Fox River District

WordPress 3.0 was released this weekend, and I upgraded FoxRiverBSA right away. There are many new features, but I think one of the coolest is that we will be able to host many websites from this single website, each with their own unique users, look and feel.

My plan is to give a very easily maintainable website to ALL Fox River units who want one!

I found one little mistake that I made early on that is making things a bit difficult. When I first worked on the site I tried to save the old website for some time and installed WordPress into a subdirectory – that is why you see “/blog/” as part of the URL. Because of that, I can only create unit websites also in subdirectories – in other words foxriverbsa.org/yourunit.

My goal is to provide a URL like yourunit.foxriverbsa.org that is uniquely your own! But I may have to start from scratch to make that happen.

Because of that, over the next few weeks, you may find the website is unavailable or that you may have to create a new subscription if you subscribe via RSS or email. If all goes well, this won’t be necessary but since I will be installing from scratch you never know.

I look forward to this exciting change!

It’s baseball season.

I’ll admit we haven’t been doing as much Scouting, because spring sports have taken over our schedule. Combined with the end of the school year, I haven’t had much time to write. But tonight was one of those moving experiences ~ we all have them ~ that I wanted to share.

It’s been a rough start to our season. With the exception of a non-season game in a tournament, our boys have been winless.

I’m glad I’m not the coach because it’s the kind of thing where everyone questions if the right things are happening, and when you wear the jersey, all eyes are on you. The kids are depressed, and it shows in their play.

But this isn’t really about being the last place team. After each game, we shake hands with the other team and our boys promise one another that NEXT game will be the one that matters.

Winning tonight was a pretty big deal.

Halfway through the season, they handed the other team a pretty decisive defeat. And it wasn’t just any team – it was a team with a pretty good record and near the top of our league. Throughout this game, and when we have played this team before, the coach continued to yell at and berate his players. It’s behavior I’ve seen before, even in Scouting. It’s a badge of bullying that transfers an adult’s anger to the hearts and minds of 9 and 10 year old boys.

At the end of the game the losing coach made his players run 5 laps around the bases. One boy was sobbing as he did so.

If you’re familiar with playing Little League, its rather customary the WINNING team gets to take a victory lap around the bases. This coach, who continued to belittle his players as they ran, not only affected the youth on his team, but robbed our boys of taking their first victory lap this season by refusing to yield the field. He extended his sphere of influence to every one of us there.

As we left to go get ice cream at Uncle Harry’s – our coach’s treat for winning their first game – my son said to me that he felt sorry for the kids on the other team that they lost. He was glad his team had finally won a game, but winning wasn’t that important to make the other kids feel that way.

Sometimes as adults we forget that words are more than just words.

When we wear the jersey; when we wear our Scouting uniform ~ we stand for far more than what we do on our own. Boys look up to Mom & Dad. They admire Coach. They’re eager to please their adult Leaders. Our actions say “I’m big and you’re little – so it’s OK for me to push you around.” We all get angry and frustrated once in a while. It’s easy to forget that our kids are, well – kids!

I don’t like to give that power to anyone. I try to teach my sons to stand up for what is right, and resist those who abuse that trust. Not an easy task when you’re 40, and certainly not when you’re 10.

My son struck out twice. He sat on the bench feeling pretty low and I put my hands on his shoulders. “It’s OK buddy” – three tremendously difficult words in front of your team. “Be proud you went down swinging. You’ll get it next time.” He and I were both choked up a bit.

Our boys watched the other team run the bases – then they congratulated one another, got a pat on the back from their coach, and turned their back on the field and walked away.

On another night we might not have won, but tonight our boys were clearly the better team out there.

If I had to choose between a team with a winning season that behaved like this coach did, or a team that was still growing and learning to come back to be better not just at baseball but at life, I wouldn’t hesitate one moment in making my choice.

Every now and again you run in to a weekend with so much going on, its pretty hard NOT to have something going on. This is one of those weekends!
At 8am we are already sitting at the baseball diamond half way through a tournament. Trailblazer is today, and is one of the best events of the year – Scouting the Zoo. Its free fishing weekend – and Waterford’s annual carporama where they pay you $1 per fish.
We hope you’re getting outside this weekend too!

All of this cold and wet weather has really had me down. At the high school, Prom is right around the corner -- followed by graduation, and it seems that its often sweltering during graduation. Well, that got me thinking about warm thoughts -- and what thoughts could be warmer than SUMMER CAMP!?

I’m not aware of any promotional videos for Lyle or OhDaKoTa from this year, so here are a few shot during 2008!

Feeling any warmer yet?!

Admittedly, I’m not big on pulling things from the Trailblazer or the Yahoo Groups to repost here. My hope is that you’re already receiving those publications, and as such have already received that information. If you’re not – again I strongly encourage you to make sure you are doing so! (TB signup or FRDYahooGroups signup) Each one of these electronic resources does contain different relevant information to help with your Scouting experience!

However, an article in today’s Trailblazer caught my eye: the Seno Woodland Education Center is doing Scout programs! It was buried in the “day camp news” section on Page 13, so I don’t feel too bad about pointing it out here.

A week or so ago I wrote about how as my den moved into Webelos, I found that it made sense to start making advancement activities a special event. We began visiting various museums and non-formal educational partners to help with our Webelos Badge work.

Now, to be fair to our old friends at the Pringle Nature Center, very similar programs are already offered in our district very close by. But they frequently fill up, and sell out.

For just a few dollars and a couple hours of your time, Seno will help your boys earn the Forester, Naturalist, Geologist or Scientist badges – and provide all of the materials needed to do so! You only need to show up, and take home any final activities they give you to complete with your den after the event.

Don’t know where Seno is? You’ve passed it almost every time you head to Camp OhDaKoTa! It’s located just West of our camp (almost the other side of the road!) on Hwy P in Burlington! It’s close, convenient, inexpensive, and heck – what have you got to lose?

Do you like what we’ve done with the Fox River District website? Want to create something similar for YOUR unit?

FRD is built upon the “free and open source” project “WordPress.” It’s pretty neat, actually ~ tons of very talented people have come together voluntarily to create this wonderful tool, because they know that together they can create something better than any single person can. The core of WordPress is free for use – and is constantly under development. In many ways, its much like we do in Scouting, coming together to be something greater than any of us can imagine alone.

WordPress is about to release a major upgrade. (May 15 is the current target date!) One feature of particular interest to me is that they have greatly simplified a product formerly called “WordPress Multi-User” into the standard product that FRD is built upon.

Hopefully, when I next upgrade the software that FRD runs on, I will be able to create children sites for any units that want them with only a top level domain change, like:

pack323.foxriverdistrict.org (that isn’t live yet – it’s just an example!)

WordPress 3.0 is due out yet in May, and then I have to figure out how to install and configure it, learn how to use it myself as well… When I get that all set up – I will try to host a boot camp for units that are interested in sending a potential webmaster and getting their own site set up here on our district domain.

And posting is really easy too – you can do it online, or set up Word 2007 or 2010, or even download a small application for your Blackberry or iPhone that lets you publish on the go! Photos, videos and text right from camp, as it happens – how cool is that?

And if you don’t want to host your website on the Fox River District domain, but you host it elsewhere, please let me know where your website is so I can link to it. As always, we ask all webmasters in our district to put a prominent link BACK to foxriverbsa.org and sewisbsa.com. A lot of information is posted on our district and council websites that we really want parents and volunteers to know.

Keep an eye out here, and make sure you’re part of the Fox River District Yahoo Email Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foxriverdistbsa/) or you’ll find a link on the right side of this webpage under “District Links.”

As many of you know, we recently formed Pack 323 in Waterford. Pretty cool stuff, and we have had a great time with it. However, we have been doing Pack meetings without an official flag.
I love doing flag ceremonies. It’s kind of funny, but rarely do we ever have a problem getting boys who want to either call, or be in the color guard. I think the kids enjoy it too!
Perhaps its the pomp and circumstance, or consistency of knowing what to do. Perhaps there is an extra bit of reverence during those moments, but all eyes face the color guard and for a few brief moments, we really are ‘one.’
Getting our official Pack flag is a big deal. So many boys will learn patience, respect and other virtues under those colors. They will stand proudly next to our great nation’s stars and stripes. We will Promise. We will follow the Law.
Our flag is at the start of its journey. It is still fresh and new. But it commands respect as if it were a trusted friend. It will gather us. Make lifelong friends. We will rally behind it on our Scouting journey.
Do you ever stop to think about what your flag means to your unit?

Hi, all Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Venturers (grades K-12) are invited to a chess tournament in Kenosha next Saturday, May 15^th.  The tournament is a “Swiss style” tournament (like round-robin) with no elimination.  All players will play all six rounds.  Adult supervision is required for players grades K-8.  The cost is $10 if you pre-register online by May 13^th (register online in advance, then pay at the door).  Lunch and treats will be available for purchase.  There are divisions for the various age groups (K-4, K-8 and K-12).

Cub Scouts will be able to complete the requirements for the Chess Belt Loop and Academics Pin at the tournament.  If you’re planning to earn the pin, please email me in advance so I know how many materials to bring.  Then please remind me at the tournament so I can work through the requirements with your scout.  I am including the requirements for the belt loop and pin below.

If your scout enjoys chess, this is really a fun event.  The students alternate between playing a game, and then having some “break time” before the next round starts.  During the break time, the students can hang out inside or go outdoors and burn off some energy.  If the weather is nice, you might want to bring some outdoor toys such as frisbees, footballs, basketballs, etc.

Scouts should already know how to play chess to participate in the tournament.  If your scout would like to learn how to play chess, you are welcome to visit the tournament and I will arrange for someone to teach them during the breaks.  Please contact me in advance if you’d like to do this, so I can make plans.

The event is open to the public.  So non-scouts, friends, siblings, etc are also invited.

For more information, please see the attached flier.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Yours in Scouting,

Allan Cargille

–

allancarg@gmail.com

Home 262-697-2991

<<…>>

From http://www.usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/academics/chess.asp

Requirements

Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, and Webelos Scouts may complete requirements in a family, den, pack, school, or community environment. Tiger Cubs must work with their parents or adult partners. Parents and partners do not earn loops or pins.

Belt Loop

Complete these three requirements:

1.      Identify the chess pieces and set up a chess board for play.

2.      Demonstrate the moves of each chess piece to your den leader or adult partner.

3.      Play a game of chess.

Academics Pin

Earn the Chess belt loop, and complete five of the following requirements:

1.      Demonstrate basic opening principles (such as development of pieces, control center, castle, don’t bring queen out too early, don’t move same piece twice).

2.      Visit a chess tournament and tell your den about it.

3.      Participate in a pack, school, or community chess tournament.

4.      Solve a pre-specified chess problem (e.g., “White to move and mate in three”) given to you by your adult partner.

5.      Play five games of chess.

6.      Play 10 chess games via computer or on the Internet.

7.      Read about a famous chess player. Tell your den or an adult family member about that player’s life.

8.      Describe U.S. Chess Federation ratings for chess players.

9.      Learn to write chess notation and record a game with another Scout.

10.     Present a report about the history of chess to your den or family.

This weekend most of the boys from my den visited Discovery World in Milwaukee, and earned their Engineer and Scientist Badges for Webelos. This was also Jamboree on the Trail weekend, so between our programs, we decided to hike around the relatively new Lakeshores Park created on the “island” to the East of the Summerfest grounds.

I think we learned pretty early on that the Webelos Badges were a little different than the Cub Scouting we had done previously. Most of Cubbing up until Webelos had been a lot of fun “doing.” As a den leader, I put together cool activities, and the boys learned as the worked, but it seemed that in Webelos the game changed quite a bit.

Like most dens, we chose to do the required badges: Fitness and Citizenship first. Much of those badges involves something that felt a lot more like schoolwork than it felt like the Scouting we had been doing! But right away last summer we camped with Samoset Council and got the chance to earn several more badges at camp in a completely different atmosphere. There we did Naturalist and Aquanaut. As a den, we found tons of places that could help us put FUN back in many of those badges – we did Forester & Geologist at Pringle Nature Center, and a couple of the boys did Art at the Racine Art Museum.

It wasn’t that the work was any different – but the experience the boys took away certainly was! I consider myself a pretty clever teacher and den leader – but there is something to be said for “having the right tools” when it comes to getting the job done! Especially for badges that you as a den leader may be struggling with yourself – consider finding somewhere that will teach the boys for you!

I also look at it a little like trying to take the emphasis off of me as a den leader and cubmaster, and having the boys now looking to someone more like a merit badge counselor who can tell them if they’re doing it right or not.

So what kind of things did we do? Well after laying on the bed of nails and checking themselves out on the thermal imaging camera, they got to build mousetrap powered catapults, bridges and build a working light switch out of paperclips and a Styrofoam plate. They learned that there is a lot of atmospheric pressure pushing down on them, why a baseball breaks when a curve ball is thrown, and got to zing a card out from under a washer without moving it.

Obviously they did a lot more than that, but as I got to enjoy being in the program with the boys I had to think to myself – “how would *I* have taught this?” Would I have been able to buy all of the materials and set up all of the same demonstrations? Probably not.

Some of the programs have cost us only $2-3. Others have been as high as $10. But I’m pretty sure that I would have spent at least that much on each of the boys trying to give them as great of an experience as they got at the museum.

We still have to grow some crystals – we brought home the recipe for making Rock Candy! But when we’re done, we’ll have earned two cool Webelos badges and our JOTT 2010 patch in exchange for a fun Saturday together that cost me less than what a movie would have.

Don’t forget that next weekend, Mother’s Day Weekend, is also the Jamboree on the Trail!

Scouts from all over the world promise to hike this weekend. Get out and enjoy the trail with your Pack or Troop! This is a great time of year to take the cameras out, and have the kids find all sorts of interesting animals out in the wild. Earn the Wildlife Conservation and Photography beltloops – or maybe work on that stalking, errr… TRACKING merit badge.

And participation in JOTT can be used as a requirement toward our council’s International Activities Award for Cubs and Boy Scouts.

You’ll find more at http://jott.org/