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Karl Shelton

Karl Shelton
Member since : Feb-26-2009 (Verified)
4 Ideas, 7 Comments, 164 Votes

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Ideas Posted

When a Scout transfers from one council to another and provides their BSA ID number, there should be a means by which individual's data in ScoutNet is transferred from the old council to the new and generate a report of transferred Scouts for both councils. This would be helpful for scouts and their families, registrars, and even for field staff who are looking at membership numbers.
I know that many of our Cub age prospects enjoy computer based learning games. What if we created a CD game with animation that allowed a young man to virtually participate in a few activities. Making a paper airplane, building a bird house, sending a morse code message. We could weave in intermittent activities where the animated cubs would line up and say the Pledge of Allegiance or the Cub Scout Oath. The end would encourage them to visit a local pack. The sleeves could be individualized to the council with a place for packs, using a template, print their information on it as well.

Similar things could be made for the other programs, but I don't think they'd be as effective.
If when we look up a person in the PSA Find in ScoutNet, we could click a button to create a v.card, a file which is read by outlook and other softwares which would automatically populate the name, address, phone numbers etc. and can be saved. For those of us who use the Blackberry Enterprise or other linked smartphones, it would then automatically be entered into our telephone for future use.
From the Tiger to Eagle we have pins to provide for parents. My wife and I both have a long ribbon of medals for our son. When he began receiving awards in Venturing, we put duplicates of the device for his Bronze award (designed for the ribbon of the medal) on our ribbons. When he acheived Gold and then Silver, nothing.

I propose that our supply division offer a lapel pin size of Gold and Silver. (The QM, Trust, Quest, Ranger also if they don't exist) I believe that, in addition to our parents, many of our young adults would also buy them to wear on suits and other clothes during interviews.
Moderator Comments
6/29/09
From: BJ Ryon, Product Manager, Supply Group

Thank you for bringing the lack of these products to our attention. Supply Group will consult with the national council to determine the feasibility of adding these new parent items.
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Comments Posted

Karl Shelton 2 months ago
My son received a congratulatory letter from Obama. It arrived one week in advance of his Court of Honor.
Karl Shelton 2 months ago
With all due respect and gratitude to Mr. Salay for his service. I disagree. If we offer a miliatry knot we should certainly offer our Police and Fire knots for standing in harms way every day.

How about a Clergy knot. Or a teacher knot. There are many heroes in our world. The military deserves our thanks and our gratitude for their service, but I do not believe that a knot is the way to get there.
Karl Shelton 2 months ago
I vote against changing the Venturing age, but I am strongly in favor of a coed from top to bottom program, with some portions being worked in gender segregated events with nearly identical programing.

In my experience as a Venturing Crew Advisor, the preteens (in fact any middle schoolers) rarely have anywhere close to the skill set required to be successful contributing Venturers the way that the program is written.
Karl Shelton 7 months ago
Perhaps we could get a noteable media Eagle Scout like Steven Speilberg to direct something. From Jaws to Saving Private Ryan to Pink and the Brain, he knows how to tell a story.
Karl Shelton 7 months ago
There is a risk factor in linking BSA to the historic motorcycle culture and potentially a risk of being seen as promoting motorcycling which may bother many parents.

If this were coupled with an article on Motorcycle saftey in Boy's Life. Perhaps Chief Mazzuca could take the Motorcycle Safety course. He would need to wear proper safety gear at all times. A helmet with custom Scouting logos painted on and a leather jacket with a Centennial Jacket patch stiched on, would make great sidebar articles to the overall story.

If the Chief didn't want to ride the OCC chopper itself, perhaps he could ride in the Rose parade in the sidecar of a 1910 Harley while someone else rides the chopper.
Karl Shelton 8 months ago
(In response to pcowan) I understand, but we already do that in the Venturing program. One of the 9 of 11 requirements for the Religious Life bronze is to earn the religious medal. An absolute requirement for the TRUST is to earn the award for your faith.

The difference is that Eagle is a more mainstream award and the mark of success in the program. Trust is one of the advanced proficiency awards, definitely a challenging award, but not mainstream. You can be a successful Venturer and not earn it.

(To Joe)I completely agree that Eagle is earned. I am not opposed to hard work. It is the inconsistency of difficulty within the medals with which I would find fault. You could not require the medal to be earned at any specific time other than prior to Eagle because that would discourage a new Scout from pursuing his religious award early; I agree with pcowan, "closest" really doesn't cut it.

Perhaps if the requirement were to be something like, "Do one of the following:
1. Earn a religious award, appropriate for Boy Scout age.
2. Volunteer 25 hours for a faith based organization of your choice.
3. Write a 2500 word essay on your religious beliefs and how they influence your citizenship in family, community and world."

The more I think, the more I think it would fit nicely into the Family Life MB. It puts the topic back into the home or local faith institution, but still emphasizes the importance of faith in our current and future life.
Karl Shelton 8 months ago
The religious medals have a very wide range of difficulty between age ranges and faiths. For some there would be a distinction of requirements between the middle school aged boy and the high school aged boy.

The ideals in the oath do not require the participation in any organized religious institution.

If we were to include the development/exploration of faith, I believe we would want to have a requirement, perhaps for Star or Life, which would be a faith related item. It could be, take part in a community service which is related to your faith and discuss this with your Scoutmaster. Or it could be learn about your faith and two other faiths and give a brief presentation on the difference.

It could be woven into the Family Life Merit Badge or one of the Citizenships, which would ask you to "research your family faith tradition. In your family meeting share what you have learned with your family." Or, "What is the role of faith in the colonization of America" Or, "Describe the role of religion in both positive and negative global impacts. Describe how you own faith relates to that."

BTW, I am an ordained Christian minister, who has taught to completion many youth of all ages through our own awards and completely believes in their value. As a part of the Bronze and Trust Awards, you bet. Eagle...no.