What to Look For in a Troop PDF Print E-mail
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Monday, 27 November 2006
Visiting troops can be an overwhelming task, but you can benefit from our experience. Our adult leaders are happy to visit your next Webelos Den Meeting to talk with your parents about what things to look for in a troop. How many should you visit? How do you keep track of the ones you have seen? All troops claim to be "boy lead", but how can you tell which really are? See below some helpful tips while looking:

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD TROOP

The following are taken from BSA Publication No. 18-251, 1995 Printing, entitled Are You Delivering The Promise.

  • Troop has earned Quality Unit Award
  • Scoutmaster has completed basic training.
  • Troop follows traditional troop-meeting pattern, standard troop-meeting plan with two or more skills training groups)
  • Troop has a high ratio of active adults to youth.
  • Leaders regularly attend roundtable.
  • Troop meetings are planned at Patrol Leaders' Council meetings.
  • Woods Wisdom is used in planning Troop program.
  • A patrol for new Scouts exists, with a Troop Guide and Assistant Scoutmaster.
  • Troop adds at least ten Scouts each year.
  • Troop has an annual minimum of twenty-five days and nights of camping.
  • Troop attends a council long-term camp.
  • Leaders are proficient in outdoor skills.
  • Troop has at least twenty-one Scouts.
  • Troop has a program for older Scouts.
Other volunteers based on experience have suggested that the above not be applied rigidly as a test for a good Troop, noting that it is possible to find a Troop that meets all of the above criteria, but still fails to use the patrol method. Others have noted that in rural and some urban settings adding 10 new Scouts in a year may not be realistic for a particular unit and not valid criteria.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 06 September 2007 )
 
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