Category: Bobwhite’s Blog

Bobwhite’s Blog – my personal thoughts on Scouting

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Thank you committee chairs!

University of ScoutingWe had a successful University of Scouting training event in our field-service council¹ yesterday. Every other year, two of our field-service councils conduct a University of Scouting. Attendance was up, by my observation, and there was much good solid information passed along to and shared among the Scouters who attended.

My class was Strictly for Troop Committee Chairs and indeed it was almost entirely committee chairs among the dozen or so who attended. We had a lively discussion centered around the topics the people in the class most wanted to talk about. Continue reading “Thank you committee chairs!”

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Woods Wisdom: The Next Generation

Program-Features-cover_200How does your troop program planning go?

Some troops take last year’s calendar and just copy it, doing the same things each month. Others get together, rack their brains to think of new things to do but generally keep some key activities from year to year and rotate a couple other activities in and out. But a troop that keeps and holds the interest and involvement of the youth is one that plans a variety of things at troop meetings and on monthly campouts.

In participating in boards of review over the years, one of the things I heard most often is that the program is stale and boring, and this was borne out by attendance and participation levels. Continue reading “Woods Wisdom: The Next Generation”

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A future Scout?

trashsign_200Waiting at the mall for a table at a restaurant last week, I saw a young boy, probably three years old, spot a piece of paper on the floor.

Very matter-of-factly, he walked over and picked up the paper. He was already headed toward the trash can when his mother cautioned him that he shouldn’t pick it up.

But the boy was determined to throw away that piece of paper. Continue reading “A future Scout?”

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A new resource for merit badge counselors

compassThe end of 2014 brings with it a new resource for the often “hidden” Scouter – merit badge counselors.

MBCs tend to escape our notice sometimes because many are not regular Scouters. There’s no requirement that a MBC be registered in a unit. Anyone over the age of eighteen with the requisite experience in the subject matter (and youth protection training, of course) can be a merit badge counselor. Since it’s a no-fee registration, MBCs don’t receive Scouting Magazine unless they subscribe and pay for it, or are registered in a paid position.

Now, the Merit Badge Maintenance Task Force, part of the National Advancement Team has begun publication of a quarterly newsletter just for MBCs, Continue reading “A new resource for merit badge counselors”

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Drafted!

University of ScoutingI got a draft notice last night.

Well, sort of. Our council’s Dean of Boy Scouts for University of Scouting e-mailed me to ask if I could teach the Strictly for Committee Chairs class, and I agreed to be drafted into service once again. I’ve taught the class a few times before. I try to impart some of what I’ve learned in seven years’ service as a troop committee chair, and enjoy interacting with other committee chairs, listening to issues they’re having and try to arrive at solutions.  Continue reading “Drafted!”