Information just out from the Top Hands meeting, the Scouts are on track for a record number of Scouts to earn their Eagle rank award. Fantastic!

The recent issue of Scouting reported that in 2008 Scouts earned 2.3 million merit badges. The top 10 were all Eagle required, no surprise there. The top one was First Aid (103,503) then Swimming (89,580) and Environmental Science (83,845). Think about how much better a country we are for having this many youth learning these valuable skills! Think how much better we would be if more were learning these skills. Where do the youth of our country get such opportunities? How many men got exposed to their eventual avocation through work on a merit badge? When do we open this up to females too? One of the strengths of this country is that we try to empower everyone. Scouting is part of the solution.

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The Scouts now have the Handbook available for download from the Apple iTunes app store. Talk about getting with it. Kudo’s to the Scouts. I just was on the phone with my staff adviser and I could hear the excitement in his voice about some of the technology initiatives coming out of Irving, TX. Still, there’s much more that the Scouts can do. I was asking my Exec, “Can we get cell phone reception at our camps?”. He knew - yes, but spotty but we know where those spots are. It is the future. Scouting was created by responding to what kids were doing, using B-P’s “Aids to Scouting” - a book for adults, and then shaping it. Well, that “customer focus” worked then and will work know. If we, Scouts, do not change then shame on us for membership losses.

I can’t link directly from here to the Scout handbook app. I just had my 13 year-old nephew show me that I first have to download Apple’s iTune computer application and then can get into the store. See… they know. Its us old guys that have to learn.

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Its now official, Detroit Area Council and Clinton Valley Council (Pontiac, MI) have now merged. The new Scout Executive is John LaRoush(sp?) the former Assistant Regional Executive from the Western Region. As I hear more, I’ll be sure to post. The council has not chosen a name yet but I’ve heard mention of “Southeast Michigan Council”, similar to there being a Southwest Michigan Council.

On a somewhat related note, our Area Director just took the position of Scout Executive for Portland, OR. We wish him well. Its been a turbulent year here.

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Robert just passed this on. From National Capital Area Council’s web-site:

National Scout Jamboree Site Selection Withdrawn

We regret to inform you that the Boy Scouts of America has decided to withdraw its interest in Goshen Scout Reservation as the permanent site for the National Scout Jamboree. The BSA identified too many potential obstacles in developing the Goshen site to its fullest and is pursuing other venues.

The National Capital Area Council will continue to support the outstanding outdoor programs offered at Goshen Scout Reservation. This process has identified many areas that offer great potential in strengthening our service to youth. Goshen Scout Reservation will continue to serve as our council’s classroom for character far into the future.

We appreciate your support during this long and interesting process.

While at pre-NOAC I heard from several of my contacts about the problems the Scouts were having getting local zoning approval for the development of Goshen. The numbered varied from different folks but what I was hearing was that about 100 community members were against the development. They like their rustic area and felt the influx of that many Scouts would disrupt their community. Actually, they may have been right in that some were saying this would be every four years but others were pointing out that once we have the camp, it would make sense to use it every year. Others have pointed out that it is not a flat area. Thus our traditional vision of a jamboree being fields of sub-camps with tent cities would need to change (and it well could IMHO.)

So, it must be back to the drawing board. I heard that everything with the West Virginia selection was proceeding and the state was/is wide-open to the development. Actually, the WV site is likely to become an eastern high adventure base.

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Late Update 8/5/09: The OA Committee confirmed at the end of NOAC that the next NOAC is 2012 at MSU. MSU could provide up to 17,000 dorm rooms. The Committee is looking for an attendance of around 9,000 for this NOAC. MSU is also a candidate for the 2015 100th anniverasary NOAC where attendance could be 15,000.

Looks like Michigan State (MSU) is the likely site for the next National Order of the Arrow Conference. The original plans had been to go back to Iowa State but ISU is re-doing a number of dorms, including demolition of existing dorms, such that they could only host 4,200 participants. Clearly not enough.

In re-opening the site selection we heard that Penn State also has a proposal in for consideration. Some of the problems though with PSU is getting there is not easy. It would be a different venue which can be interesting but, having been on the staff side of these events, ease of logistics trumps a LOT of other considerations.

MSU appears to be getting quite aggressive in their bidding. They have a team visiting this conference. They toured the pre-NOAC TOR. The TOR was such a success that they are looking at central facilities on campus. The original thought had been a field house that was two miles away from the main residential halls but now they are trying to find alternatives, and have some, that are right in the heart of where we would have the NOAC.

It appears that MSU, which were ambivalent hosts for the 2006 NOAC, got a strong message from the local community of how great it was to have the Scouts in town. Also, there is new leadership at the university that has gotten more entreprenurial and inviting. Basically they are bending over backwards from what I hear to try and get the conference.

Some might wonder why these mid-west universities. Its because of their size. These campuses typically have 35,000 - 45,000 students and were built on wide open spaces. While I am located near the University of MIchigan it just does not have the extra dorm space nor the required facilities close in to the dorms to make it an easy site.

Unfortunately we’ll be back to a 3 year gap in conferences so as to not land on a jamboree year. There’s talk of another National Indian Seminar to be held in Asheville, NC for one of the intervening years.

The decision on MSU is not final. It probably won’t be made until the December planning conference given that there’s still plenty of lead time. We shall see.

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Spoke with Dave Richey today of Otetiana Council Rochestor, NY that the merger with Finger Lakes Council (Geneva, NY) is now complete. As Dave reported, the Finger Lake’s Exec was promoted which led their Board to consider whether consolidation might make sense. Rochestor has one county. Finger Lakes had three but with smaller population. It seems to be a smooth merger. Now the lodge 95 guys are looking for 417 items and vice versa. At some point there will be consolidation of the lodges I expect.

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I am a member of one of the local Rotary International clubs. Rotary is one of the civic service clubs. It started in Chicago a hundred years ago. It has over 32,000 clubs and 1.2 million members. Its motto is “Service above self” which I can relate to as well as its “Four-way Test” that is a great foundation for business, family and life.

Rotary clubs continue to do a lot for youth and Scouting in particular. Most states have or have had a Camp Rotary in them.

The organization publishes a monthly magazine. Since not everyone is in Rotary I thought I’d share an article from a Rotarian about his son.

Showing up for Life

…When Trey was a Cub Scout, his troup earned the money they needed to support their activities by seling raw nuts for the holidays. Groups within the pack competed against each other to see who could raise the most money. So Trey spent countless hours going door to door soliciting orders for nuts.

On evenings and weekends, I went with him, driving to different neighborhoods and waiting in the car while he went from house to house.

It turns out that way back then Trey was recording his impresions on such things as what it’s like to go knocking on doors trying to sell a product, what factors influence buying decisions, and to what degree finding the right market for your product influences your overall success. …

Now as the late Paul Harvey would say, “And now for the rest of the story.”

This article was written by a Rotarian about his son. The dad’s name is Bill Gates, Sr. father of Bill Gates, Jr. Founder and former Chairmen of Microsoft Corporation.

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The national BSA office has completed the purchase of Goshen Scout Reservation from National Capital Area Council to be developed into a permanent site for the National Jamboree. Goshen is one of the major east coast camps although I don’t know much about the specifics. I’m sure readers can fill us in. The 2013 jamboree will be held at Goshen.

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The merger activity between councils has tapered off recently. There seems to have been certain generational waves, i.e., ever 25 years or so a flurry of mergers. There was a big wave in the early 1970s, then another in the early to mid-1990s. Of late though there has not been much. But I have now heard of two possible mergers here in Michigan.

Since this past winter, Clinton Valley Council (Pontiac, MI) and Detroit Area Council have been having exploratory discussions. There was a merger attempt between these two councils about 8 years ago that was roundly rejected particularly by the Clinton Valley side but talks appear to be more amiable this time. Because of business activity and flows this consolidation makes sense and will probably happen.

The new one I heard about last night was the need to merge off Chief Okemos Council (Lansing, MI). They’ve been an underperforming council for a while most of it due, based upon my observation, from entrenched volunteers and wasteful spending on their camp. Michigan’s economy hasn’t helped but that just exposes structural weaknesses more quickly. There is building some pressure to merge them into Great Sauk Trail (Ann Arbor) but we are resisting. We’ve worked hard to make a high performing council. Fortunately some volunteer leaders from a preceeding council, Land O’Lakes, participated in merger discussions with Lansing fifteen years ago and remember the warning signs that lead them to approach Wolverine Council. Basically an amiable merger between Jackson and Ann Arbor happened but it has still taken nearly two decades to work through certain animosities. I hate to think what would happen in a contested merger. I’m sure some of my readers know.

The current speculation is that they will be folded into Flint. That council is coming back under new professional and volunteer leadership. But putting two weak councils together does not necessarily make for a strong one. The Area Director has to deal with a council that is operating under a conditional charter, Lansing, and so for his promotibility will try to make something happen. Its a shame that merging is the solution rather than doing basic “blocking and tackling” execution in delivering a high-quality, cost-effective Scouting program. My guess is Chief Okemos is gone within a year.

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