Ideas to Help New Scouts be Successful

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Ideas to Help New Scouts be Successful

Adventure Weekend

Nationally more than half of all new Scouts drop out during their first year in a troop! Troop 97's 'Adventure Weekend' helps new Scouts (& parents) get off to a solid start. It develops enthusiasm among new Scouts and their parents, and it helps them understand many of the mysteries of Scouting (it also helps teach parents about the significant differences between Cub Scouting/Webelos and troop-level Scouting).

We expect all new Scouts to go to summer camp their first year in the troop. We tell them (and their parents) that summer camp doesn't end our activity year—it begins it. And our new Scouts get to start summer camp one day earlier than the other Scouts. With permission from the summer camp, we move into our summer camp campsite a day early, on Saturday (as soon as the previous week's troops have departed). For the next 24 hours, our Troop Guide(s) and other older Scouts working under the direction of the troop guide(s) will teach the new Scouts how advancement works, teach them basic Scouting skills, and help them earn their first rank(s). We have adults to assist the Scouts as needed, to offer Scoutmaster Conferences, and to conduct Boards of Review.

We also take the new Scouts on a camp tour. This not only shows them where things are, but also makes them the experts on camp locations and new activities when the rest of the troop shows up on Sunday. New Scouts will cook as a patrol, camp as a patrol, learn about the mysteries of Scout advancement (how it works, who to contact, about Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review). Some new Scout parents will get to be members of a board of review (not for their own son/daughter, of course), which gives them experience and insight into troop-level Scouting, and provides resources for future boards of review.

The Adventure Weekend agenda is planned by the Troop Guide(s) in consultation with the Scoutmaster or the Assistant Scoutmaster responsible for advising the Troop Guides. The weekend is run by the Scouts, with many adults around to provide assistance when called on, conferences, and reviews. We "expect" at least one parent of each new Scout to attend (and most do). That way, they also learn many of the mysteries of Scout advancement, Scout patrol camping, and what their new role is. Remember, most of these new Scouts and their parents came out of Cub Scouts, where adults do everything, so troop-level Scouting is a dramatic change most are unprepared for!

By the Adventure Weekend, many of the new Scouts who joined in winter have already earned their first rank or two, while those who joined in late spring may just be earning their Scout rank. So we must be prepared to teach the skills related to all four lower ranks (Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class). That takes quite a few older Scouts and a number of adults (we typically will have about one older Scout for each new Scout).

New Scout Patrol

We place all our new Scouts in a special New Scout Patrol, led by a couple of experienced senior Scouts called Troop Guides. We also assign an adult Assistant Scoutmaster to work with the Troop Guides as an advisor. Most Scouts join the troop in the winter and spring, and will remain in the New Scout Patrol until summer camp. At most troop meetings, the Troop Guides plan a program for the new Scouts separate from the regular troop meeting program. Mostly, they will work on basic Scout skills, and work toward the Scout and Tenderfoot ranks. On campouts, the New Scout Patrol camps like any other patrol, with the Troop Guides teaching them the basic skills. Although some things may be taught by an adult, most teaching is done by the Troop Guides and by other senior Scouts who may be asked to help out.

By summer camp, most new Scouts have been in the troop for a few months and have been on a couple of weekend campouts. They should have made new friends, and are getting to know enough about the other Scouts in the troop to know who they most like to do things with. So during summer camp, the New Scout Patrol disappears. Our new Scouts have two choices: they can choose to join one of the regular patrols already in existence, or they can get together with a number of other Scouts and organize a new patrol. In this case, they need to find a qualified First Class (or higher) Scout to be their patrol leader (we don't allow a Scout to be a patrol leader until he has been a Scout for at least a year—if he tries it sooner, he is likely to find this challenging job is just plain miserable).

At the Adventure Weekend which begins summer camp in our troop, the new Scouts are still new. By the end of summer camp they may still be younger Scouts, but they are no longer new.

Troop Guides & Senior Troop Guide

The Troop Guide is a standard BSA position for an experienced older Scout who volunteers to work with new Scouts to help them get started. In our troop, Troop Guides must be at least Star rank, and must have been a patrol leader of a regular patrol. This is a vitally important job, to get our new Scouts started right (remember, nationally, more than half of all new Scouts drop out their first year; in our troop, we have found that if we can keep a new Scout for the first year, he will stay an average of about four years, which is more than double the national average).

Some years we have one New Scout patrol; other times we may have enough new Scouts to form two separate New Scout patrols. Each has separate activities led by their Troop Guides (and definitely have two or more older Scouts to work as a team with each New Scout patrol). The overall program for our new Scouts is coordinated by a senior Scout we call the senior Troop Guide (who is actually an Assistant Senior Patrol Leader with responsibility for the overall new Scout program). The senior Troop Guide's job is to make sure the Troop Guides do their job, and to coordinate and evaluate the overall program for our new Scouts, including planning and leading our Adventure Weekend for new Scouts. The senior Troop Guide might simply be the patrol leader for six or eight new Scouts. Or he might be like a senior patrol leader, coordinating the actions of several troop guides leading two (or even more) New Scout patrols. Quite often, our senior Troop Guides go on to become our troop's next Senior Patrol Leader, and their experience with the program for new Scouts has prepared them well to lead the entire troop.

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