SAT/ACT Software for Scouts

Any of you with high school students will be interested in this arrangement the BSA has with eKnowledge and sponsored by the NFL and MLB.  An eKnowldege SAT/ACT prep software is being made available to any scouts.  See the BSA site at www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/eKnowledge.aspx for details.  The $200 software is being offered for a nominal support/maintenance fee of $13.84.

Modifications to the Cub Scout Program are coming in 2010

The Cub Scout program is being updated for 2010.  For some early information check out http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts2010.aspx.

Celebrate the Adventure photo contest

I know a lot of you take pictures of your scouting activities. There is a photo contest being conducted by Scouting Magazine that ends Oct. 1. If you have some good pictures you'd like to submit check out the rules for entering at www.scoutingmagazine.org/photocontest/.

BSA Branding

The National Council of the BSA is putting a big marketing effort into defining the "Brand" of scouting. What is Brand? For a good summary you can view the presenation from the National Annual Meeting on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGUz-CHfnAw.

"Scouting for Adventure" TV Show

Don't miss the premiere of Season Two of the Boys' Life TV show, Scouting for Adventure.

Season Two premieres July 1, 2009, on The Outdoor Channel and each episode will run at the following times:
Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m.
Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Sundays at 6 a.m.
All times are Eastern.
The episodes were filmed at national high adventure bases and Scout camps across the country.

Details are available at the Boys' Life website.

National Annual Meeting Notes From Day 2

At the Annual Meeting, there are some general sessions and various elective sessions that deal with different specific subjects. So a lot more goes on than what I have here. The big emphsis was on the brand having five key elements: Leadership, Achievement, Character, Service, and Outdoors.
1) At the Annual Business Meeting the slate of officers was elected and any resolutions are voted on. At the end of the meeting, two parents of scouts who lost their lives at Little Sioux Scout Ranch spoke. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room by the time they were done thanking us, the BSA, for our support. It was quite moving.
2) New National Youth Leadership Society: This is a new program for Venturers (with plan to extend to the other programs). A Venturer can be nominated by their local council if they have completed the following training: VLSC, Kodiak, Kodiak X, Mentoring in Action, and Trainers EDGE. A council can nominate as many Venturers as they want but there is a $100 fee. The Venturer receives a nice frame with certificate and two photos of the Venturer. There is an effort to make something similar to Kodiak and Kodiak X available to Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts to be available next year. The Venturing program is scheduled to begin in August.
3) Crisis Communications: This was a well presented session on how to properly deal with the press in a crisis situation. The basic concept for me, as a council president, confirmed that this should normally be handled by the Scout Executive. However there are some circumstances when a volunteer may be involved.
4) The big finale is the National Council Recognition Dinner where the Silver Buffalo awards were presented. As I reported earlier our own Chuck Walneck, former Blackhawk Area Counicl President, received the award as well. Jeff Gordon wasn’t there, he received his earlier and had a tape of his acceptance.
5) National Supply Division showed a number of new items that are not yet available. Most will be out this summer. I'll post some pictures separately later.

Chuck Walneck Receives Silver Buffalo

This evening at the Closing Banquet of the National Annual Meeting Chuck Walneck received the Silver Buffalo. Chuck becomes the fouth recipient from Blackhawk Area Council.

National Annual Meeting Notes From Day 1

Some items from the National Annual Meeting:
- A relationship is being worked on with the NFL.
- The Innovation Council is testing the use of Personal Water Craft and ATVs.
- Uniform changes are being considered based on input received.

Strategic Planning:
- The development process of a new strategic planning program is underway. It should be rolled out in time for the 2011-2015 strategic plan.

A new Council Solutions group has been formed to provide tactical support and solutions to the council.
1) Financial Solutions
2) Financial Support & 100th Anniversary Support
3) Tenure of Members
4) Growth in Membership
- A strategy planning tool is being rolled out.
- A special National Council Strategic Solutions Wood Badge course is being offered at Sea Base in Jan 2010

Marketing:
- Coordinated marketing materials are being developed. “Brand on Demand” will make these materials available to the councils.
- BSA has a Facebook Page, Twitter Page, and will have a YouTube Channel.
- Scouting.org will change its look on June 1.
- July will begin web hosting for councils on the national server.
- A television show “Are You Tougher Than A Boy Scout” is being developed where Boy Scouts will compete with others in outdoor skills.

100th Anniversary
- MLB Pitch for Scouting was rolled out with Lou Brock as the spokesman.

2010 Jamboree, some new activities being planned
- Technology Quest in the Arts & Sciences Area
- Camp Thunder – Shotgun but beyond skeet shooting
- OA Adventure – “Mysterium Compass”
- The 100th Anniversary show will be in the morning, the Shining Light show will be the last night of the Jamboree.

National Scouting Community, if you need your BSA ID you can contact the National Service Desk at 800-627-3025

Lou Brock introduces Pitch for Scouting

At the national convention Lou Brock introduced the Anniversary program working with MLB.

Some more 100th Anniversary items on display. These items are supposed to be available this summer.

National Convention 2

The are several new 100 Anniversary items that are being displayed. The attached, not a very good picture, is a large knife that has several famous scouters, like BP, etched into the blade and plated in gold. I'll get some other shots up tonight.

Centennial Quality Unit Goals

We are now entering the third year of a four year quality program called the Centennial Quality Awards Program. Each unit establishes for itself goals in predefined areas which have been determined to provide a measure of how well a unit is doing. Even though we are in the third year of the program, I still hear comments about how hard it is. When I run into this and start asking questions it is almost always a result of misinformation; either on the part of the unit leaders or in some cases whoever provided them with the original directions.

Let’s start with the hardest goal - Retention. What is an appropriate goal for retention? Since it is different for every unit and their particular circumstances you should look at your 2007 and 2008 retention numbers as a guide. If you don’t have these they are easy to calculate. Take the number of boys on your charter on January 1 of that year (X). Now determine how many of those you removed when you rechartered that same year (Y). Remember Y includes 5th Grade Webelos for packs and youth that have aged out for troops and crews. Then you can do the simple math, (X-Y)/X, to get the percentage. There is your actual retention number. It’s that simple - don’t let anyone over complicate it. If you have already rechartered, since we do not drop scouts from charters outside of rechartering time, you already know this year’s retention number. You can debate whether this is the best way to calculate retention, but you can’t argue that it hasn’t been consistent over time and between units.

Scouting for Food & Good Turn for America

Is your unit participating in Scouting for Food this week? Today, more people are going hungry in this country than at any other time in the past 25 years. The latest studies show that more than 20 million Americans, including 4 million children, go hungry at some time every month. Your participation this week will directly aid families in your community. It takes just a little time and can mean so much.

Don't forget that the time your unit spends in support of Scouting for Food is a service to the community that should be recognized by filing your unit hours in the Good Turn for America program. Good Turn for America {site} provides an avenue for councils to highlight the service that's going on now, including individual service projects and efforts conducted in partnership with organizations such as The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, the American Heart Association, and others. Each year through 2010, the Boy Scouts of America will sponsor a national reporting day. This event will provide a platform to report service successes back to our communities. Each unit has received a registration number to use to enter your service hours. If you do not remember yours you can contact the council office to get the information.

The 12th Point

This coming week is the scouting anniversary week. Scouting anniversary week kicks off with Scout Sunday on February 8th and concludes with Scout Sabbath on February 14th. These dates give us an opportunity to publicaly demonstrate the 12th point of the Scout Law ... a Scout is Reverant. Many units will work with the church/synagogue to set a particular service that their scouts can attend together others will have their scouts participate individually with their families. Whichever your unit does, I'd encourage you to have all scouts and scouters to attend in uniform.

Eagle Scout - Dinner and Scholarships

This time of year there are a number of opportunities for Eagle Scouts.

If you are an Eagle Scout, you should plan to attend the Council Recognition Dinner on March 8th to honor the Eagle Scout class of 2008. If you are a member of the Class of 2008, you are invited to send in some pictures of your project for use in the video presentation to be played during the dinner. Those pictures can be emailed to Phil McCrery at phmccrer@bsamail.org by February 13.

In addition to the Council Recognition Dinner, now is the time to submit applications for various scholarships that are available to Eagle Scouts.

National Eagle Scout Association Scholarships (application due 1/31/09): NESA awards a varying number of national $3,000 scholarships each year from its general fund, in addition to the Mabel and Lawrence S. Cooke Scholarships. These include four $20,000 awards (payable at $5,000 per year) and one $48,000 scholarship (up to $12,000 for four years). In addition, the Hall/Mc-Elwain Merit Scholarship pays a varying number of Eagle Scouts $1,000 awards. As merit-based awards, these are available to students from their senior year in high school through their junior year in college. Applications can be found at www.nesa.org.

Within Blackhawk Area Council there are two additional types of scholarships available.

Wayne & Ruth Diehl Scholarship (applications due 1/5/09): This scholarship provides financial assistance in the amount of $1,000 for education and training beyond high school. The application form is available from the Blackhawk Area Council Service Center.

Ray & Nola Wood Scholarship: This scholarship provides financial aid to a student accepted into a four year program at Rockford College. Information is available through the Financial Aid Office at Rockford College.

2010 National Jamboree

Are your scouts interested in attending the 2010 National Jamboree? If so, NOW is the time to register. The council will be making a decision on how many scouts will get to attend from our council in early January 2009. The maximum number of Boy Scouts, council wide, is 72 scouts. That is less than one per troop. Make sure all of your scouts are aware that there is an important deadline coming up SOON so that they have a chance to register.