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I learned early on that promoting Scouting seems to fall into the hands of the local troops and packs. During my 33 years of being involved with the Boy Scout program I have very rarely seen the national office or the local council do much to promote the Scouting program outside of the Scouting program.
The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 have completed another Scouting For Food drive this morning, October 5th. The Scouts began shortly after 9:00 am and finished about an hour later. (Melrose is not a very big town.) The troop has been participating in this national Good Turn since it began in 1985.
Last Tuesday was my second meeting as a member of the roundtable staff once again. I have to admit, I am having fun. And I think the Scouters who have been attending have discovered my method of roundtable training is a bit different then other peoples' methods.
I always liked the Cinematography merit badge. Maybe it is because I like movies so well. Or maybe it has something to do with all those years I spent working with Mel TV3, our local community access television station. I did become a councilor for the badge shortly after it became available.
It is Friday night. More than likely, somewhere in this country there is a group of Boy Scout teens watching a horror movie of some sort. While in decades past these movies may have included Frankenstein, the werewolf, Dracula, or the mummy, today's youth seem to love teen wolves, sparkling vampires, serial killers, or the…
Cub Scout Parents Sometimes I write decent posts to this blog that some people find helpful. Sometimes I like to steer you to other Scouting blogs that have already wrote posts that you may find helpful. This is one of them.
You know me, I love a good comic strip that includes a Scouting theme to it. I recently came across one in Pinterest (yeah, what can I say?) that made me chuckle a bit. It was a panel from the The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee comic, probably from July.
You see these "Keep Calm and …" signs all over the internet. Most of the time they are okay. Sometimes they are annoying. But this one I thought was just right for this blog, especially since many councils, packs, and troops are in the midst of their recruitment drives. So yeah, "Keep Calm and Join Scouting!"
I was contacted tonight on Facebook by a fellow Scouter from Illinois. Kevin Miller was wondering what is going on with PTC Media these days. For those of you new to this blog, PTC Media was a website featuring a collection of Scouting related podcasts, featuring shows about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting.
I walked into my house shortly after nine o'clock tonight and I smelled it almost immediately. Smoke! No, it was not the house on fire or anything like that. It was me. More specifically, my clothes. You see, I stopped by the Birch Lake State Forest campground tonight to visit the nine Boy Scouts of…
Six Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68, along with two adult Scout leaders, joined 170,000 other people on Saturday, August 24, at the great Minnesota Get Together, otherwise known as the State Fair. Despite the hot temperatures and the high humidity, the Scouts had a great time exploring the buildings, eating food on a stick…
One of Boy Scout Troop 68′s Eagle Scouts stopped by Sunday afternoon to watch a new movie I had recently received in the mail. Both of us had been waiting for " The Last Eagle Scout " to be released since we had read about it on Facebook a couple years ago.
The Boy Scouts planned it. The committee approved it. And now it is time to implement it. The 2013-2014 program for Troop 68 is ready to go! Here is a look at it. September 2013: Water Safety 2, 9, 16 – Troop Meetings 2 – Dad's Belgian Waffle Breakfast Sales Kickoff 13-15 – Big Birch State Forest Outing…
I was the scoutmaster for one of two troops the Central Minnesota Council sent to the 2001 National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia. I had three wonderful assistant scoutmasters, a fantastic group of youth leaders, and a great group of Boy Scouts in Troop 1417.
Yes, the 2013 National Jamboree may now be nothing but a memory, but I just received my set of patches from the Central Minnesota Council's Jamboree troop. Now I am ready to attend! Well, if I would have gone that is.
When Troops 1417 and 1418 from the Central Minnesota Council attended the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree in 2001 we traveled to Virginia and back by chartered bus. Each troop had it own bus, but the busses stayed together.
Boy Scout Troop 68 now has a program plan for the 2013-2014 year. I talked to the scoutmaster at last week's troop meeting to ask how things went at the year planning conference. If you recall from the last blog article, I was a little concerned over an item or two, namely that he invited…
I became a scoutmaster in 1981. I went to district and council training and learned that the Boy Scouts should do the planning for their troop's program.Boy Scout Troop 68 began holding a yearly planning conference during the first or second weekend of August.
With this year's Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree now a part of history, it has made me think about the 2001 Jamboree which I attended as the scoutmaster of Central Minnesota Council Troop 1417, one of two troops we sent to Fort A.P.
It is August 1st, and that means this year's new Hallmark Keepsake ornaments are in the stores and ready to sell. Beagle Scout Snoopy and his friends once again make an appearance as the Scouting series continues. This year captures the Beagle Scout as he climbs to the top of the mountain with the help…
I have noticed that when Scouts and adult leaders have written about what they collected at this year's National Jamboree it always seems to be about the patches. I will admit that patches are cool, and that I collect them myself, but there are plenty of other things to collect at the B.S.A.'s big event.
The 2013 National Jamboree is officially over. The new Summit high adventure base has completed its first real test at handling large groups of Boy Scouts, leaders, and staff. It will be interesting during the next several weeks to see what the reports will read.
Shortly after becoming a 21 year old scoutmaster in 1981 I began attending the monthly district roundtable meetings, and learned quite a bit about how to be a good adult Scout leader. It did not take long for the commissioner to recognize my enthusiasm about Scouting.
We all have our favorite campfire skits. Sometimes they are short ones and other times they are a bit on the long side. They usually make us chuckle or laugh out loud. If they are really a good one, it will be one we want to be a part of when it is performed in…
I saw it many times during my 30 years as a scoutmaster. That first year at a week long summer camp causes some boys to grow up a bit, sometimes more than a bit. It is their first time away from home, parents, and family for that long of a period.
(The following article was written by Mike Linnemann, an alumni of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. Mike was a member of the troop from 1997 to 2003. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout. It is the fifth of a series of guest articles written by former members of Troop 68.)
(The following article was written by Brad Kramer, an alumni of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. Brad was a member of the troop from 1995 to 1997. He earned the rank of Life Scout. It is the fourth of a series of guest articles written by former members of Troop 68.)
The Boy Scouts of America's website states this about the the Aims of Scouting: The purpose of the Boy Scouts of America - incorporated on Feb. 8, 1910, and chartered by Congress in 1916 - is to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship…
(The following article was written by Brad Schulzetenberg, an alumni of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. Brad was a member of the troop from 2000 to 2005. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout. It is the third of a series of guest articles written by former members of Troop 68.)
(The following article was written by Pat Christenson, an alumni of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. Pat was a member of the troop from 1994 to 2001. He earned the Star Rank. It is the second of a few guest articles written by former members of Troop 68.)
(The following article was written by Nathan Blommel, an alumni of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. Nathan was a Boy Scout from 1988 to 1993. He has earned the Life Rank. This is the first of a series of guest articles written by former members of Troop 68.)
If you have been following this blog of mine, you will have noticed that it is not a blog heavy about the things you should do to create a great Boy Scout troop, or about all the training you need to become a fantastic Boy Scout leader.
Nearly every spring in the past twenty years the Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 have spent a weekend at Camp Watchamagumee, usually in May. The camp is actually privately owned forty acres found north of Melrose. The land owners have allowed the troop to clear out campsites and create our own camp setting.
Even before I took over as the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68 in Melrose, troop meetings were sometimes held at the Jaycee Park. After I took the scoutmaster position, we began to use the park for our summer meetings, from May through September.
As I continue a campfire theme this week, I thought it would be fun to post at least one skit that would be easy for two Boy Scouts to learn for your next weekend camping trip. The only prop needed is a flashlight.
Here is a story for your next troop campfire. I do not know who wrote it, or even remember where I picked it up, but it is a good story. Iy is a story about a promise made by two Eagle Scouts who were best friends and even worked at summer camp together.
Many of today's Boy Scouts have never heard of Victor Borge. Borge was a great entertainer. He was a superb pianist and a fantastic story teller, and somehow was able to put those talents together and create a humorous musical show.
I do not know if you have ever read this poem but I thought you may enjoy it. It is a poem by Bill Chiappi about the adult Boy Scout leader. It is called "The Scouter". I happen to come across this many years ago.
How about a short story for your next troop outing? – - - A Grandmother, a Boy Scout, a Teacher, and the smartest man in the world were on a plane. After a while, it became known that plane was failing and was about to crash.
Camp Watchamagumee was the place to be for the Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 during the weekend of May 17-19. The six Scouts, including four new members, and two adult leaders may have got a bit damp during the evening hours but they had a lot of fun during the day.
The Boy Scouts of America offers a unique youth program. It has five distinct features that other clubs and organizations do not offer today's youth. Granted, some clubs do offer one or two of these features, but no other youth organization offers all five of them.
There has been a lot of press lately that the Boy Scouts of America is about to change its policy on allowing opening gay youth into the organization. In fact, the press likes to make it sound like this is already a done deal.
We all know that Boy Scouts can get quite dirty when they are on a camping trip. Sometimes they become filthy. Once and awhile, at the end of a week of summer camp, their clothes may stand up on their own.
Two Boy Scouts attended a committee meeting recently. One came for his Star Rank board of review, the other to ask some questions about his Eagle Rank. After talking to both Scouts we discovered it may be time to spend a portion of each troop meeting talking about the basics of Scouting.
The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 used to be very good with performing campfire songs and skits. The troop looked forward to performing at camporees and summer camp campfire programs. There were many times we would take a popular skit or song, change it up a bit, and make it something new.
Ah, the Laughs For Lunch Shows . They were a yearly campfire-style program that the Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 performed for our community for 13 years, the first one held in 1996. We had a lot of fun doing them and I believe the audiences really enjoyed them.
Unfortunately, it has come to this. The St. Cloud Air Show, an event being sponsored by the Central Minnesota Council, has been cancelled. Here is the official statement from the website: St. Cloud Air Show Cancelled as Result of Sequestration ST.
More Boy Scout patches for the collection. I served as the scoutmaster for one of the two troops that the Central Minnesota Council sent to the 2001 National Jamboree. That trip to Fort A.P. Hill was one of the highlights of my Scouting tenure.
I subscribe to the eBay Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter that is done by Jason Spangler. While most of the eBay auctions featured are for various patches once in awhile he lists something new that catches my eye. Today was one of those days.
Boy Scout Troop 68 held its spring fundraiser last Friday, a Dad's Belgium Waffle Supper. This was the fourth year we held a spring waffle supper. The troop use to hold a Palm Sunday pancake and sausage breakfast but when the troop membership became less than a dozen Scouts we switched to the Dad's Belgium…
