Scoutmaster Podcast 232

I'm Daniel Hujar and I'm a Scoutmaster with Troop 152 in Kerry, North Carolina. This edition of the Scoutmasters podcast is sponsored by backers like us.

And now for you, Scoutmaster Shane Lehman is a scatter with the 63rd Ottawa group in of all places, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada- And he offers us this handy tip to stop bacon from curling in the pan. Shane says the way that you do this is to take away their brooms.

I think that would work. I think if you took the brooms away, bacon would definitely stop curling in

The pan. Hey, this is podcast number 232.. Hey, Hey, welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clarke Green. Wow, we're going to have a lot to catch up on here. Let's take a look at the mailbag first.

Patrick Thompson is the Scoutmaster of Troop 1134 in Roswell, Georgia, And he wrote to say: our troop has visited Condor Stakes several times in our short troop life. We're reliving our visit through your dispatches. Big fan of the Scoutmaster blog. We love the Condor Stakes dispatches- Incredibly difficult place to explain unless you've been there. Thanks for bringing memories of that daily international jamboree back to life for our folks.

Well, thanks for getting in touch, Patrick. If you haven't been keeping up with us. We got back last week from a long visit to Condor Stakes International Scout Center in Condor Stakes, Switzerland, And I have a lot of the emails are going to be mentioning that And I've got some other things to talk about that can.

Concerning that trip, as we go on, heard from Harry Schneider And he said: congrats on your retirement as active Scoutmaster. Yes, Thanks, Harry, It was.

It was a busy summer And that was another thing that happened this summer And I don't think we've really addressed it on the podcast as of yet. But hey, you know, stay tuned. John Wiebeke from Carmel, Indiana, wrote to say I was just in Condor Stakes for the 30th staff reunion of the people I served with in 1984 and 1985. We had 24 of 30 staff members return for from Australia, one from South Africa, two of us from North America and three from the UK. The rest were scattered around Central and Northern Europe. What an incredible experience.

Wow, John, that does sound like a great time. You're really taking your scouts to a special place. As much as I love camp here in the US, Condor Stag is really something out of the ordinary. I guess the blending of all the scout groups from across the different countries makes it different, But the spirit of scouting is the same. I'd love you to share with me your itinerary for this trip. I may have to try and replicate it.

With my troop, We went to Halliburton and Algonquin this summer. It was a great success. We had a good turn of weather and everyone is full of memories and adventures from that trip. John sounds like you had a great summer, just like me, And I'll talk a little bit more about some Condor Stag plans in the future after I've done with the mailbag Heard from Major Richard K Luckett, who wrote to say congratulations on your retirement as a Scoutmaster And I hope you continue to share the experiences you've had throughout your tenure on the podcast and the blog. I and many other people count on them.

Well, Richard, I'm certainly going to do that. I am. I don't have plans on going anywhere. I'll tell you that Kim Vatnidal is a scout leader in Norway And he wrote to say: I am a scouting parent and assistant Scoutmaster for Norwegian troop. I enjoy your sight and thoughts immensely. Our troop is more adult lead, But through your material on scoutmastercgcom, I've started a silent revolution.

As of next semester, the troop will implement much of what of the suggested structure for a boy led troop? There are still some differences, of course, but we'll get there. Interestingly, I have recently been chosen to take over Scoutmaster when the current one retires next year.

I have one question asked: what's your thoughts on using and adapting some of the material found on scoutmastercgcom for our troop website? It would be translated into Norwegian for our scout parents.

Well, Kim, absolutely thrilled that you found what we're offering useful. Translate away Anything that you find is on our website is there to further the aims of scouting And if that, if that can help you, please feel free to use it. That goes for all of you, by the way. Whether you're going to translate it into Norwegian or Kentucky and or Californian or whatever language suits, Please do that. And, Kim, congratulations on becoming a scoutmaster. You're jumping into the much-vaunted volcano.

It's nice and warm in here and it certainly is exciting. Thomas Kepley said I would love to share with my troop information regarding the Switzerland trip.

Do you have information about the camp and a cost breakdown of the trip you can share with me? I think some of our older scouts would really enjoy a trip like that. I've also heard that some older scouts in our troop would be interested in working as counselors at some international camp like this.

Well, Thomas, I am going to share something in this podcast that I think will help you out with that, And yours is one of many, many emails that I've received asking for that type of information, So stay tuned. Shane Lehman, who gave us our helpful hint about bacon curling at the beginning of the podcast from 63rd Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, also said: first of all, let me say you have great podcasts and I'll listen to it during my commutes.

I tell all of my scouting friends to listen and I think it might be working. Well, you never know.

You never know, Shane, do you? Until you try? It might be working indeed. Carl Hale is with the Transatlantic Council in troop 457 in Brussels, Belgium, and he's their Scoutmaster. I've been learning from your blog since I agreed to serve as Scoutmaster last year. Our troop has camped at Kandersteg International Scout Center too.

I just want to let you know I appreciate your blog. I'm happy you were able to visit Kandersteg.

Well, thank you, Carl. I'm happy I was able to visit Kandersteg too, And it's always great to hear from folks in the Transatlantic Council. Queenie Campbell is with Boy Scout Troop and Venture Crew 84 in Stewart Straft, Virginia, And she wrote in to say: keep calm and keep camping. Troop 84's motto is: if it ain't damp, we don't camp. Amen, Queenie.

We ran into some weather all summer long, But you know what? We kept on going. Julian Atkins is a Scoutmaster with Troop 727 in Burlington, Kentucky. I've been enjoying the videos and the activity from Kandersteg. I spent four years in Europe and I've been through the Swiss Alps by car before. It was amazing that you had Daniel from Camp Freelander in Loveland, Ohio on the second video.

Daniel certified me in water rescue last summer, So he's perfect for Kandersteg. I shared the video with boys in the troop and they were amazed that Daniel, their camp counselor, was in it and even more amazed that there was an international scouting facility in Switzerland. Love the videos, Thank you very much.

Well, thank you, Juliana. I figured that somebody would recognize Daniel or at least Camp Freelander, And it was great to talk to the folks that were serving on the Kandersteg staff who were also scouts in the US. Craig Dixon is with Boy Scout Troop 682 in Poe, California, said Kandersteg looks really cool. The question I have is: how does your troop pay for the trip.

What kind of fundraising do the boys do? If everything works out, I may have the chance of getting my boys to Kandersteg someday.

Well, Craig, we're going to be talking about that in just a minute. Finally, we heard from Beth Bo who said: I'm not sure how Scouter Bill ended up with your dispatches from Kandersteg, but he forwarded to me- I'm Group Committee Commissioner for the Seventh Etobicoke Scout Group, Venturer and Rover Advisor and Sean's mom. Thanks for getting Sean on the video and thanks for the shout out.

Well, if you watched the dispatches from Kandersteg, Sean from the Seventh Etobicoke was working at Kandersteg. We got him on the video.

And how about that? I heard from his mom.

Well, if you haven't figured it out yet, you know what I was doing this summer. Well, after we did a week of scout camp with our scouts and it was my last week as being the scoutmaster for our troop after 30 years, and I want to say a big thank you to the scouts and the folks who made it possible to build a new pavilion in our campsite that now has my name on it. I was very humbled and very appreciative of that and a lot of my old scouts showed up and my friends who I worked with at camp. It was a wonderful, wonderful time and I just want to take the time, if they're listening, to say thank you for all those gestures of appreciation and support that I received while I was at camp.

After we got home from camp we had just enough time to get the bags packed and head off to Switzerland, and my wife and I were there for three or four days ahead of our scout group arriving and we had a little bit of a vacation ourselves and then the scouts showed up and we were there for a glorious week at Kandersteg International Scout Center. Now if you haven't heard of Kandersteg before or if you don't have any idea of what it looks like or what happens there, there are eight videos at scoutmastercgcom. Follow the link right there at the top of the page to dispatch us from Kandersteg. That gave you a pretty good idea of what the experience is like. This was our second trip to Kandersteg.

Our first one was three years ago and since I've been talking about that trip three years ago and this trip that we took this summer, a lot of people had written in and asked me and you saw that in the in the mailbag there You saw several people ask the same question: How do you make this happen? How do I get my group over there?

Can you give me your information, your budgeting and things like that? Well, yes, I can and I'd be happy to do that. I also want to tell you about what I am contemplating, trying to make happen, perhaps next summer or perhaps in 2016..

I want to get you over to Kandersteg International Scout Center. It's not a weekend camping trip, So obviously it's going to cost a little bit of money, but it's doable. If my guys and my troop can make it happen, can get the money put together for it, It's doable for your troop.

The second big challenge is actually putting the trip together and making it work, And there's lots of heavy administrative lifting involved in that, and Switzerland, while it's a wonderful, wonderful place to visit, is also frightfully expensive. I think it's. If it's not the highest cost place to travel, it's got to be in the top five.

So being able to put a trip together like this and pull it off at a cost for the average family, be able to finance something like this, it can be a bit of a challenge. After doing this a couple of times, I think I've got it sorted out to the point where I'm going to be able to offer an experience for you and your scouts to get to Kandersteg and make it possible without you having to bear all the administrative burden of making that happen.

And the way that would work would be that I would have a couple of weeks open next summer to have groups come through, give them a place to stay in Kandersteg, make sure that they were well fed and help them set up a slate of activities that is both exciting and adventurous. I mean, imagine all the natural beauty and wonder of the Swiss Bernese Oberland where all the wonderful snowcap mountains are, and the fellowship of a world jamboree, and you'll begin to understand what kind of an experience this can be. I mean, the Bernese Oberland is a world-class destination and the village of Kandersteg is right smack in the middle of it. It's home to Kandersteg International Scout Center, which has been there for 70 years and is a destination every summer for scouts from all over the world, And I would like to offer you the ability to get there with your scouts without having to bear the administrative burden of putting it all together and administering a schedule.

Now, if that's something that interests you for next summer. I am working right now on setting up two weeks on the calendar next summer where we can make this happen.

If this is something that honestly interests you, if you're really interested in seeing if this will work out for you and your scouts, I want you to again in touch with me. Within this two-week period I have room for just over 100 scouts and adults to come and experience the things that a trip to Kandersteg International Scout Center offers.

So here's what you do: Email me, Clark at clarkegreen at scoutmastercgcom, Put in the subject line Kandersteg and let me know that you're interested and I will keep you up on this whole opportunity as things develop. If there's a sufficient amount of interest, we're going to go ahead and we're going to make this happen for you.

And the next point of business here on the podcast this week is to answer some email questions. They've been piling up since we took a little podcast vacation, So those answers are going to take up the rest of the podcast.

Hey, so let's get started. Shall we

Jerry Curry is the Scoutmaster, Troop 15, and he wrote in to ask: I was listening to a podcast the other day and I think you mentioned that you do all the sign-offs for requirements for star rank and higher, while Scouts do first class and lower, And I was wondering why you switch around like that for the higher ranks. I try to keep this as much in the Scouts hands as possible and only the Senior Petroleum can provide a sign-off for a Troop job, because all the other Scouts report to him.

Well, Jerry, that's a good point. I'd say we don't really have a rule about this sort of thing. It just kind of works out that way most of the time. You describe what usually happens. I consult with the Senior Petroleum about signing the position of responsibility requirement and I spend some time with the Scout discussing the experiences as it relates to the other requirements.

Jerry then asked back: how do you have them prove that they've been active? Do you use the Petroleum book or a logbook for attendance at meetings or outings?

Well, I asked them if, in their opinion and on their honor as a Scout, they've completed the requirement. I asked them to tell me why they feel that they have and in 98% of the cases we agree.

Now if we don't agree, then we discuss our differences and how to resolve them. I don't really have a magic formula for this other than saying, instead of me trying to assess the requirement for myself, I have a discussion with the Scout that begins with: tell me how you met this requirement, what evidence do you have that you met it, and I let them tell me exactly how they have. And, like I said, 98% of the time it works for me and we're done. I don't really have a magical formula for active. I don't have a metric for that. It's a case by case basis, because every individual Scout's life is going to be slightly different.

They're going to have a slightly different schedule. You know reasons for not attending some things and I want them to talk about it and I want to be able to share my concerns with them and they can share their concerns with me, and that seems to work pretty well. And we don't keep attendance.

We don't have a log book or anything that keeps attendance, so we don't have it to refer to. Anyway.

In another email, Jerry asked me: what advice do you have for planning the yearly calendar? Well, it seems to be the best way for that this works to me is once you have the yearly calendar laid out, begin to think in quarters.

They need to have three months of outings pretty well in the can and ready to go. Once the outings are in the can and ready to go, then you have the meetings that lead up to them and if, in our case, we have directly after the weekend that we have an outing, the patrol leaders council meets instead of having a troop meeting on that night and we also have a border review on that night.

So usually it's about three meetings that they have to plan in advance of an outing. Get everybody ready to get on the outing, then we're camping. But if they think in quarters about this, three months have to be ready to go.

The next three months are in development and that keeps us, you know, roughly four to six months ahead of the curve, most of the time in ideal situations, and you know how often we experience ideal situations. But that's my best advice.

It's heavy lifting to get a whole year of meetings planned at one go and you know there are going to be things that are going to interfere with that plan and you're going to have to change it anyway. So if you can stay three to six months ahead of the curve. You're doing a pretty good job. Dave Scott is with Scout Troop 710 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and he wrote to say I'm familiar with the way that we do scout camping in America. I wonder how they do things like this in Europe.

We have, you know, your average scout with a highly structured schedule of activities and merit badges and things. But I have read about a troop that does their own outpost camp doing just their own troop directed activities, and I also read in one of the recent things you published, written by Baden Powell, that he recommended that kind of outpost style camp.

Do you know what the rest of the world leans to as far as this goes? Dave, as far as I can tell, the BSA summer camp experience is a pretty unique one in the world of scouting. There are very few packaged, highly structured summer experiences at a facility like a Boy Scout camp where everybody goes and they go through the same experience each and every week. Most of the rest of the world does what you describe, that kind of outpost camp where they go to special scout centers like Condersteg International Scout Center.

So the program is not quite so structured. It's a little more open-ended and troops are generally pursuing their own activities rather than doing them en masse as we're used to now. I like that style of outpost camp, but I know that the tradition of going to your local scout camp runs pretty deep and strong. I know it runs that way in my troop.

I think it's up to us to make the most of that experience and include as many of the outpost camp type things as possible. For instance, make sure that you're running the patrol method during summer camp. Make sure that. Make sure that the patrol leaders council is very active. Don't let the camp schedule squeeze all that out. But even in the most ambitious camp schedule, if you're a wise Scoutmaster, you can find ways to build in some of the aspects of that outpost kind of camp experience.

Ari wrote to say hi, I'm a life scout working on my Eagle project. Do my non-scout friends have to obey the power tool rules if they help me with the project?

Well, I think so, Ari. The way I see it, the safety rules for Eagle projects apply to anyone working on it with you, whether they're a registered scout or not.

Now, that's my opinion and I don't see anything that says that specifically. So to get a really good, authoritative answer, I want you to email the folks at advancementteam at scoutingorg and there's two reasons that I think that this is a good idea. First of all, if they don't know that question is out there, they don't know to include it in the next revision of materials that are offered for Eagle scouts. Second of all, they're going to give you a good, authoritative answer and they'll give it to you in less time than I did.

Took me a couple weeks to get back to people this summer because it was camp and was traveling. But the volunteers at advancementteam at scoutingorg they do a real good job of getting back in touch with you.

So that doesn't only go for Ari, that goes for any of you have a advancement related question and you can't really figure it out from reading the materials that you have. Advancementteam at scoutingorg. They're pretty good at getting back to you and answering those questions. And Ari, by the way, good on you for working on Eagle. Christian Kowski is with Pack and Troop 168 in Crystal Lake Illinois and he wrote in to ask. My older son recently crossed in the Boy Scouts and I've been asked to be the advancement chair for the troop.

My question is: what's your vision of what the advancement chair's job is, and do you have any tips or tricks or suggestions for somebody in that position? I enjoy listening to your podcast on my commute. Thank you, keep up the good work.

Well, thank you for getting in touch, Chris. The first thing I would say to any advancement chair is to make sure you get a copy of the guide to advancement 2013 and read it through now. You'll do the same thing I did. You'll probably skip over things that just aren't in your bailiwick. I mean, if you're a troop advancement chair, you don't need to know all the details for venturing and sea scouts and cub scouts, but you want to look through the book really carefully. You don't need to know everything in it, but you'll want to know where to find answers when you need them.

I would look with a highlighter and note all of the passages that tell you why we do advancement. There's a lot of them in there, and knowing the why behind the how is very important. The mechanics and the rules and the regulations aren't anywhere near as important as understanding the why. As a matter of fact, I don't think you can properly apply the rules and regulations without understanding the point behind them. Most scouts who study the why behind the how, discover that there's probably a couple of things that they need to change their thinking about. If you find things like this in the guide to advancement, I suggest that you embrace them.

It takes some time and experience to get it all down and to build your own confidence in addressing questions and situations that arise. You'll understand the mechanics easily, but getting the why behind them can be a little more nuanced now. I'm always happy to answer your questions and, as I just said, the folks at advancementteam at scoutingorg do a really good job of that too, and I'll answer anybody's question about just about anything if you'll email me, and you're gonna find out how to do that in just a moment.