Goose Creek District Newsletter August 2013 Volume 5, Issue 1 reprinted from www.ScoutmasterCG.com, May 30, 2013 …the business of the Scouter — and a very interesting one it is — is to draw out each boy and find out what is in him, and then to catch hold of the good and develop it to the exclusion of the bad. Special Interest: There is five per cent of good even in the worst character. The District sport is to find it, and then to develop it on to an 80 or 90 per cent • Webelos-o-ree – pg 2 basis. • JSN – pg 2 Baden-Powell • Website – pg 3 The Greek god Mentor was charged with the care of Odysseus’ Advancement son Telemachus when Odysseus left for the Trojan War. Mentor’s • Guide to Advancement – pg name has become identified with those who, more or less 5 informally, share practical advice, wisdom, and knowledge with • New MBs – pg 5 less experienced colleagues. Council/National Mentors can be teachers, instructors or coaches but their role is • MyScouting Tools – pg 7 • ScubaJam – pg 8 distinct from teaching or coaching. • NOVA Awards Program – pg Mentors inspire sparks of interest into a fire of concentration and 9 development that leads people to believe in themselves, to Training achieve the improbable or impossible. They concentrate on the • IOLS – pg 14 talents and possibilities evident in those they mentor, working to • PowWow – pg 16 help them push us past perceived limitations, self-doubt and realize our full potential. Mentors have great faith in us when others may not, they are there when we falter, not to pick us up, but to show us how to pick Quick Calendar: ourselves up and keep on going. • Aug 9-10 – IOLS Training • Aug 14 – Roundtable Mentoring well is, as Baden-Powell said above, a ‘sport’ and an • Sep 11 – Roundtable ‘interesting business’. Words are the tools Mentors use to convey • Sep 18 – JSN encouragement, instruction and real faith in the individual. • Sep 28-29 – Webelos-o- ree Mentors are not busybodies or micro-managers; they don’t • Oct 5 – BSLST Training suffocate their subjects. Mentors are not glorified cheerleaders; • Oct 9 – Roundtable they maintain critical objectivity and tell you things only someone • Oct 19 – IOLS Training with an honest interest in your welfare can. Mentoring Scouts can be aimed directly at building character, but shouldn’t devolve into lecturing. As B.P. said above our job is not a direct attack on the bad, but a strengthening of the good. Mentoring Scouts is a continuous process for Scouters. Mentoring Newsletter Key: relationships may be casual or formal (the Scoutmaster, for Cub Scout Interest example, is formally charged with mentoring the youth leadership) but they ought to be coordinated so Scouts aren’t getting Boy Scout / conflicting advice from several sources at once. Venturing Interest Mentoring Scouts is not doing things for them, it’s clearing the For Everyone way, inspiring and enabling them to do things for themselves. August 2013 Page 2 District News District Website: www.GooseCreekDistrict.org Webelos-o-ree 2013 This fall (Sept 28-29) our District will be holding our 9th annual Webelos-o-ree, an overnight camping event, at Camp Snyder in Haymarket. This camping event is designed to introduce Webelos and their parents to the fun Scouting adventures ahead and to help make the transition into Boy Scouts exciting. Participation in the Webelos-o-ree is open to all those that will be fourth and fifth grade Webelos in September. The Webelos-o-ree starts off with an opening ceremony Saturday morning and wraps up Sunday after chapel services. Activities will be run by our own Boy Scout troops and can include such things as: Fire building, cooking, monkey bridge, BB shooting and/or archery, a campfire run by the Boy Scout Order of the Arrow, and much more. For the adults we’ll provide plenty of Scout leaders to answer questions about camping, joining Boy Scouts, and camping equipment. We will also hold a Webelos to Scout orientation for 2nd year Webelos and an Introduction to Webelos meeting for 1st year Webelos and their parents. A full information/registration packet is posted on the NEW District website. From the district Home page click ‘Group Pages’ to get a pop-up menu with a link to the Webelos-o-ree page. Fall Join Scouting Night (JSN) Training As we head quickly through July and towards August, the first thing everyone should realize is the JSN date has been set: Wednesday, September 18, 2013. The second thing everyone should realize is that JSN Fall Training is 100% confirmed and starting on August 6th. There is absolutely no reason to miss training this year as the five locations cover the entire county (all training starts at 7 pm): • Tuesday, August 6th: Cascades Library, Sterling (21030 Whitfield Pl, Potomac Falls) • Thursday, August 8th: Purcellville Train Station (200 N 21st St, Purcellville) • Friday, August 9th: Leesburg United Methodist Church (107 W Market St, Leesburg) • Tuesday, August 13th: Pinebrook Elementary (25480 Mindful Ct, Aldie) • Thursday, August 15th: Ashburn Library (43316 Hay Rd, Ashburn) Please plan on attending one of these trainings. If your JSN coordinator cannot make it, please let Chris Goda ([email protected]) know via email. As for the training, it is within the timeframe as last year, which should allow for better preparation for JSN itself as well as getting your family ready to return to school. District Website: www.GooseCreekDistrict.org District Facebook : www.facebook.com/pages/NCAC-Goose-Creek-District/150234058338739 Roundtable Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Goose-Creek-District-Cub-Scout-Roundtable/122441441115224 August 2013 Page 3 Updating the District Website This summer the Council migrated to a new website. The council URL is http://www.ncacbsa.org/. Since our district website is provided by Council that means that we migrated also to http://www.ncacbsa.org/goosecreek. The legacy address for the District Website (http://GooseCreekDistrict.Org) should still work but if it doesn’t you can find us via the Council website by clicking the DISTRICTS pull down menu. For changes and/or comments about the new site send an email to [email protected] . Virginia Lyme Disease Law On June 25, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and other Northern Virginia lawmakers met at Claude Moore Park in Sterling for the ceremonial signing of the Lyme Disease Information Disclosure Act of 2013. Under the new legislation, patients being tested for Lyme disease must be officially informed that a negative test result does not mean they don’t have Lyme disease. Both Loudoun and Fairfax counties have been frontlines for the incapacitating Lyme Disease. The Virginia Department of Health reports that there were an estimated 1,110 cases of Lyme Disease in the state in 2012, up 9 percent from 2011. Cases were reported in all regions of Virginia. Delegate Randy Minchew (10th District), who is also a member of our Goose Creek District Committee, was one of the patrons of the Act which was passed into law during this past General Assembly session. In appreciation of Loudoun County's high incidence of tick infestation, strong state-local-private partnership present here in combating Lyme Disease, and the significant amount of time Scouts spend in the outdoors, the Governor held the ceremonial signing of the bill into law at Claude Moore Park. Del. Minchew and Gov. McDonnell invited Goose Creek District Scouts and Scouters to attend. Present were several Boy Scouts of Troop 2970, Pack 1576, Troop 786, and Crew 1576. District Website: www.GooseCreekDistrict.org District Facebook : www.facebook.com/pages/NCAC-Goose-Creek-District/150234058338739 Roundtable Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Goose-Creek-District-Cub-Scout-Roundtable/122441441115224 August 2013 Page 4 Troop Participation in the Webelos-o-ree Over the years we have heard from several troops that one reason that they don’t participate in the Webelos-o-ree (Sept 28-29 at Camp Snyder) is that they already have enough Webelos joining their troop and don’t need to do another recruiting event. What the troops who do participate, and keep coming back, found is that this is not a recruiting event; it’s a chance for their Scouts to teach skills to others. Teaching others is the best way to really acquire deep knowledge of an area. By sharing their skills, Scouts retain their knowledge better and provide service to others. At the Webelos-o-ree each troop selects a different activity/skill that their Scouts teach the Webelos and their parents during a morning and afternoon session. And the cost? Nothing! There is no registration fee for Boy Scouts, even if they camp. The only thing required is a service project to help keep the event running (starting cooking fires, cleanup, food prep, etc.). If your troop is interested in participating in this year’s Webelos-o-ree, even if you were at last year’s, please contact [email protected] so we can coordinate the activities to be run. Unfortunately all of the sites available for troops camping have been filled and we can only accommodate troops coming in for the day. We are also looking for 4-5 Scouts, age 13 and older, who would like to be part of the Webelos-o-ree staff. The service would include helping with the flag ceremonies, running the Webelos challenge event, working the food line for supper, assistance with the campfire, and general “go to” jobs during the day. Meals, t-shirt, and work all provided free. “Onward and Upward” On the Advancement Trail New Eagles Congratulations to Goose Creek’s newest Eagle Scouts: Nickolas T Ballinger - Troop 761 Robert William Henderson - Troop 997 Michael P Bloom - Troop 1159 Taylor Prescott Henderson - Troop 1106 Connor H Bryant - Troop 1158 Joshua Isaac Holtom - Troop 1106 Jacob L Burgin - Troop 163 Brandon R Kelly - Troop 2970 Kyle Douglas Burkett - Troop 1666 Scott Lee Mason - Troop 1106 Jensen R Cameron - Troop 982 Brandon R Morris - Troop 969 Ian S Coombs - Troop 2970 Colin Mullally - Troop 969 James H.