Troop Meeting Review

After Meeting Review Troop 1616
October 27, 2008 Offsite Meeting
Central Peninsula General Hospital

For this nights meeting we had a tour and discussion of the services provide Providence Air Ambulance Service based out of Central Peninsula Hospital in soldotna, Alaska. For me personally this was a great opportunity because of the fact that I am interested in learning how to get into a career with a air ambulance service. I found out the answer to the question I have been looking at for sometime now which was great. After we had the helicopter portion completed we had a tour of the hospital conducted by Elizabeth Wilson who is the volunteer coordinator at Central Peninsula Hospital. I know Elizabeth really well because I am part of the auxillary their at the hospital, the auxillary is the volunteer department at the hospital. The tour went great and was very informal for many of our scouts.

After the the tour we sat down to run through the announcements, the scouts had a major problem with listening tonight for some reason which lead me to believe that most of the information was not effectively distributed but eventually the scouts will learn that announcements are very important. After gneral announcements I released the scouts minus the leadership group from the meeting. The leadership group talked about having a meeting to get the camporee planned and have a PLC meeting this coming sunday for 4 hours. This may seem like a long time but is not even close to the amount of time i will have to spend in order to plan the camporee since our unit is hosting the camporee.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

After Meeting Review

October 13, 2008.

The Troop's SPL was not present at the meeting and the ASPL of the Troop had to take care of the meeting for the night. The SPL was not their because of the fact that he was sick. The ASPL in my opinion definitely has more self confidence than the SPL. the ASPL did a average job for this meeting. I would not say that they did a great meeting but the meeting ran smoothly and efficiently. He started off with announcements. The only problem with the opening and announcements was that we start the meeting almost 10 minutes late because the ASPL did not look at the clock and does not have a watch or cellphone to keep track of time. Once he was instructed in getting the scouts ready for opening he did not have very many problems minus the normal troublemaker's in the Troop. After that he was loud and fairly clear with announcements. After this we had a discussion on themes for a camporee since our Troop is hosting the Fall Camporee in November. Next came the primary activity which was a advancement night. Advancement Night for the Troop is a time to work on and sign off requirements for rank advancements and get a general feel for how everyone in the Troop is doing. This is relatively easy right now since the Troop is fairly small. The Troop was able to get a lot of work done and for the most part stayed on task for the entire night which made me very happy. Finally came the closing for the meeting. For some reason this is the part of the meeting that just fell to pieces because of the fact that the ASPL was not able to get the Troop formed in a circle for the closing ceremony. The scouts just would not listen. This caused problems for the ASPL because he is good when the scouts are good but struggles when their is behavior problems. I kept reminding him to get formed up and made the comment we are not leaving until this gets done but other than those two comments I let the situation work out itself. Eventually everyone got the picture and formed into the circle for closing. I will have to discuss how to give directions to young hyperactive scouts with the ASPL next time I see him. My favorite solution is to remind the scouts gently and just raise the scout sign until you have their attention. Scouts will figure out that the more time that they have to wait for instructions or information to be given out the less time they will have for the fun activities of the meeting.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

More Quotes

Quotes of the Week


Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)


It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.Philip Adams


Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.Sophia Loren (1934 - )

Dedication

"Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never - in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."~ Winston Churchill

Life can be hectic, crazy, wild, and messed up but people must remember how to prioritize their needs and their schedules in order to live a balanced life. Living a balanced life means know when and what activities to participate in. If we all step back and look at how we spend our time each and every day many people will notice that their is time wasted. Yes everyday people waste their time.

I have noticed a pattern with certain individuals in this world that think it is okay to continually not participate or continually back out at the last minute. Yes I agree emergencies come up, I have had a few of these incidents myself, but the fact remains people need to understand that when they do not show up or participate they are not just affecting themselves they are affecting everyone in the group.

Dedication is more than just showing up and having regular participation, yes these are elements but it goes even deeper than that. Dedication in its true form requires passion. I am not talking about the passion in the form of love but passion to a group or organization. This sort of passion is not as deep as love passion but is equally if not sometimes more important in life.

So before you don't volunteer or drop out at the last minute remember it goes beyond just affecting yourself.

Yours in Scouting Service

Troop Meeting Review

After Troop Meeting Review
October 6, 2008

Tonight we had a field meeting meaning that instead of meeting at the normal location of the Soldotna Church of Christ we meet at the Soldotna Post Office in town for a orienteering course. The orienteering course in town went great, only one of the three groups of scouts completed the course but the other two groups had lots of unexperienced scouts who did not have people who did a orienteering course very recently. This meeting was primarily run by an Assistant Scoutmaster but the SPL did take charge fairly well during the flag ceremony and during announcements.

Before the regular meeting the PLC group meet to determine the meeting plans for the next three weeks. These plans were put together by the youth but the youth need to take a more active role in planning and leading activities.

One of the interesting comments made was that "I am tired of being a babysitter". I get this comment alot my solution is th tell that particular leader that yes sometimes you do have to serve as a babysitter but it does not happen all the time. Being a babysitter is not always necessary if you can find ways to actively engage scouts in activities that require most of their attention or by making sure you are setting a appropriate example.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

After Meeting Review

Troop 1616 After Meeting Review
September 29, 2008

I have one major problem that I really need to get sorted out in order to continue advancing as quick as I want to in regards to learning leadership. How do you take Scout A and Scout B who are both senior leaders of the Troop from not having self-confidence to having self-confidence in a fairly quick time. I know the saying that people will develop confidence as time goes on but these two leaders just do not seem to be making any progress in regards to self confidence. I am not trying to put Scout A and B down but I am just making observations.

One the things that I am going to be doing is giving them more and more responsibility in each meeting. We started off by just having them do announcements but are now getting to the point where they should be taking responsibility for the majority of the meeting.Hopefully time will pass and the self confidence they need to do the job will come to them otherwise it could be a rough few months for these scouts.

Back to the meeting this week we had another orienteering Classroom session. This is our last classroom session and the next monday we have a meeting will be the field session to test our newly learned skills. Hopefully are hard work at teaching and showing the skills will pay off and the scouts will have a great time. We will just have to wait for next week to come before I can tell.

Your in Scouting Service
mark
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Setting the Example

Leadership in its most basic form is all about setting the example. Setting the example is more than doing just the right thing at the right time. It should involved multiple characteristics in order to be considered a good leader. These characteristics are as follows:

1. Following Instructions: Fulfilling all instructions, laws, rules, and procedures is key to settting the example because it points out to your subordinates that rules and procedures are important and are not items to be taken lightly.

2. Trying Hard: A leader must learn the importance of working hard- as the leader of the group you should be the hardest working member of your group whether it be in scouts or not. If you do not work hard people will believe that you are a slacker and will not trust your judgment. If they do not trust your judgment you will have serious crisis on your hands very quickly. Trust is the foundation to every relationship that is formed.

3. Showing initiative: A good leader knows what to do in order to get a certain job done. He is willing to do tasks without having to be directly told to do those tasks. He also encourages others under him to do the same. He does this willingly and cheerfully.

4. Acting with maturity:A good leader shows good judgment. He must know the two faces of leaders. These two faces are the fo0ling around and the serious face. The fooling around face is for times when it is appropriate to mess around. The serious face is for times when directions and tasks must be accomplished to get to the fun parts of the day. A good leader recognizes the times for each of these faces and acts accordingly. He knows that his personal behavior whether directly or indirectly will always influence other people.

5.Knowing the Job: Generally speaking a leader should have a mastery of the skills to be used in scout but if not he recognizes other people in his group that are masters of those skills. He must
know how to apply the resources of the group in the appropriate manner to get a job done.

6. Keeping a positive attitude: Keeping a positive attitude is vital when serving in a position of power because even if you do not realize it you are always be watched by those in your group. Keeping a positive attitude will maintain the morale of your group and keep you on the good side of each member of the group. Personal frustrations or discouragement should never be apparent to people below you. Every failure should be considered a learning opportunity.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Quotes of the Week

Leadership is not about being soft or nice or purely inclusive or consensus building. The whole point is to make sure the right deicisions happen no matter how difficult or lpainful for the long term greatness of the institution and the achievement of its mission independent of consensus or popularity.

Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that assures the successful outcome of any venture.

"It is not the critic that counts nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at his best knows the triumph of high achievement; and who at his worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt

Meeting Reviews

September 15, 2008

This meeting went fairly well the primary focus was on orienteering. In our Troop currently we are going to have 4 nights of orienteering work with three being classroom sessions and the fourth being the field session with a course around town. The first night we worked on degrees and directions of a compass, and parts of a compass. it seems like that should not have taken the whole night but it did with the activities and games the leaders came up with for the night. After the regular meeting the PLC group meet for about 30 minutes to work on some leadership development issues. The focus for this night was communications. The reason why I choose this one first was because of the fact that it is one of the most basic skills a leader must master when taking on a serious leadership role in his Troop for the first time. This discussion went okay. In this topic we discussed the callout procedure for the Troop and chain of command. These sem too much like the military concepts but the truth is they are the foundations for having good communication.

September 22, 2008

This meeting was classroom session two of the Troops orienteering instruction. This time we had a review quiz game on degrees/ matching directions and parts of a compass. The majority of people remembered the majority of the information. A few struggled but everything went okay. After that the concept of taking a bearing and pacing was introduced. These are both critical concepts to be able to understand. This again took the whole meeting. The younger scouts especially this time around had a hard time get around the idea that percise degrees and percise bearings are important. It became very evident quickly who was good at be straight and who was bad at keeping a straight line. The leadership decided we will definitely have to spen another night on the concept of bearings and pacings before the field session. This night the leadership concept of the night was Be, Know, and Do. The second concept of the night was a acronym that I call stop-a. The letters stand for:

S- Stop
T- Think
O- Observe
P- Plan
A- Act

These two concepts were given to the leadership to think over the upcoming week. A discussion about one or both of these will occur this coming monday.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Order of the Arrow

Order of the Arrow Ordeal Weekend
September 12 to 14

Well just this weekend Nanuk Lodge which is part of the Great Alaska Council held their annual Fall Ordeal for the new OA candidates. This ordeal we had 3 clans of 7 guys each for a total of 21 candidates. All of them have now become ordeal members in the Order of the Arrow. I along with 6 others guys who are Ordeal level members went for becoming a Brotherhood level member of the Order. All of us passed the interviews, requirements, and sucessfully completed the ceremony. This ordeal in particular was interesting for me due to the fact that even though I was not going through the ordeal process again for granting of membership into the Order I went through the Ordeal to serve as a elagomat. Serving as a elagomat is a very important job due to the fact that you are the person who is incharge of clan of guys who are going through and experience the Ordeal process from the very first time. You must obey all of the rules and tasks the candidates go through during the weekend.

In a later post I am going to work on defining some of the important aspects and principals of the order of the arrow.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Whoops

I can not believe it has been almost four months since the last time I posted something on the blog. I guess I just had a busy summer with work, fun, and scouting all wrapped into one package. Now that school has started again I am going to be more committed to ensuring that their is a entry posted regularly.

Lets just start out with the beginning of the summer and work forward. Summer camp for my Troop was June 29 to July 5. This year we double from last year and ended up with 12 youth and three adults. We even had one scout from out of state staying with our unit. I think that having a scout from a different unit stay with us for a week for summer camp was definitely a unique experience for my guys to participate in. Not only to meet other scouts from another part of the country but to also realize the strengths and weaknesses of each Troop. Each Troop has different traditions which makes them unique but sometimes changing some Troop traditions is a really good idea.

Next on the first weekend of August we had a weekend campout on Friday to saturday. This event went well with opportunities to ride horses and for the guys to just hangout and have fun. We also during this time went down to a lake for a swim. This was a excellent weekend even though we had a really small turnout. In fact it was only 4 youth but this allowed me to do some advanced leadership work since all of the scouts present were nee leaders.

I gues I forgot to mention that all of our Troop youth leaders changed positons. The Senior Patrol leader is now Tyler, the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader is Micheal and the two Patrol Leaders are Elijah and Walter. Congragulations on your appointment to these positions, your dedication and service to the unit is greatly appreciated.

After that in September on the 5,6, and 7 we had our annual aquatic weekend. Instead of going to Hidden Lake the Troop took over the cabin and campsite for engineer lake. The weekend went wonderful with 9 youth and 3 adults attending the whole weekend. Thanks to the adult leaders to leant boats/canoes and offerred their time, it could not be done without you. This was the first major campout with lots of youth that the SPL and ASPL attended as leaders since they are fairly new. I believe the leaders needed to be more proactive but I am very happy with the maount of stuff that learned this weekend anyway.

Quote of the Week

If youth are denied opportunities to test their own strength, then the leadership foundation will be weak and unready. Equally as serious, however, is thrusting unprepared youth leaders into situations in which they fail because the demands of that situation exceed their experience and capacity. -- Robert L. Backman (Ensign, July 1973, p 84)

It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent. -- Dave Barry

Sorry i know it says Quote of the Week but sometimes you just stumble upon multiple quotes when searching that you just have to use.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day

Thanks to all the men and women who have served or are currently serving this great country.

Thanks to all those families who have loved ones or have lost loved ones in the line of duty.

We Troop 1616 and the rest of the scouting community proudly support you and the sacrifices that you have made to make this country a great one.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

After Meeting Review

After Meeting Review
Cub Scout Crossover Night 1
May 26, 2008

Yes I know that this seems a little late for most crossover ceremonies because I know the standard is usually sometime in February or March maybe even April but definitely not may. It just happens that this is the best time for the cub scout units up here on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. The Crossover went great, probably should have rehearsed for it a little more but all in all it went absolutely fabulous. This was the event that took place instead of a regular meeting, yeah that probably isn't the best solution but it is what it is.

Thanks to all the new Cub Scouts and their parents for making the decision to join Troop 1616.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Spring Camporee 2008

Spring Camporee 2008
Tustumena District, Great Alaska Council
May 16 to May 17
May 16

Friday night was arrival and setup night. The major thing was the adults interfering too much in unloading and setting up of the campsite. I expect the adults to be their to assist but it should be the responsible of the SPL for the campout to ensure the site is setup properly and all camp chores are completed. I will be talking to the SPL about the duties of a SPL during a campout in the hear future so he knows that he needs to take a more active participation level in activities. Friday night was Order of the Arrow Tap outs and unit elections. Three people from my troop went through tap outs and those were Leif D, Olen D, and Tony D. After that we a a dutch oven desert, played capture the flag with another unit at the camporee and went to bed.

May 17

Troop wake up time was 7:00 and everybody in the Troop was out of their tents by 7:50, the SPL was one of the last people out of tents which is disappointing to me as the JASM for the weekend because of the fact that it should have been him to wake up the scouts and not me. During this time we cooked dinner and had breakfast done by 8:45 because we started at approximately 7:15 even without the SPL. Cleanup was done by the adults because the adults had the idea of dismissing everyone from the site before cleanup was done. I know that I should probably not be complaining about not having to do dishes but the fact remains that it should have been the youth's responsibility for making sure camp was cleaned up. One of the older scouts did a excellent job cooking and did not have to participate in cleaning but everyone else in the Troop should have assisted in this task. After this their were about six or seven different stations to work through and earn points at, I am not going to spend time explaining each activity but i will say that all the activities put together took about 2 hours to complete. After this competition period came lunch preparation for the Dutch Oven potluck later that afternoon. My Troop decided to do gumbo but forgot the okra so we ended up we a fairly good tasting stew. After the dutch oven competition we had approximately 45 minutes of free time and then site pack up and awards. Our Troop to first place in the camporee and got a ribbon for participation. After this came time for departure. The adults did most of the packing into vehicles which disappointed me again because the youth should have to show some level of responsibility for Troop gear too.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Tuesday Meeting Review

Troop 1616 After Meeting review
May 13, 2008

The reason why this one is so late is because of homework and having a scouting meeting or activity everyday from tuesday all the way to saturday. Hopefully I will get posts out about the scout activities that happened but I may not. This meeting is the last meeting the regular SPL is not going to show up which is going to give me a chance to take a step back and work on leadership development instead of being in the middle of everything. Being on the frontlines is fun and exciting but it is not my job to be in that position anymore I am a advisor and need to start doing this job more often. Their was one major issue and that was a scout who will not be named showed up to teach a activity but was not ready to teach and I as the JASM had to step in and take over the activity. I was not irritated about it because he let me take charge of the group but the scout should have known that he was not comfortable with the skill and (A) should have not accepted to job assignment or (B) should have asked for assistance in preparing the activity. Everything except for this including the pack inspections went great. We did not have any major gear issues which is a great thing for the Troop.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Mothers Day

The Scouter's Wife and the Scout's Mother

If your laundry routine includes inspecting for red shoulder tabs ... you might be a Scouter's wife or a Scout's mother.

If a dab of Coleman fuel behind each ear is more alluring to your husband than Chanel No. 5 ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your laundry routine includes inspecting for blue cards in shirt pockets .. you might be a Scout's mother.

If a Thursday night family dinner consists of Whoppers in the car in the church parking lot .. you might be a Scouter's wife and a Scout's mother.

If you cook a nice pot roast for supper for the Scoutmaster because he came straight from work to a PLC meeting at your house, and then heat up the leftovers for your husband when he gets home, ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your only real vacation in 5 years involves driving from Maryland to Philmont with a carload of boys ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your husband plans a "night out with the boys", and you know that it will be a night _outdoors_ with boys ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your most memorable vacation with your husband was being the only woman in a crew of nine men and boys on the Allagash River in Maine .. you might be a Scouter's wife.

If you spend your honeymoon wearing green shorts and knee socks ... you might be a new Scouter's wife.

If your husband mutters in his sleep about a ticket, and you know we hasn't just caught speeding .. you might be a Scouter's wife.

If you've converted your dining room into an office, and your garage looks like L.L. Bean's attic .. you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your husband's tan line starts just above his knees, and ends three inches below his knees ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If you have shelves of coffee mugs, and you don't drink coffee ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your best china cup has a 1865 Camporee logo on it .. you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your husband has disappeared, and you know you can always find him at Price Club trying to get a deal on #10 cans of peaches for cobbler ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If you tell your husband you are expecting to hear the pitter-patter of little feet, and he thinks the PLC meeting is at your house tonight ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your husband brings home three rolls of red-white-and-blue ribbon to be sewn into Mothers' ribbons, and says "Don't worry, the Court of Honor isn't until tomorrow night and we only need 15 made" .. . and you don't have a sewing machine ... and you get it done ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If you just _know_ that the sun room will be finished, right after the next Goshen Bears workend ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If your family car seats 8, even though there are only 4 in your family ... you might be a Scouter's wife.

If the money collected for your memorial is used to but an air compressor for Scout Camp, and everyone thinks that is just right ... you were a Scouter's wife.

If you keep your Mother's ribbon, with the Eagle pin, with you _forever_, .. you were a Scouter's mother.

Copywrite: Chuck & Nancy May, June 1996.

Congratulations to all those mothers of Scouts and Wifes of Scouters for all your family members to participate and share the gift of scouting with the rest of the world. Without you their would be no scouting community. Thank you Very much.

I wanted to especially thank my own mom, Jennifer.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Socutmaster
Troop 1616

Picture of the Week

Reminder: Get out There and Do a Good Turn Daily

Quote of the Week

Quote 1
If youth are denied opportunities to test their own strength, then the leadership foundation will be weak and unready. Equally as serious, however, is thrusting unprepared youth leaders into situations in which they fail because the demands of that situation exceed their experience and capacity. -- Robert L. Backman (Ensign, July 1973, p 84)

Quote 2
One hundred years from now it will not matter what your bank account was, the sort of house you lived in, or the kind of car you drove; but the world may be different because you were important in the life of a child.- Author Unkown

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

After Meeting Review

After Meeting Review Troop 1616
May 6, 2008

The meeting on May 6, 2008 went fine. The one person who was suppose to run the dutch oven activity did not show up and did not contact me about why they did not show up to the meeting that night. I decided to investigate this issue on Wednesday and found out that it was due to family matters. I was perfectly fine with the the reason why the scout was not able to attend but was slightly disappointed that the scout did not call to inform me about his decision not to attend. The reason why this is important is because what if I was depending on that activity to take up the majority of the meeting, what would I do especially if I had no preparation time for the activity, I can't just cancel the meeting but would be placed in a very hard position. I am not saying that I do not accept that scouts will miss meetings even when they are assigned a specific job but the point I am getting across is that communication between me and scout would have gone a long ways in preventing this situation from developing. The meeting went fine and I split the time between the other two activities. Those two activities were the meal plan for the district camporee which is coming up on the 16 and 17 of may and the other activity was that of a first aid demonstration. I decided not to do a relay which was the original plan due to the fact that only 4 scouts showed up. I know that this seems too small to hold a meeting but the average Troop meeting usually has approximately 10 scouts anyway. In the first aid demonstration I focused on the treatment of fractures. I walked the scouts through upper arm, lower arm, upper leg, lower leg, wrist, and ankle fractures. I did not do neck and spine suspected fractures because those are advanced first aid skills, which do not need to be taught at the boy scout level especially when most of the scouts attending the meeting were not even Tenderfoot Rank yet. The scout who was chosen to lead the meal planning and that person is Zach did a average job in leading the activity. The one thing I think that Zach needs to work on is engaging the really young scouts in planning and logistics and activities. Everybody dislikes these activities but they are necessary in order to ensure the smooth flow of information to the Troop.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616