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In one of the most popular Cubcasts of the year, the secret to selling lots of popcorn is revealed! Join us as we talk with Doug Dent, vice president of Marketing with Trails End. He is also an assistant den leader in the Sagamore Council in Kokomo, Indiana. Let's get popping, shall we?
With a great team of volunteers, Sheryl Oakman was instrumental in rolling out the new Cub Scout delivery method. She has held numerous positions in her 23 years as a volunteer and graciously spent time with us to go over her ideas for the next core value: responsibility.
New Minute for All scouts
Hello Dear Reader. Well I am all over the shop with post at the moment. In part because of the Bank Holiday and in part due to the fact I am getting ready to go on Holiday. I wanted to tell you all about how I was invited to visit the Gladstone Campsite in Hawarden…
Interacting with people from all over the country is one of the definite perks of our job as Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers. Two questions we commonly hear on the road is "How can I get you guys to come do a FREE training?"
Friday's Name That Council patch depicted a stark landscape, which meant clues were in short supply. But 35 stellar sleuths sniffed out the correct answer anyway and identified the Northwest Texas Council , headquartered in Wichita Falls, Tex. We took those correct responses and used a random-number generator to find our winner, Geoff Heintzelman of the…
The UPS Foundation announced today that it will give a $100,000 grant to the Boy Scouts of America in recognition of the organization's 100th Anniversary. The grant will go to local councils to help fund conservation programs. Local councils can apply for $10,000 grants to support the development or implementation of conservation programs in their…
To honor 100 years of service, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has received a $100,000 grant from The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of UPS (NYSE: UPS). The grant will be used toward the Boy Scouts of America Natural Resources Conservation Local Council Grants.
In my last post I talked a bit about Escouts and the forums they provide. As well as the forums, until recently, they also provided free hosting for UK Scouting websites. This has been of enormous benefit to many Groups around the country who have been able to set up a sit without any cost.
Naval Support Activity Washington (NSAW) and elements of the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy Leadership Training Site Washington and the future Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling,recently supported Boy Scouts from across the country, converging on the nation's capital to celebrate the Centennial anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.
On Wednesday this week we presented to student leaders of Princeton University's Outdoor Action Program as they gear up for one of the country's largest freshman outdoor orientation programs. In small groups of 12, these leaders will be venturing out on week-long backpacking, canoeing, rock climbing, bike touring, community service, and sustainable farming trips with…
As promised in the last post, we are going to wrap up this topic with a few FAQs that I have received relating to recruiting and building the program. It is fair to say that the last few blog posts have hardly scratched the surface of this subject and that working toward building and maintaining…
Tuesday was a great meeting for some and not for others. We have a Life Scout aging out soon (under 30 days) who has recently returned to finish up his Eagle Rank. He did his Eagle Project and started finishing up his merit badges.
Check it out! American River Blog - Leave No Trace
Bigfoot... I am attaching a photo of our group of ten guys that spent the weekend backpacking, fishing and exploring near Three Finger Jack peak in Oregon. Three of the guys had never been backpacking before and shared that they liked it when it was all over.
In 1989, several women who were involved with the Scouting program in Melrose, met at the local community access television studio to do a talk show about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting in Melrose. The show was titled The Women Of Scouting .
More than five hundred Boy Scouts and parents arrived aboard the USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) Aug. 30 for a tour of the hospital ship during Baltimore Navy Week 2010. The Boy Scouts of America are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and welcomed the opportunity to learn about the Comfort's mission and abilities.
Hello dear Reader. Well as the title says I am not here at the moment. As you are reading this I will be in Pisa Italy enjoy a week-long break with my family. This of course means a couple of things When I return I will have lots to post about (hopefully) There well be…
New Game for Boy Scouts
As scoutmaster, I get to witness the development of young men outside the daily routine. Most of the greatest growth I've seen is during times of trial. This past weekend, we had a 'Wilderness Survival' campout with scouts building shelters and sleeping out rather than in tents.
It has been awhile since I have placed a slideshow of Troop 68 on the blog, so let's go back to 1983 for a look at what the troop was up to nearly thirty years ago. (Sometimes, I find it hard to believe I have been a leader of the troop for that long.)
Check out this news story about the Video Game Belt Loop featuring Scouts from Last Frontier Council. One of the few positive and factually correct stories about the addition of the Video Game Belt Loop. Props to their Marketing Director Chris Daughtrey ( @ChrisLDaughtrey ). You can read a transcript of the video here: http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=13102321
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In this week's video Buttons the Radical Boy Scout answers the questions of some cub scouts. Enjoy!
2,000 adults in Scouting gathered under the famous oak tree for the 84th Gilwell Reunion, which took place at the weekend. A mix of volunteers, young and old, filled the campsite and got to take part in a range of activities, workshops and entertainments.
Baloo's Bugle is finished and posted on-line!! There are lots of RESPONSIBILITY ideas for October's Pack Meeting And lots of ideas to help you with Weeks 3 & 4 from the Den and Pack Meeting Resource Guide. Comments welcome on the new delivery method and what you are doing Also, comments on how Baloo's Bugle should…
Four years ago I wrote a blog post that became one of the most read posts I have ever written. It was during the time when many packs and troops were conducting recruitment drives and school nights. The article listed some reasons on why a parent should get involved as a leader in Scouting.
Labor Day, now marks 5 days away from the Webelos Woods event that I have spent months to plan with my scout friends Shawn Cleary, Bob Hawkins, and Pat Laes. The event, which will be held on Sat. Sept. 11, will host Webelos scouts participating in a wide variety of events for Naturalist, Outdoorsman, Forester…
Hello Dear Reader Quick note, while I am away to suggest that you should consider promoting the competition below. ICRC Young Reporter Competition Take the opportunity to join a humanitarian experience and discover the reality in the field of how young people are acting in the reality of situations of violence and armed conflict.
Happy Memorial Day! Both 12 page guides offer concise, general information about the skills necessary to minimize recreational impacts wherever your outings take you. These are excellent, low cost alternatives to the Skills & Ethics booklets. The Pocket Guide is also available in Spanish.
Welcome back to the SMM Podcast, in this show we talk about building your program. Recruiting and retention are big topics, especially this time of the year. If you build a great program, they will come to it and stay.
If you have done any amount of geo caching at all, you are familiar with finding cache in film canisters, prescription bottles, snap top or screw lid containers, and disguised with tan, black or camo duct tape. They're in the whole at the base of the tree, dangling off the limb, or under the lamp…
Den Cheifs, Summer Camp Story, Email Answers Scoutmaster Podcast 33 Feel free to send your questions and comments (you can rate the podcast on iTunes). Use the email link above left or the comments feature of the blog. Subscribe on iTunes Music in Podcast 33 First Call - U.S.
Now I am no Al Gore and certainly not as popular as Adam Carolla, in that I did not invent the internet and I don't get Thousands of downloads a day but what a handful of us have done is tapped into this internet fad and turned it into something positive in the Scouting community.
New Activity for Boy Scouts
One of the more ingenious ideas in Socuting is recognition through the advancement program. Humankind has always had some way of marking achievement through decorations of one kind or another; it seems to be a fundamental impulse. Cub Scouts have no pretence when it comes to badges.
Over the Labor Day weekend we headed out to enjoy one of our favorite urban climbing areas at the ever popular Quincy Quarries just south of downtown Boston, MA. The area is known for challenging routes and the endlessly changing inspirations and hues of the local graffiti community.
At Scouting magazine, we hear a lot of stories about heroic Scouts, but they never get old. That's why we wanted to share with you the story of Fernando Espinosa, a Boy Scout from El Paso, Tex., who pushed his teacher out of the path of an oncoming car near his high school.
The Center has had a successful year working with a diverse range of organizations through our four grant-giving programs: Packing with PEAK Tools for Teaching Connect Grants for Culturally Diverse Communities Master Educator Scholarships * October 1 marks the final grant deadline for the year for most of these programs, with the exception of Master Educator…
On Saturday, October 2, between 12:00 noon and 4:00 PM, Northern Star Council's Base Camp will host an open house and dedication to give visitors a look inside and a taste of the tremendous program opportunities it offers to our Scouting family and all youth groups.
Hello everyone! Welcome to the brand new TrailStop Blog. We've been hard at work over the last few weeks redesigning and updating our website and catalog to bring you an easier-to-use and overall better shopping experience. This blog will be part of that awesome customer service that Trailstop has become known for and so many…
Saturday is the anniversary of 9/11. Most of you do not remember life before that fateful day, it was a different world we lived in with different worries and fears; hopes and dreams. And different definitions too, see before 9/11 if you asked someone what a hero was they would answer: Superman or SpiderMan, Captain…
News 46 interviews Don McDougall Troop Leader of Pahrump Boy Scouts and Threodore Ward Local Boy Scout about properly disposing American Flags.
Illustration by Jamie Givens It's this simple: sore feet and neglected shoes lead to poor performance. Climbing your best means paying attention to footwork before the rubber touches rock. Revive your footwork in three steps: get the right rock shoes, treat those shoes like your firstborn, and give your feet some TLC along the way.
My last post about ten reasons to be a Scout leader has been a popular post to this blog. One of the replies I received about the post was from a member of the "Boy Scout/Cub Scout Adult Leaders" group on LinkedIn.
Leadership is the theme of Around The Scouting Campfire, show #17. Scoutmaster Steve and Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, begin the show by discussing Steve's list of ten reasons to become a Scout leader. Steve tells us a story about a high school twerp who would become a scoutmaster.
Leadership is the theme of Around The Scouting Campfire, show #17. Scoutmaster Steve and Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, begin the show by discussing Steve's list of ten reasons to become a Scout leader. Steve tells us a story about a high school twerp who would become a scoutmaster.
Question: What do movies and Scouting have in common? Answer: They both can be made better by popcorn. It's nearly fall, and that means it's time for Scouts to sell popcorn to help fund all the fun activities planned for the coming year.
Believe it or not, they actually pay people to work at Philmont. And it gets better: They're hiring. Now's the time for anyone 18 or older to submit an application for next summer. Technically, they accept applications any time of the year, but officials say that applying by Oct.
Mosquitoes are a bane to all campers. They can carry disease, they itch, they buzz, they squish, they swarm, they even get in your ears and eyes. I love the first frosts in the fall. Camping in late September and October is my favorite time because the bugs are usually gone.
Like many of us, my holidays have been quickly forgotten as I tried to get back into the swing of things. But first a big thank you to Tim Kidd.
Tonight, our Troop Committee Chair presented a talk to the scout leaders who attended the Boy Scout Round Table on Genealogy. Unfortunately I missed it but I am eager to get the details from him. From what I hear, he presented several websites, aside from the normal ones that come to mind, so as soon…
I just learned about a great new website to support pro-bike policies and spread the joy of bikes! Check out peopleforbikes.org! They're collecting one million names in support of a better world for biking -- one that's safer, more convenient, and more appealing for everyone.
If you have been involved with Scouting for any length of time you have probably heard someone say, "It only takes an hour a week." What a joke that is! Just a bit of a misleading line there, huh? Let us take a look at a typical month of Scouting during this scoutmaster's life.
This amazing 160-page, hardback book is a must have for any Scout, Scout family or Norman Rockwell fan. Authored by Joseph Csatari, official artist of the Boy Scouts of America, and his son Jeff, also a Scout and editor of Boy's Life and Men's Health magazines, the book starts off with a compelling Forward and…
New Quiet Game for All scouts
New Supper Recipe for Boy Scouts
We have all heard that being a scoutmaster or cubmaster will only take an hour a week. In the last article I wrote about how many hours it may actually take for a scoutmaster. But what if we take this further?
I was chatting to my Group's Beaver Leader about the forthcoming Beaver camp (of course Beavers don't actually camp as such, they have to stay indoors) and she was concerned about the costs. A little background: Beavers can only stay in indoor accommodation and cannot stay away from their parents for more than 24 hours.
The Executive Board of the Blue Ridge Mountains Council, Boy Scouts of America has signed a lease agreement with Iberdrola Renewables to establish two meteorology towers on the 15,000 acre Blue Ridge Scout Reservation in Pulaski County. These towers will be supplemented by a team of scientists tasked with the collection of biologic, atmospheric, and…
After every driving trip the troop takes 'out west', I swear to myself that's the LAST time we stop at Wall, South Dakota! But, when it comes round to planning the next long-distance trek Wall Drug always gets listed as a place the scouts decide to stop.
Nine years ago as the full extent of the terrorist attacks began to unfold a group of passengers aboard a hijacked plane made a choice. By chance they were on a very ordinary flight together, by choice they became heroes and arguably averted massive loss of life had their flight gone on to reach our…
Let's see. The Kindle, the iPod, the iPad, and the Nook are just a few of the ebook readers that are currently available. How about we use these gadgets to visit a fictional history of Boy Scouting. Say, like 80 plus years ago.
The results of the geocaching/recruiting event weren't nearly as good as I'd hoped. The majority of attendees were members and leaders from our Cub Pack. We introduced the Pack to geocaching a few years ago and a number of families …
About this time of the year we hear a lot about training and getting all of the adults of the unit trained, at the same time most units are training the Youth leadership. I think this is interesting in that often times the training that an adult takes really does not set them up for…
As part of the rolling review of the governance of activities within Scouting we have just launched a consultation on the way we manage and operate hillwalking activities. The deadline for responses to this consultation is 31 October 2010.
New Dutch Oven Recipe for Boy Scouts
Troop and Patrol Leadership, Email Answers, Scoutmater's Minute Scoutmaster Podcast 34 Feel free to send your questions and comments (you can rate the podcast on iTunes). Use the email link above left or the comments feature of the blog. Subscribe on iTunes Music in Podcast 34 First Call - U.S.
Last week we held a five hour workshop at one of the more unique and magical venues we have had the opportunity to train at. Vertical Horizons Treehouse Paradise is a bed and breakfast located in southern Oregon near the Redwoods, Oregon Caves National Monument, and the beautiful coastline.
#238-Coffee Shop Tonight, we talk about Trainers EDGE, a great train the trainer class offered by BSA. Tonight's show sponsored by ClassB.com Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts Share with Others:
On Friday of last week, Glen Cove Elementary School in Roanoke, Virginia invited us to tell them what Leave No Trace was all about. We started the morning off by visiting all four of the 2nd grade classes and introducing them to the concepts of Leave No Trace through activities from the PEAK pack such…
New Content for
Listener Allan Green (no relation) asks these three questions: 1. Youth leaders elected, but reluctant to lead. I have had 2 successive SPL's who would not prepare, would not work, canceled most TLC meetings, and who did not treat their fellow scouts very well.
Listener Allan Green (no relation) asks three questions when youth don’t lead: 1. Youth leaders elected, but reluctant to lead. I have had 2 successive SPL’s who would not prepare, would not work, canceled most TLC meetings, and who did not treat their fellow scouts very well.
The Microsoft founder is going to be presented with the BSA's highest honour of the Silver Buffalo Award soon according to this article . No no matter what you may think of Microsoft and its products (and they do have their pros and cons!), Bill Gates has ploughed an awful amount of the money he's made…
He cofounded Microsoft and, with his wife, chairs one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world. And today, Bill Gates added another impressive feat to his list of accomplishments: the Silver Buffalo Award. The Silver Buffalo, the highest award given to adults in the Boy Scouts of America, honors men and women who have…
Do you want to have fun as a Scoutmaster? Here is a passage from the 1953 Scoutmaster Handbook that my be of help. The beauty of this is that from 1953 to today.. This has not changed, except in the minds of some overbearing Scoutmasters.
It's been 9 years since America was attacked on our own soil. 9 years of our country reacting, reflecting and rebuilding. I still remember it like it was yesterday.At the time I was working as an IT consultant. I had …
Relive the celebration of a lifetime through pictures and video with the official 2010 National Scout Jamboree calendar and DVD. The $10 calendar , seen at left, features high-quality photos of the excitement of the 2010 jamboree. It's a 16-month calendar that runs from September 2010 through December 2011.
Kevin Callan on bear bags from the Paddler's Guide to Happy Camping Keeping your food safe from bears (and other critters) is an important element of any camping trip. Not only do you want to reduce the chance of having an unwanted close encounter with bear, raccoon or field mouse – but you also don't want…
44 Scouts and about the same number of adults participated in the 2010 Webelos Woods event at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary and in spite of the rain, no one showed any signs of displeasure in the events offered nor were their spirits dampened by the precipitation that fell throughout the day.
It is a treat for us here at the office to get a peek into what is happening 'out in the field', and we LOVE seeing that these stories are literally coming in from all over the country. We want to give a big shout out to a group of students from the Pikes Peak…
I recently went camping in Colorado with the Traveling Trainers, which gave me a chance to feel like I was a Traveling Trainer once again. I quickly realized that our current teams have it much cushier than teams of the past thanks to all of their outfitting partners, Chaco , MSR / Thermarest , the Coleman Company as…
Look around this room! WOW, 70 Scouts and almost 30 Adults all here because they love Scouting. With all these uniforms and all these people it sometimes gets confusing...Mr. Lopresto, can you tell me what the patch on your shoulder says (ASM), Assistant Scoutmaster, Mr.
Welcome back! In this show we talk about the 5 key elements that a Scouter needs to pay attention to for a successful year. Meetings, hikes, camp outs, service projects, and advancement will keep you on track for a great year of Scouting..
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we traveled to Whidbey Island in WA to provide a Leave No Trace Trainer Course. This is the second year in a row for us at Whidbey Island. We had participants from the US Forest Service, North Cascades Institute , Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, as well as staff from the US…
In 2009, the Boy Scouts of America added Victorinox Swiss Army to their exclusive list of licensees. Victorinox Swiss Army is the U.S. distributor for Victorinox, a leading producer of pocket tools, the originator of the Swiss army knife, and is world renowned as a symbol of Swiss quality and functionality.
Computer displays are made from small dots called pixels. The picture is built from these dots. As the image is magnified, it becomes grainy. Vector graphic files store the lines, shapes and colors that make up an image as a mathematical formula.
If you are in the Kentucky area next weekeed, come support the first Leave No Trace Hot Spot : the Red River Gorge! Living Archaeology weekend will take place September 24-24 at the Gladie Center in the Red River Gorge : Have you ever wondered what life was like in Kentucky a thousand years ago?
LEADERSHIP...there is nothing new under the sun to read about leadership, especially for Scouters. If you've read The Art of War, BPs Aids To Scoutmastership, anything by Reagan, Ike or Green Bar Bill then you know all there is to know about good leadership.
It is almost a tradition. During the past few years I have taken my video camera along to summer camp and recorded the opening and closing campfire programs. These programs are edited down to become podcast episodes and a dvd for the Boy Scouts who attended camp.
OK, so my summer vacation went longer than it should have…can't get into the whole speaking-on-the-internet right now, so I have a short show from my friend, Commissioner Keith, enjoy! Join the forum discussion on this post Share with Others:
In Scouting, no matter what the program or activity, Leave No Trace should never be an after thought. Picking specimen samples of foliage or stones does harm the environment and should never be practiced. Recently my scout friends and I conducted an outdoors event that proved to be highly successful however; one of the comments…
Hello my lovely readers, I know its been a while since I've lasted blog'd, but I'm back ready and waiting and waiting. Well the summers been a long time ending, and yes i know its almost the end of September, …
Of late various organisations, like Scouts, schools or local councils, have been stopping various activities due to 'health and safety'. The more ridiculous examples of this has been schools stopping kids playing conkers in the playground to the stopping of the centuries old tradition of cheese rolling .
Blog that is, rather than my age before anybody asks! Hard to imagine that this is the 100th posting since we launched the blog twelve months ago. So much has happened, although at times it doesn't feel like enough has! This weekend (11-12 Sep) sums it up well.
Hello Dear Reader How the devil are you? I said it was only going to be away one week and it turned out to be two, and for that I am deeply sorry. See I came back from my Holiday to Italy (calling at Pisa, Lucca and the surrounding Tuscan area. It was a ...
Dear Education Department, I recently completed my Master Educator Course and am scheduling some upcoming Trainer Courses. I am writing to see if there is a minimum age requirement for taking a Trainer Course. I thought I had read something in your literature, but I can't seem to find it.
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -William Butler Yeats While traveling and teaching, we have the opportunity to work with an incredibly diverse range of audiences. From youth-serving organizations like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, to Ivy League campuses and from federal land management agencies, to…
IAGmedia is a Bay Area based family-lifestyle Company that playfully delivers good characters, programs and products that help instill positive life values and a respect for the environment. The Company sells the physical products along with providing in school story times, kids nature zones, and event participation with its live mascot – Chipper.
