A Scoutmaster's Blog

I recently went on vacation to the four Disney them parks in Florida. The family and I had a lot of fun and rode a lot of the rides. Now that I am getting back into the Scouting mode, I began thinking about how some leadership styles within packs and troops is similar to some of those rides. Here are a few examples of what I mean.

Some adult leaders are like the Dumbo ride at the Magic Kingdom. I am not saying they are dumb, but that they like to take things slow and easy. They don’t like too much excitement but they do like to have a little fun. They do not like to rock the boat. They like to keep things running along smoothly.

Some leaders are like the Hollywood Studios’ Tower of Terror ride. They start out with a lot of enthusiasm, rise to great heights, but then fall quickly, only to rise again, and fall again. They are somewhat unpredictable. You are never sure how they will do at their assigned tasks.

Some leaders are like the Mount Everest ride at the Animal Kingdom. They start out slow, gaining momentum, and do great work. But then they stop and change direction, go backwards for awhile, before changing direction a second time and really charging forward in a position in which they thrive and enjoy.

Some leaders are like the Aerosmith Rock ‘N Roll Rollercoaster at Hollywood Studios. They hesitate a moment before excepting a leadership role, but when they do they charge into it fast and furious. They enjoy the thrills of leadership and pour their heart and soul into it until it is time to move on to something else. Chances are that they will get right back into the program in a new position with the same enthusiasm. They enjoy the Scouting ride and want to continue it for as long as they are able.

Of course, there are more styles of leadership then Disney has rides. Which ride are you?

Whether you like it or not, I am back! I have not posted for awhile because I have been on vacation for the last week. My parents, my brother and his family, and myself all went to Florida to visit Mickey and friends at Disney World. We also swam with the dolphins at Discovery Cove, and watched the killer whale show at SeaWorld. It was a great, but very busy trip.

It is also great to be back home. Time to get back to a regular retinue. Time to get back to work. Time to get back into Scouting, this blog, and the podcasts. Before I left, I began work on the next podcast video which will feature that rascal Buttons being asked questions by a few Cub Scouts. Unfortunately, you probably will not see it until next month because I am working on making albums and dvd’s of the pictures and video taken while on vacation. Family comes first, you know.

Next month, March, I plan to get back into the regular blogging and podcast schedule. Stay tuned.

The Sauk Centre Herald is a weekly newspaper published in the city of Sauk Centre, which is the first town to the west of Melrose, the city I call home. The Herald is one of three local newspapers that does a good job of supporting the local Scout troops and packs.

A few years ago I recieved a phone call from one of the Herald staff asking for a picture of the troop. They were planning on doing a full page spread in the issue coming out during Scout week to recognize the area Scout units, and wanted to include pictures of the Scouts and leaders. I was quite impressed when I saw the issue a few weeks later.

Last December I was contacted by Robin who works for the Herald. The paper was planning on doing their yearly Scout tribute again for the first week of February and needed a new group photo. Luckily, she contacted me just before the troop’s December court of honor so I was able to get a current group photo.

When the issue arrived on the newsstand I was quick to pick up a copy. Once again, I was very impressed with the job done by the Sauk Centre Herald staff. It was two full pages featuring photographs of troops and packs from four local communities. And it was in full color. And it had other Scouting information included, like the Scout Law and the vision of Scouting.

I told Robin about this blog and asked if it would be alright to share the two page spread with my readers. She was happy to ablige and emailed the full size pdf files to me. After taking the names of the Scouts off the pages (online youth protection, you know) and resizing the pages a bit, I have up loaded them to the troop’s website. Click a link and take a look. See if you do not agree that the Sauk Centre Herald did a great job.

Page 1 (Boy Scouts)
Page 2 (Cub Scouts)

Wouldn’t it be great if all local communities did something like this for Scout Week?

The Boy Scouts of America celebrated its 99th anniversary on Sunday, February 8. That is a lot of advancement being earned, service projects being done, and boys learning about being physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. I still believe that Scouting is one of the best organizations that a boy and young man can belong to, and I dislike it when a political group decides to step on the principles of Scouting to further its own cause.

That is why when I discover an article about the positive aspects of the Scouting program I like to pass it along for you to read. One of the people I follow in Twitter, DavidTCopeland, recently posted a link to an article found in the Desert Valley Times. The article is written by David Bye, who was a Scout himself as a youth. He writes his article about the good in Scouting, and how things could be in society if more people had been a Scout as a youth. He writes:

“When Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts movements in the early 1900s, it was his aim “is to develop among boys a power of sympathizing with others, and a spirit of self-sacrifice and patriotism.”

Baden-Powell envisioned a standard of exemplary conduct that included respect for all, without regard to class distinction. “Everything on two legs that calls itself a boy has God in him,” he wrote, “although he may — through the artificial environment of modern civilization — be the most errant little thief, liar, and filth-monger unhung. Our job is to give him a chance.”

He was a little ahead of his time. The Fourth Scout Law was a powerful challenge to the racism and British snobbery of the time: “A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other Scout, no matter to what country, class or creed, the other may belong.” That such a clear standard of equality and tolerance has sometimes been followed imperfectly does not negate the ideal.”

I invite you to read the whole article at http://www.dvtnv.com/ (under dvt opinion) and leave a comment. I think that we who appreciate what the Scouting program has to offer need to do want we can to support articles like this one.

Update: Another Twitterer, LatterDay_Scout, has posted an about an article of a cross country tour celebrating 100 years of the BSA. This looks like something that would be worthwhile checking out. Check out the article at
http://www.freep.com/article/20090203/FEATURES01/902030306/Michiganders+to+celebrate+100+years+of+Boy+Scouting

Way back in 1988, I began video taping Boy Scout courts of honor and troop activities to create programs to air on our local community access television station, Mel-TV, and thus promote Scouting in the community. These shows were recorded with a large hand-held camcorder that used VHS tapes, which should have a 10-20 lifespan. A few years ago I switched to using a digital camcorder with mini-dv tapes. I now edit on a computer and print the programs to dvd-r’s, which should have a 40 year or more lifespan.

Back to those vhs tapes. I have a goal to transfer many of those old tapes sitting at the studio to dvd’s. I have already “saved” a couple dozen programs. Alas, I am too late to save some of them. A couple of the early slideshows were so bad in video quality I could only save the sound, and had to re-edit nearly the whole video which gave me the opportunity to add more pictures to the program. A few tapes have deteriorated so badly that the sound and video are beyond using. Unfortunately, this includes an Eagle court of honor and at least one troop Laughs For Lunch Show.

Are dvd-r’s the answer to archiving the programs? It depends on who you talk to. I have been using dvd’s rated to have a lifespan of at least 40 years. But a lot depends on the manufacturing process. Some of the cheap dvd’s may only last for several years before they begin to deteriorate.

Then comes the next problem. I can place the shows on a dvd, but will dvd technology still be reverent in another ten or twenty years? The world of electronics is constantly changing. For example, look at the world of music that has gone from LP albums, to 8-tracks, to cassette tapes, to compact disc, to the current digital formats.

I currently save a video program as a Quicktime file on my computer and back it up to an external hard drive. This is in addition to making several copies of the playable dvd-r to hand out to family or troop members. As the formats change in the future I hope to update these files. Well, at least for the next 30 years or so. After that, it will be someone else’s responsibility if they want these programs’ lives to be extended.

It is the beginning of the month, and that means that I am late with this and that it is time for another ten questions from the 1984 Scout Mania trivia book. The theme this month is “People and Places”. Keep in mind though, these questions are based on the 1984 Boy Scouts of America Scout Handbook. Are you ready to begin?

(Question answers will be written at the bottom of this post, and are from the Scout Mania book. No cheating is allowed, after all, you are a Boy Scout or Scout leader, correct?)

1) What is a “sunshine Scout”?

2) What is the name of the group that plans all troop activities?

3) What are the two things a Scout always leaves behind when breaking camp?

4) Which Scouting Unit has squads and teams instead of patrols and troops?

5) Where did the canoe come from?

6) Who is the adult leader of a Scout Troop?

7) Where is the USS Arizona monument?

8) Who wrote the USA’s national anthem? When?

9) How old was Joseph Lane when he created Boy’s Life magazine?

10) What is a Boy Scout or Explorer called who assists a Cub Scout Den?

Okay, do you have you answers chosen?
Are you ready for the correct answers according to the 1984 Scout Mania Trivia book?
Here they are….

1) A Scout who only shows up when the sun shines or when he feels like it.
2) The patrol leader’s council.
3) A campsite in better shape than he found it. His thanks to those who made the camp possible.
4) Varsity Scouting.
5) The American Indians (Native Americans)
6) The scoutmaster.
7) At Pearl Harbor.
8) Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814.
9) 18 years old
10) A den chief.

Did you do well? Stay tuned for more trivia in future postings.

It is time for the scoutmaster conference for the Boy Scout’s latest rank advancement. We sit down and review his progress. When we get to Scout Spirit I ask him to repeat the Scout Oath or the Scout Law. The Scout suddenly looks confused. Confusion slowly becomes panic. He has become so nervous he can not remember which one is which.

If you are a scoutmaster I am sure you have had this happen once or a dozen times. When this happens we do our best to calm the Scout, put him at ease, and help them remember. They usually know it but just can’t remember it at that moment.

Over the years I have come up with a little trick to help some boys remember which one is the Oath and which one is the Law. The word Oath begins with the letter O. The first word of the Scout Oath is On, which also begins with the letter O. The Law has an A as it’s only vowel. The Scout Law begins with “A Scout is…” This seems to work well with some of the boys. It gives them a reference point.

Learning the twelve points of the Scout Law can be very challenging to a new young Scout. There may even be some words in there that the boy is not familiar with using. I have found that some boys learn the points easier when they lean them in groups of three: trustworthy, loyal, helpful – friendly, courteous, kind – and so on. Of course after reciting it for a year during troop meetings they usually do not have a problem.

The Scout Motto only has two words, Be Prepared. The word Motto has two syllables, two O’s, and two T’s. Coincidence? I think not! If a Scout remembers that the Outdoor Code has the four C’s (clean, careful, considerate, and conservation) he can usually remember them all, albeit maybe not in the right order.

So, there are my helpful hints for the day. Will they work for your Scouts? I do not know. But they have worked well for mine.

The CNNMoney.com site has a quiz titled “Are you smarter then a Boy Scout?” It has ten questions about finances based on the personal management merit badge. I gotta tell you, a couple questions could be a little tough. I just took the quiz for the fun of it, and was doing well until the tenth question. I did not take the time to think it through and got that one wrong. My final score was nine out of ten correct.

Take the test yourself and see how well you know your stuff. It can be found at
http://money.cnn.com/quizzes/2009/moneymag/boy_scout/index.html
Post your score here so I can see if I am smarter then you.