Don't Panic! Well, at least not yet...

Crew at Wood Badge 2010

Sunday, 16 May 2010 19:55

On May 13th through May 15th, seven crewmembers from 1042 along with two Venturers from other crews staffed Days 4 and 5 of Wood Badge training for adults around the area. As far as I could see, all staffing Venturers did a great job as we presented the seven Principles of Leave No Trace and attended many of the same classes that the adults did, setting up games for the adults, and even acting in skits that the adults in their group put together.

The beginning of the three day staffing event started with us all meeting in the infamous Wal-Mart parking lot, some of us nervous, seeing as this was some of the crewmembers’ first staffing event. We all packed into our vehicles and drove to Camp Parsons, where the training was being held. Once we got to camp, we met up with the rest of the staffers and set up our sleeping area. We then set off to eat the day’s delicious dinner in the Camp Parsons mess hall and meeting the rest of the staff. Once we finished, we moved to the other side of the camp and set up our model campsite and practiced our previously written (hopefully) Leave no Trace presentations and with that (mostly) well and ready we ran off to play a game of what most would call soccer and go to bed.

Day 2 of us being there started with a rousing breakfast in the mess hall and then walking down to our model campsite and pulling off a spectacular Leave no Trace presentation that left the crowd well informed on the Principles of LNT and our Advisors shocked. We grouped up with our individually assigned Wood Badge Patrols that we would be sharing much of our time and meals with and we each helped our patrol unload their gear and set up their camping areas. After we became associated with our patrols, we ate our first lunches and found that there was a certain rivalry between the adult patrols that was both good natured and funny at the same time. We also attended a seminar about Generations in Scouting. Later that afternoon, we set up the Round Robin, a series of decision-making games that everyone had fun either participating in or watching. We all went to practice skits with our patrols. At the Campfire Bowl that night, all patrols had either a skit, song, or both that our Venturers participated in and at 9:12 that night everyone gathered to watch the International Space Station pass overhead.

The third day of staffing started with the Venturers traveling to their patrol campsites to eat a breakfast that was cooked (or not so much cooked) by their patrol and then heading to the daily flag ceremony where awards were passed out. After the Colors were posted, we attended another presentation and then headed off to the conservation project where we helped regrow the Camp Parsons Arboretum. We then returned to our patrols, ate lunch, and reviewed the Patrol Projects that we presented later that day about things they learned, some talking about lint (LNT) and even one were someone cut off their “finger” (really just a hotdog) when discussing the Guide to Safe Scouting. After the presentations, our Venturers said goodbye to the patrols by participating in a march throughout the wooded campsites that involved all of the staff and then leaving them to spend the night alone.

Our Venturers were thanked by the staff many times and were told that we did a fantastic job all weekend and I believe them wholeheartedly and I have no doubt in my mind that we will be invited to staff again.

-Stephen

A Pair of Palms

Sunday, 02 May 2010 10:02

Congrats to Eric O, who has completed a Board of Review for the awarding of his Eagle Scout Bronze (1st) and Gold (2nd) Palms. The Palms are attached to the suspension ribbon of the Eagle medal. To earn a Palm, the Scout must

Be active in your Troop or Crew for at least 3 months after becoming an Eagle Scout or after the award of last Palm.
Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
Make a satisfactory effort to develop and demonstrate leadership ability.
Earn five additional merit badges beyond those required for Eagle or last Palm.
Take Part in a Scoutmaster or Advisor conference.
Complete a board of review.

Any Scout who has achieved First Class rank in a Troop can continue his rank advancement and awards up through Eagle as a Venturer until his 18th birthday. In fact, it's usually much faster to advance as a Venturer because the Crew provides a much broader and active program for those in their middle 'teens. Additionally, he can continue his Venturing awards recognition of Bronze, Gold, Silver and the associated special awards of Quest, Trust, and Ranger until his 21st birthday. Until they are 18, any Venturer can wear their Boy Scout rank badge or Girl Scout award on their Venturing uniform. Once they turn 18, the rank/award badges or ribbons are converted to Square Knots worn above the pocket. On special occasions, a Venturer can don their full medals, no more than 5 in a single row, just above the pocket flap.

Backpacking to Camp Cleland

Sunday, 18 April 2010 18:52

The Crew drew double-duty last weekend. On Friday night, an envoy of the Cabinet (President, VP Admin, Secretary, and 1 Crew Guide) visited Camp Parsons to meet with the staff of the Centennial Wood Badge course. The Crew has been invited to serve on the 2nd weekend of the Wood Badge (Friday and Saturday, May 14-15) and needed to review the syllabus as well as introduce themselves to everyone. On mid morning Saturday, the remainder of the Crew rendezvoused with the Cabinet at Parsons for lunch.

As a light rain began to fall, everyone loaded up to drive down to Hamma Hamma. As soon as we reached the turnoff and started up the Hamma Hamma River Valley, it started raining in buckets. A hard rain. The kind of rain with the wipers going full speed and you still can't see more than a car length in front of you. We parked at the FS Trail #810, mounted up, and started up from the Trail head. It's not a difficult or technical trail, but with the heavy rain, the trail bed soon changed into a creek. We joked about taking a kayak back down and retitling the event as a Whitewater Backpacking. There was no one behind us, and everyone we encountered was coming down to escape the weather.

At Mile 3.0, we crested the ridge line and the rains finally abated. We dropped a hundred feet or so to the base of Lena Lake, and started looking for a large enough site to accommodate all 18 of us. As luck would have it, we found an open site with several adequate flat spots that were fairly free of rocks and even had a few tree stumps that could serve as tables for our camp stoves. We quickly set up the fly for our packs and pitched our tents, setting aside 2 of the Crew to start putting dinner together. Needless to say, we were just a little moist, so the hot meal hit the spot. Temperatures plummeted as soon as the bear bag was hoisted and the sun fell, so the more valiant of us set about to find as much dry wood as could be gathered; the small campfire was started with flint and steel, and while no one could claim to have been warmed or even dried out by the fire, the stories started and morale soared.

Amazingly, we awakened to a beautiful cold blue sky with alto-cumulus. The tent rain-flies came off and were set out on lakeside logs to dry in the sun....along with the rest of us. While we were breaking camp, we found a old bronze plaque bolted to a rock: Welcome to Camp Cleland, Tumwater Council, 1939. Wow, imagine that, this place was dedicated over 70 years ago by Scouting. Not surprisingly, we all stood up a little taller and hiked out in less than half the time it took to hike in the afternoon before. Day hikers coming up the trail commented incredulously, "You really camped up there last night? In that weather?" I guess there's only a short gap between being mentally tough and just being plain stubborn. We hauled out a lot of trash and wondered what Camp Cleland would look like in 2081. Back at the cars, we reflected on the weekend and promised to come back in better weather and swim the Lake.

Crew Leadership Training

Monday, 12 April 2010 10:52

For the April 9-10 weekend, we BETA-tested the new Crew Leadership Training (CLT) course which was provided to us by the BSA National Leadership Task Force. CLT is the intended replacement for the introductory Venturing Leadership Skills Course (VLSC). Due to some last minute logistics, the venue was changed from our normal meeting place to one of the Venturing family homes, including filling the back yard with the tents of the Crew and their visitors from Crews 898, 1504, and 1561. The garage was emptied and turned into a cozy multimedia "learning center".

The new CLT course is broken into three modules that cover Unit Organization (previously overlooked in VLSC), Tools of the Trade, and Leadership and Teamwork. Each learning point in the course is then reinforced with an "activity exercise", or game that reflect the objective of what needs to be learned. As an example, learning about how your Crew is organized, the duties of each of the Crew officers, advisors, and supporting committee members requires a clear understanding of each position's roles and responsibilities. No one person can do it all....thus the game is learning about How to Delegate. You can't carry ALL the balloons and be effective, right?

Another change to the training is that common terms that match all of the different leadership courses in Scouting are now present in CLT. The EDGE method (Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable) is matched up to the Stages of Team Development (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing), just as it is presented in National Youth Leadership Training, National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience, and of course, Wood Badge. Common goals, common language, common understanding. Whoda thunk?

More Articles...