Author: Frank

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Scout camping: Three essential elements

tents_at_scouting_camp_250A couple months ago, we wrote about just what constitutes a Scout campout. Scout camping, as you’re aware, is different from ordinary-folks camping because it aims to fulfill a purpose besides recreation and just getting outside. Scout camping is where the values of Scouting come to life and is the end result of a month’s worth of planning and preparation by our Scouts.

In one of his recent podcasts, Clarke Green crystallized the concept of whether a particular activity qualifies as an appropriate Scout campout. Clarke gives three essential elements that must be present in order to be a Scouting activity and not just a weekend in the woods. They are: Continue reading “Scout camping: Three essential elements”

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Cub Scouting’s New Beginning

tigerwolf_250Today is June 1, 2015 – a date that a lot of Scouters have been anticipating, either with excitement or dread. It’s the day on which the biggest overhaul of the Cub Scouting program in recent memory takes place.

The rollout of the Cub Scout Adventure Program, an outcome of the 2011 strategtic plan, includes many features intended to increase interest, engagement and retention for the Scouts as well as make life easier for the adult leaders. By condensing the myriad requirement complexities of the various den-level programs into a common, more easily understood structure of Adventures, it’s hoped that planning den and pack meetings will be streamlined (giving you back one of those one-a-week hours that seem to mysteriously multiply). It makes things clearer for the parents as well – and hopefully a lot more fun for the boys we serve.

As with any well-run activity, though, you can’t just drop in unprepared and run an interesting and engaging den or pack meeting. Continue reading “Cub Scouting’s New Beginning”

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Scouting and Amateur Radio meet at Dayton

RadioScouting250Last week I attended the Dayton Hamvention®, the largest annual gathering of Amateur Radio operators in the world. Amateur, or “ham”, radio and Scouting grew up almost in parallel at roughly the same time. Scouting just observed its hundredth anniversary a few years ago, while radio as a hobby started gaining in popularity in the early nineteen-teens. The American Radio Relay League, the national association for ham radio in the US, was founded in 1914.

Almost from the very beginning, Scouting and radio have gone hand in hand. Continue reading “Scouting and Amateur Radio meet at Dayton”

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Do the right stuff on the front end

HansomCabLeaders are often responsible for seeing that those who they lead deliver results, and it’s no different in Scouting.

Our youth leaders must work together to achieve common goals. The leaders that the Scouts elect are directly responsible for not only the welfare of those who elected them, but for seeing that everyone does what’s expected of him.

On the committee, we also have expectations. Continue reading “Do the right stuff on the front end”