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Idea from Shaun Reeves, Den 4 Leader, Pack 776
Quivira Council, Woodbadge C-39-09 Bobwhite
We should create an award for military appreciation, meaning a pin, knot, or something that signifies that a person served. I feel that this is should be an important award that shows someone's service to our great country.
As you know Boy Scouts was started with Lord Baden Powell's idea that was loosely based on his training in the military, but geared towards young boys. I think that this tradition should have been kept in scouts all along with some kind of recognition for leaders that served.
Also considering that the US military works with scouts in most aspects, from borrowing equipment when needed, to providing support to the boys to help with tasks (flag deals and such). Even some bases have scouting on them. They even give advancement in rank in the military for eagle scouts. I think a simple pin or something could be awarded at our end that recognizes an individual's sacrifice to and for this country.
Someone had suggested that these individuals could maybe be awarded one of the three heroism awards. But I think that considering that this is one that anyone can be awarded isn't enough. There should be one that is strictly for the military people. I mean there are awards earned for individual religions. Yes I know that these are given by the church and not scouts but this is allowed to be worn on the uniform and recognized by BSA. So I think this should be a simple thing with showing the individual's form DD 214. To the scout shop. Also there is very few awards that is given to leaders. This is just one more that could be given out.
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My guess is this may already be in the works, but it would be great if a new updated version of the Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Specific Training was created. It could even be distributed in an electronic format. The things I've noticed have just recently helped set up the training is the following:
There are some resources listed that may not be currently be available
1. It speaks of "New Leader Essentials" which is just a recent change
2. The materials needed for each session is incomplete. As you read through the training it will be of a resource, book, brochure, or something else, but it is not contained in the materials list.
3. Off to the side periodically it makes reference to a slide in the PowerPoint presentation. It would be just as helpful in the training to also list the resources as they need passed out in that same area.
4. In one of the last sessions it talks about passing out several pieces of paperwork and it says they are contained on the CD. Only about a third of the resources are actually on the CD. If a page with links to the current information could be placed on the national website or even in MyBSA if they need to be kept secure, that would make it easy to always have the most current resources available for all training
5. The training refers to posters and honestly I've never seen any posters associated with the training.
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Can you imagine would it would be like for all employed in BSA longer than 10 years to receive in appreciation for their time, service and committment, to be given one extra week for every ten years of service?
It would also be an incentive for those qualified, working towards staying in BSA 10 years or longer?
Currently for some, 10 years of service by an BSA employee or longer, receives 22 days (+1 floating holiday). Now, ten more years later, why not allow another one week of vacation for each additonal ten years of service?
The Plan: (Which covers weekends or work days)
10 years = 22 days +1 floating holiday
20 years = 29 days + 1 floating holiday
30 years = 36 days + 1 floating holiday
40 years = 43 days + 1 floating holiday
From a medical standpoint, is it true the longer we work, live and age, the more suseptible we may become for health conditions, iliness, sickness...etc?
Why not allow everyone the chance to relax, be refreshed, take a longer two- week type vacation, etc... and come back revitalized and invigorated?
This Plan would do exactly that. It could help BSA employees relieve their stress, spend quality time with family, or just get away from work and return recharged as more productive and energetic employees.
Compared to the accumulative number of sick days taken by all BSA employees, this PLAN may actually reduce the cost to the BSA overall? It would not cost national BSA in the long run, but actually make more efficient employees.
Think about it? Expecially in times of economic situations where salaries may be frozen and increases are becoming rare. Extra vacation time would be a true benefit and save thousands of dollars to BSA.
Note: From an administrative viewpoint, vacation time would still be subject to the approval of each supervisor and work schedule, whereas people are not taking off all during peak workloads or periods. That would remain constant.
Hope this makes sense? What do you think?
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I am not sure if this functionality is available, so please comment on how to access it if it is!
I think we could empower families to "take action" when there is a problem within a unit if we were able to send a template email to each email address entered for a new member on a specified schedule through our mass email system.
I recognize this could be a commissioner function, but I think it is too easy to pass up if it is all automated.
The schedule could include:
1.) (2 weeks after their entered in ScoutNET) Welcome to the Scouting family - this email could just give them a few helpful hints as they start their Scouting journey (i.e. the phone number to the council service center if they have any concerns, the location of the nearest Scout shop to purchase uniform parts, books, etc., and perhaps what they should expect from their unit in the 1st 3 months)
2.) (3 months after their entered in ScoutNET) We hope you are enjoying the program - this email could just reinforce what they should be receiving from their unit (i.e. den meetings occuring regularly, pack meetings, Scout troop meetings, etc.) This would empower them to contact us if they aren't getting the program WE expect. (because they don't know any better as a unit)
3.) (8 months)
Again, new parents don't know what to expect, so these emails could explain what they should be getting from their unit. Parents will be encouraged to email or call with issues and we can more quickly solve problems and retain these families before they "drop out".
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Switch is a pilot program created to focus on the health and wellness of Cub Scout families. The program focuses on changing the scout’s behavior by reducing their screen time (computer and TV); increasing physical activity; and increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables eaten. Hence “Switch” what you Do, View and Chew!
The pilot program uses monthly themed workbooks to gradually change the behavior of the scout and scout’s family by monitoring physical activity, media viewing and diet, then setting goals for each participant to improve. All goals and daily results are kept in a logbook or journal. The monthly workbook also contains “Switch” promotional and informational “chotchkies” that help the scouts keep up with their progress in the program.
Background:
Developed by the Northern Star Council in conjunction with the National Institute on Media and the Family, the pilot program will use NIMF’s Switch curriculum as originally designed. The NIMF field tested the current program with over 1,300 families and produced favorable results in health and wellness behavioral changes. The program was developed for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders and will be tested in the Prairie Lakes District of the Northern Star Council using first year Webelos. The first phase of the pilot program (2009) has had an estimated 30 participants.
The second phase of the program is scheduled to launch in late 2009 and anticipates an increase in participants using the same curriculum. The third phase of the program is planned to have the entire Northern Star Council participating in a tailor-made program for the BSA tied to Cub Scout advancement based on the original Switch curriculum and the results from phases one and two.
Status:
Currently, the Northern Star Council is completing their review of the first phase results and are preparing for a second year of testing by enrolling participants for phase two. Additionally, it has been recommended by the parents of program participants to put more information online to support the individual families. The council is currently working to accommodate this request.
Please contact Allie Gardiner agardiner@northernstarbsa.org of the Northern Star Council or Merril Davis merril.davis@scouting.org of the Innovation Team with any questions.
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I noticed in working with my volunteers on the Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster Specific Training that the First Class-First Year tracking sheet is out of date. It is missing several updated requirements that have been added in the last few years. It also doesn't have the new requirements for the 2010 edition of the Scout handbook. It would be great to have this updated as I have many troops that use this form.
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Our Scouts would love to see a Spelunking Merit Badge. They have gone caving twice with professional spelunkers and
Loved it! They have asked me about a caving badge and I have not even found a ‘fun patch’ for them. Just thought I would
give you another idea for a new merit badge.
Thanks,
Carol Combes
Troop 74
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It would be very helpful to have an Advancement Percentage instead of just the raw number of advancement on the District Advancement report.
If a pack has 10 advancements in a year is that good or bad? It is great if they only have 7 boys (143%) but horrible if they have 80 (12.5%).
I have been figuring out the unit percentages by hand. I would be helpful to have mybsa or scoutnet do the calculation for us.
Number 4 on the 2010 Centennial Quality Unit Award says: "We will have _____ percent of our youth earn advancement awards."
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We need to create a new magazine that is coed based. The name Boys' Life immediately excludes girls from reading the magazine. Boys' Life has great content and well written articles, which that age group can relate too, but we need to refocus a version to be coed and expand the articles. We could really have an impact on high school youth with a good coed high school aged magazine that focuses on positive youth development.
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When trying to input a new Unit Leader, CC, or CR, ScoutNET will not allow it if the unit already has someone registered in that position. This forces me to have to go in and manually change the position of the current Unit Leader, CC or CR before I can enter the new one.
If I am trying to input a new leader for that position, it should be obvious that the current leader in that position isn't holding that position any longer. Let's enable ScoutNET to make that change automatically, altering a current Unit Leader's, CC's or CR's registration status to another, non-conflicting leadership position (such as Committee Member).
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The parking lot is in desperate need of a "face lift". The way the parking lot is now, there are too many opportunites for people to fall and sometimes seriously hurt themselves.
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I propose to make Triathlon a merit badge. Swimming, biking and running are life long skills that every boy should know. There are many other elements involved in the sport. One must be prepared at any distance during a triathlon. Lots of things can happen during an event, flats on the bike, nervous stomach, shoe laces break and all sorts of other things. You must be mentally awake. Also know that you don't have to have the most expensive bike and shoes for this sport. Races include paraplegic and amputees, this can be discussed in a section with alternative requirements to include special needs scouts.
Most triathletes that you will meet have also done service work. Many of us volunteer to work the races and help others. Races take a lot of people doing a lot of different things. I do have two pro triathletes that are waiting to help with this project. One is Pip Taylor, a nutritional specialist. Adding diet to this project will give us another thing to fight childhood obesity. The other is Ben Hoffman who trains with NTTC. Ben could give us a prime example of a race day plan.
Triathlon is the fastest growing sport in the world. There are sprint, Olympic, half-iron man and iron man distance. We can scale a Scout triathlon or Scout distance to fit our needs. We can make it challenging and reasonable for our boys. There are many times that sports take boys away from Scouts. I propose that we add this to attract boys to Scouting.
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We are in the process of offering Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster Leader Specific Training. I've noticed there is some information in it that is inaccurate or needing updating because of updates to the program in the last few years and the updates coming in the future. It would be great to have an updated version of Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster Leader Specific Training. I looked at ScoutStuff.org and noticed it is no longer for sale, so I'm assuming their is a revision underway, but it would be great to know on any major document or resource when major revisions of them are underway and include a time-line of roll-out of that document or resource.
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Merging names is USUALLY easy. It is supposed to move ALL information into the remaining name. This is NOT so!! If there is a middle name/initial in the name being merged (not the remaining name), that infomation is not copied into the remaining name. Why isn't this happening?
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When running the District Advancement Report it would be nice to have the opption to sort by district by unit number.
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It would be nice if all of the BSA sites that require user names and passwords would allow us to use the same combination we use to access MyBSA.
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Update the individual Scout record form to match the 2009 Boy Scout Handbook.
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Innovation Engine vote count used to let you hover your mouse over the 'Vote Up/Vote Down' box and it would show you the number voting up and the number voting down. This would let you know if the +10 were actually 10 people were voting something up or if 100 were voting up and 90 were voting down leaving a total of +10. I liked that ability. It let me know if it was a popular idea or if people weren't that interested enough to vote.
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Is there a way that we can have the Policy and Procedure Manual as an E-Manual, this would save a lot of ink,paper, and less use of the printer which would save money in the shops budget. We always seem to have these updates to print, wouldnt it be much more cost effective to just add any update via e-mail.
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With the increasing popularity of the food network and the fact that almost every local television station has it’s own food spot on a morning or weekend news program there is a market here to reach out to.
Shows like Dinner Impossible could be approached to try cooking at the NSJ 2010, Philmont, or The Campaganza being held in Northwestern Pennsylvania.
Challenge the Iron Chefs to use charcoal as the secret ingredient at a Scout camp. Could Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, & Emeril do patrol style cooking. Challenge Rachel Ray to 30 minute camping meals.
There are too many options to list.
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As an employ of an organization that touts reduce, reuse, recycle it would be great if the national organization created a partnership with a recycling company. Many states provide free outdoor recycle bins, however finding the smaller version for your desk at no cost is impossible. As an employee of a large council I would like to see the vast quanities of paper we toss, put in a blue recycle can. So how do we make this happen?
Moderator Comments
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Let me access advancement off of Mybsa.org from a home PC (where I work out of). I'm a DE and can't get information to my Advancement chairman without having to go through the registar.
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Is it possible to set up Unit Money Earning Applications on-line, just as we do Tour Permits?
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It would be great if every unit in a district or council would be 100% online Advancement. The current system does help Cub Packs because they can't add belt loops and arrow points. I know that its not advancement but important to all the boys and packs. If the online advancement had a section where packs could record and keep track of the data for belt loops and arrow points then they would be more willing to sign up for online advacement.
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Will 1910 'Throwback' uniforms be available for the Jamboree?
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