations to all the award recipients!

This week will be a busy week for this scoutmaster in central Minnesota. It begins with this year’s first court of honor which takes place tonight at the city hall meeting rooms. There are not many awards to present, but we do have two new Boy Scouts to recognize and one Scout will receive his Tenderfoot Rank. Our district executive will give the annual Friends of Scouting presentation.

The patrol leader council will meet Tuesday night to plan for the next month’s meetings and activities. We had elections in March so we will also have to work a little training into the meeting.

Cubmaster Chris and I may record a Leaders Campfire podcast this Wednesday. I really need to make another Around the Scouting Campfire show to post on Thursday. I was able to write a script for it last week but have not got together with Buttons yet to record it.

The court of honor for this troop’s nineteenth Eagle Scout will be held Saturday afternoon. The plans are complete. The guest speakers have been contacted. The guests have been invited. I have finished the slideshow of Dakota’s Scouting years but I still have to burn it to a dvd. I also need to write a short speech.

This is just a list of the Scouting related items on the agenda. I need to find time to get work done around the house, and eat the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies that have arrived.

I sat down with Dakota, the troop’s next Eagle Scout, this weekend to begin work on the slideshow presentation that will be shown at his court of honor next month. We quickly discovered this was not going to be as easy as past slideshows. In fact, it was going to take awhile to put this one together.

Dakota joined the troop about the same time that I switched to digital photography and left film behind. That means I have a lot more photographs of Dakota than any other Troop 68 Eagle Scout to date. In the past, I would have several dozen pictures to pick from. With Dakota, I had over 800! By the time we finished narrowing down the number we still had ninety pictures that would be good to use in the slideshow. Past slideshows only used 30-50 pictures. Previous slideshows were 3 to 5 minutes long. This one would be a lot longer if we were to use them all.

I left the final decision to Dakota. After all, it was his court of honor. He really did not want to drop any of the photos. Okay then, it was time to choose the music. I thought he would choose a couple country songs for the presentation but he surprised me when the first song he picked was a song by KISS, Rock And Roll All Nite. The second song he choose was Young, by Kenny Chesney. These two songs gave us nearly seven minutes, but since I like to transition the photographs to the beat of the songs I realized this would not be enough. We needed one more short tune. Dakota started looking through the song collection and surprised me one more time when he chose Bird is the Word, by The Trashmen.

Three completely different songs within one Eagle Scout slideshow presentation! I shook my head. I did not know how this was going to turn out but Dakota seemed to think it would provide a few laughs for the audience. I could not argue with that.

Over the next one couple hours, with Dakota sitting next to me, I began to edit the slideshow. It is finished except for the last picture, a photo of Dakota in his Scout uniform. I have to say, even though the presentation will be about ten minutes long, I think it is going to keep the audience’s attention. It will provide a few giggles.

Dakota has decided that only he and I will see the slideshow before the court of honor. Even his parents will have to wait. I hope everyone enjoys it. I plan to post it to the Melrose Scout Production Podcast next month, after the ceremony.

100 Days of Scouting: Day 27 .

I recently received an email from Greg Jameson asking me to review a new “widget” on his website that allows Scout leaders to create certificates for all kinds of functions, activities, and awards. I took a quick look at it, and to tell the truth. I was a bit impressed. The site includes a lot of options.

You begin with choosing a template, either vertical or horizontal. There is 48 horizontal options, and 40 vertical options. All of them look sharp. Next, you choose from 68 “gold seals” for your certificate, and then one of six colors of ribbons for the seal. In the fourth step you choose what will be printed on the final certificate. I did some quick math and discovered there are over 107,000 variations of the backgrounds, seal, ribbons, and ribbon locations. (88 x 68 x 6 x 3) Wow!

Now you just need some nice parchment on which to print the certificates, and wallah, you have a great looking presentation for your pack or troop. Give it a try and see what you think of it. I think Greg did a great job. You will find this resource at:
http://www.cyberbasetradingpost.com/docs/create-a-certificate1.cfm
.

Since I became the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68, I have had every Eagle Scout court of honor videotaped for our local cable television access station. This weekend I taped the seventeenth ceremony. It was a great court of honor. I am probably as proud as each of the parents when the Eagle Award is pinned onto the Scout’s uniform.

As the date approached for the tenth Eagle court of honor in 2002, I was getting a head start on producing the television program by preparing the opening titles. I was using several photographs I had taken of the Scout over the years and putting together a 60-90 second slideshow over which I planned to put the opening titles.

It was working out pretty well when I received a call from the Scout’s mother. She was concerned that one of the speakers would be arriving a few minutes late for the court of honor and what could be done to fill some time until he arrived. I looked at my computer screen and explained what I was working on, and then suggested that we could add more photographs and make it part of the ceremony. She thought that was an excellent idea. After she hung up she began looking for photographs from his Cub Scout years to add to the slideshow.

During the next week we were scanning photographs and trying to get this done in time for the court of honor. The date of the ceremony finally arrived, as did the speaker, right on time. Oh well, the slideshow was now part of the program so we showed it, and everyone loved it.

I have had to do a slideshow for each Eagle Scout since then. To tell the truth, I do not mind. The Scout, his parents and family, and the members of the audience have always enjoyed watching the shows. Everyone likes seeing how this young man has grown doing his Scouting years.

This weekend I attended the court of honor of my seventeenth Eagle Scout. (My Eagle Scout??) Mike helped with this slideshow, choosing the music and the pictures from my photo collection. His parents were not involved in the preparation of the slideshow. He wanted it to be a surprise to them. Everyone at the ceremony enjoyed the show, including his parents, and got a few chuckles from some of the photographs we included.

Mike has given me permission to share this video with you. I hope this will be an example of something you could add to your troop’s Eagle courts of honor, if you are not already doing it.

This video will not have the PTC media logo or the MSPP logo at the beginning of the video. I just did not feel comfortable adding them to an Eagle Scout video.

If you enjoy this video I would appreciate hearing from you. Do you do anything like this in your own troop? Drop me a line and let me know by emailing me at webmaster@melrosetroop68.org, or at the PTC Media forums, or by going to my iTunes feed. Thank you.

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I will be attending an Eagle Scout court of honor today. It is for the seventeenth Boy Scout to attain this rank since I became the scoutmaster of Troop 68 in 1981. Am I proud of this Scout? You bet I am, as I am proud of each of the young men of Troop 68 who have earned this recognition. I am looking forward to attending this ceremony.

One part of the ceremony that I always enjoy, that has been a part of many of the Eagle Scout courts of honor that I have attended, is when a young man (or two) who previously earned the rank comes forward to the podium and recites the Trail To The Eagle. Not only does it bring back memories for the new Eagle Scout, his friends, and his parents, but it also gives the rest of the audience a small idea what this Scout had to accomplish on the way to this lofty goal.

At this time, I would like to include the Trail To The Eagle as a part of this blog entry:

This is the trail to the Eagle, the Eagle whose heights you struggled to reach. We remember well when you first came to the base of the cliff, and how you looked up with ambition and determination. Look back for a moment, look back over the cliff you have climbed; look back at the experience you have encountered in your ascent. These experiences should not be forgotten, and you should profit by making sure that the adverse ones do not occur again. Experience is a valuable teacher if you heed its teachings.

We remember when you took your first step upon the trail that leads upward. With your first step, you began living the Scout Oath and Law. While you were on the trail, we watched you study and then we watched you learn by doing. First you were only a candidate, building yourself physically, mentally, and morally. Then your brother Scouts called you a Tenderfoot and they were right, you were indeed a Tenderfoot. But not for long, for soon you reached the first ledge where you were greeted by a group of Second Class Scouts. Some, like yourself, were stopping to catch their breath before continuing along the Eagle trail.

You began to study more, you worked harder, and almost before you knew it, you came to another ledge, the ledge where First Class Scouts dwell. There you found a tempting green meadow by a crystal clear stream, bathed by the sun. Here you were tempted to remain. Yes, you could have remained there to live in First Class glory, but your ambition stirred you on.

We remember your progress to Star Scout. You found the trail from First Class had been an optical illusion, not as difficult as it has seemed. This spurred you on, and again you climbed higher. Now the trail was steeper, it was less worn. Fewer Scouts seemed to be heading in your direction. You looked back and saw the crowds below you. You looked up and saw the few above you.

With the same determination with which you started your climb, you continued up the trail to the second peak, Life rank. The heart badge was then placed on your uniform. You will never forget the thoughts in your heart. It has been experienced by most Scouts on reaching the ledge of Life. “Now I am close to Eagle. I will carry on.” The trail became tougher, but more interesting. The original simple principles, the Scout Oath and Law, now had a fuller meaning. Your understanding of them was greater.

Yes, we have watched your character unfold and become manly. We have watched your leadership ability expand into a valuable asset. We have watched your mind develop and your wisdom increase. We have watched all of these things in you. Now that you are at the threshold of your goal, we welcome you. For you have done your climbing in a true Scout-like-manner. This is the trail to the Eagle.

The previous blog post explained the agenda of a Troop 68 court of honor. This agenda works well for us. However, we sometimes need to be flexible. Our September court of honor was a good example who things can change quickly.

One of our youngest and newest Boy Scouts, we’ll call him Duke, had worked hard to complete his Tenderfoot Rank requirements to receive the award at this court of honor. He was very excited about getting his first rank. During the course of working on his Tenderfoot he also almost completed his Second Class Rank.

When the day of the court of honor arrived Duke’s parents happened to be in the Twin Cities, one hundred miles away from Melrose. They called Duke to let him know that they would be a little late getting to the court of honor. Duke informed me of this as soon as he arrived at the city hall. He wanted his parents to be there with him when he received the award. I told him there would be no problem. We could rearrange the agenda a bit to push back the rank presentations.

We began the night with announcements which we usually do at the end of the ceremonies. That gave his parents about ten extra minutes to get closer to town. Then we began the opening ceremony. The honor guard brought the flags forward and we recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Unfortunately, the Scouts did not have a Scouting-related opening ready so we lost a few minutes there.

The award presentations began with the year pins, the recruiter patch, and the merit badges. Duke’s parents still had not arrived. No problem. It was time for some entertainment. Wait! The Scouts had forgotten to plan or practice a skit or song for this portion of the meeting. Now we have a problem. Wait! We could present the Progressive Scout Award and the Progressive Patrol Award.

Finally, all the awards had been given out except for Duke’s Tenderfoot Rank. I knew that Duke had really looked forward to his parents being there for the presentation. And I knew his parents wanted to be there. There was only one thing left to do. Break out the refreshments!

Duke’s parents arrived as we were drinking punch and eating the cookies. As we reconvened the court of honor they stood proudly next to their son as he received the first of his ranks on his way to attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Eagle Scout, you ask? Oh yes, I reply. Duke has two brothers who are Eagles. This eleven year old has already set his sites on soaring with the Eagles. I have no doubt that I will be attending his Eagle court of honor someday, with his parents standing proudly by his side again.