News & Notes – June 2022

A few items to be aware of this month:

2022 Journey to Excellence scorecards

The Boy Scouts of America has released the latest update to the annual Journey to Excellence scorecards, which list the unit evaluation items that go into determining a unit’s JTE status at the end of the year. We’ve always encouraged unit leaders to use the scorecard a few times a year to see how they’re doing. Now is a good time to see how the first half of the year went and what might need to be improved upon going forward.

Here are the key differences: Continue reading “News & Notes – June 2022”

The best way to help? Don’t.

A Scout is Helpful. It’s right there in the Scout Law. Number three. A Scout cares about other people. He willingly volunteers to help others without expecting a reward.

Except… when helping someone takes away an opportunity for them to help themselves.

Of course we want to help. But as we know, helping others doesn’t mean doing their work for them. You wouldn’t “help” your child by doing her homework, would you?

Much of the time, we are tempted to just jump in, grab the wheel and take care of a task ourselves if we feel it’s expedient, or we know how to do it better. Continue reading “The best way to help? Don’t.”

Appreciation award ideas

As we head into another year, packs and troops will be holding Blue and Gold Banquets and Courts of Honor where we recognize our Scouts for their achievements. We should also remember to recognize our adult volunteers, because without them we wouldn’t have a Scouting program.

Recognizing Scouts is easy. The badge of rank, belt loops and pins, and merit badges are symbols of what they’ve accomplished. Recognizing adults is a bit more difficult. Continue reading “Appreciation award ideas”

How do you onboard new parents?

As young people cross over from Cub Scouts to ScoutsBSA‘s programs, their parents frequently follow. Often, the more involved adults have been volunteer leaders in their childrens’ packs, and it is this source of talent that many troops seek to help do the many things that adults do for the Scouts.

The ScoutsBSA program differs substantially from Cub Scouting in that the responsibility for carrying out the program rests on the youth members rather than on the adults. The transition is meant to be a smooth and continuous one for the youth, but can be disruptive to the adults who have been used to running the show for the last several years. Continue reading “How do you onboard new parents?”

Volunteer – Just Do It!

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably an adult volunteer in the Boy Scouts of America or another Scouting organization. We were the ones who took a step forward – or stayed in place when everyone else stepped back – and found ourselves in a job we didn’t know much about at first, other than it would help the pack go, or allow us to be with our children and have some fun and adventures with them and their friends.

When I first volunteered to be a den leader, our Cubmaster told me that I needed to do two things – go to basic training, and attend Roundtable each month. Wanting to not let down the boys in my den, I went and got trained, and each month I joined our Cubmaster and many others at Roundtable.

At these events, I marveled at the knowledge and experience of the volunteers leading the sessions. Continue reading “Volunteer – Just Do It!”