Day 11: Attended the first of three Blue Golds this evening. We had one older scout (8th grade) and four young guys there to welcome two new scouts. It was great to see this older scout that has never really had much leadership experience step up and organize the younger ones. I think he's going to have a great year.

Another scout from our troop participated in his first Arrow of Light ceremony with the Order of the Arrow. He was pretty nervous but did a terrific job. The ceremony was quick and looked good from the audience's view.

I also met with the new SPL for an hour, starting his training. He still needs to get a few more guys to fill out his leadership team, but he's chomping at the bit to get moving. So, I covered some basic job duties and gave him a handful of tasks to work on - getting his TroopKit.com meetings scheduled and preparing for the Troop Leader Training session.

---

It's interesting how every six months the whole feel of the troop changes when that new SPL takes over. Sometimes the meetings are chop/chop/chop and go home, while other times they are fun and rambling offtrack half the time. Merging the styles and skills of the SPL with his ASPL and the PLs is an important task for the scoutmaster to get done early on. It's a challenge to figure out the right amount of guidance that will help the SPL take charge but not alienate his peers or let chaos reign.

I'm really looking forward to this term and how things will unfold. I expect we have probably the most enthusiastic SPL in history - kind of like a pony running and bucking in the field but not getting anywhere yet. :-) Directing that energy will be fun.

Scout On
Challenge your Scouts     Previous Post     Next Post        archives:   2013  2012  2011  2010  2009  2008  2007  2006  2005     

Site Disclosure Statement