On fostering patrol competition

As I’ve mentioned before, my early scouting was very rural in nature.  (Cub Scouts and first year as a Boy Scout were in a town of 5,000 – with two Cub Scout packs and two troops.  The rest of my boyhood scouting was in a town of 15,000 with three packs and two troops.   My first three years as a Scouter were in a town of 3500 with a pack and a troop.)   As Cub Scouts, we didn’t really care about other packs, and my first boyhood troop never really compared itself with others, or possibly as a 5^th-6^th grader I just didn’t notice.

But all that changed in January 1981 when I moved a few hundred miles northwest and joined my second boyhood troop.   On our first Sunday in the new town, we visited a church.  On that bitterly cold and snowy Sunday, I was one of only three boys in the 6^th grade Sunday School class.  The other two lit up when I mentioned I was a Boy Scout – seems they both were also.  But one was from each troop in town.   The troops each met Monday night, and my method of choosing which one to visit first was simple and logical (at least to my 11-year-old mind):  one troop met at the church across the parking lot from the one we were visiting.   That meant I could tell my parents how to get there on Monday.   The other troop, it turned out, was less than two blocks away, but out of sight (and out of mind).   

By sheerest coincidence, the night I visited was the night the troop was reorganizing.   I got to vote for SPL (the very definition of “uniformed voter” – I remember asking the guy who invited me to tell me the name of “The guy on the left” so I could vote for him).  After the SPL vote, I was sent into a side room with 5 other 11 and 12 year old scouts, and we were told to elect a patrol leader, come up with a patrol name and patrol yell, and pick a night to hold a patrol meeting to make our flag before next week’s meeting.    I was hooked, and never even visited the other troop until years later when I was part of the Order of the Arrow Election Team for that troop.  (But that’s another blog post.)

My new patrol was a bunch of hot shots, and we wanted to be the best at everything.   We met to make our patrol flag, and that was a lot of fun.   So the next week, we met on Thursday, just our patrol, to practice knots.  (Did I mention our Patrol Leader’s Dad was our Chartered Organization Rep, and knew meeting plans in advance?   We practiced knots because the game the following Monday was a knot relay race and we wanted to “embarrass the patrol of older guys.”)

Given that attitude, is it any surprise that when the Spring Camp-o-ree packet came out and listed the events, we started a series of weekly patrol meetings to practice those skills?

In those first few months with my new troop, I quickly noticed that almost every week there was a reference or two made to the “other troop in town” – either of the general idea that “they’re no good” or that “we’ve got to work hard to show those guys who is the better troop!”   By the time, a couple of years later, that I realized we shouldn’t have to work so hard if the other troop wasn’t any good – well, by then I understood the game.   And I participated too, telling younger scouts they had to work hard to “be the best troop in town.”

You know where this is going . . . we were a very rural district also, and our two troops competing against each other to be the best in everything made us far and away the best two troops in the district.  (It didn’t hurt that our town of 15,000 had half the population of our county, and a third of the population of our district.   Most of the other troops in our district had only a single patrol).

I got to see the flip-side of this when I was a college student and Assistant Scoutmaster in a town of 3500.   We were the only troop in town, and had two patrols – about 8 first year scouts, and 5 or 6 older boys.  We were a fairly good troop, but we lacked that extra little spark.   Either of my hometown troops would have run rings around these guys.

When I landed at my second troop as an Assistant Scoutmaster, we had the opposite problem.   We were one of 5 troops within a 5 mile circle on the “near west side” of Springfield IL.  It was very difficult to try to be competitive against “those guys” when everywhere you turned there were more of them. And a lot of them were very old and very good troops.

Since we couldn’t win at that game, we changed the rules.   As we grew a bit, we split the troop into two very small patrols.  Our troop of six scouts in the fall of 1990, operating as a single patrol, grew to ten scouts in February 1991.  So we “converted” the elected Patrol Leader into the Senior Patrol Leader, and had him pick an Assistant SPL.   We made the SPL acting Quartermaster and ASPL acting Scribe, and divided the other 8 boys into two patrols of four.  Then we set two challenges.   1. Which patrol can reach six members first?  2.  Which patrol can get half of its members to First Class rank fastest?  The winner of each challenge was given a small prize (25 years has clouded my memory, but I suspect they got gift certificates to the Baskin-Robbins next door to the council office).

Our little competitions got a great response, and we had a bang-up year recruiting (we went from 10 Scouts in February to 34 Scouts in June of 1991), and we had observed some (ahem) issues regarding behavior of our older scouts.    

So, starting in September 1991, we began our “Honor Patrol” competition.   Every Monday evening, as Scoutmaster, I updated a spreadsheet with each patrol’s running score, and at each Court of Honor, we announced the winning patrol.   There were two prizes, and as the scouts matured, the relative value of the prizes reversed.    The immediate short-term prize was one of the ubiquitous Baskin-Robbins gift certificates. (B-R was in our neighborhood, and literally next door to the Council Office.   I usually had $10 or $15 worth of gift certificates in my briefcase.)    The second prize, which quickly became the more important of the two, was a visible symbol.  Our troop wore custom neckerchiefs, and pretty early on, we established that the current Honor Patrol wore theirs with the ends folded over about an inch before they rolled them.   This gave the neckerchiefs a distinct “cut off” appearance.  And, of course, made it easy to tell from a long distance that THIS scout was in the best patrol in the troop (at least for this quarter).

The points each patrol earned were based on whatever goals we had for the troop at the time, and changed every so often.  In general, points were awarded for members being present, in uniform and with pen, paper and Scout Handbook.   Points were given for good behavior each meeting (that is, a bank of 50 points was given to the patrol each week, and if there were behavior issues points were deducted).   Major points were given for Advancement, holding a patrol meeting separate from the troop meetings, and completing the requirements for the National Honor Patrol Award.

I bet you can guess the result . . . we usually had four patrols in the troop, and they spent a LOT of effort trying to be the best patrol in the troop.   

And in the end, that propelled us to a place as one of the best troops in the council.

Merry Christmas 2018

 Every year, my lovely bride and I debate about when to write our annual Christmas Letter.  Some years we start early (and invariably someone get sick).  Some years it’s the first snowy day of the year (too late this year – that was November 15) and some years we wait until the last minute.   We decided this year we’d try December 14.

In 12 of the last 14 Christmas Letters, I have started my 2^nd paragraph with “We’ve been busy this year” or something along those lines.   And this year was no exception.  With two boys together in the local Middle School (7^th and 8^th Grades!), we’re busy busy busy.

John started the year as a 7^th grader and was on the track team for the 2^nd year.   He’s decided however, that throwing the shot put and discus aren’t for him, and as an 8^th grader he’s switched to Scholastic Bowl.   His first competitions will be later in the spring.   He’s enjoying practices so far.   He’s really devoting himself to Scouting.  He served in the spring as Troop Guide (teaching basic skills to younger scouts) and in the fall as Troop Quartermaster (in charge of the troop’s equipment).  In August he earned his Life Rank (one below Eagle) and joined the BSA’s Honor Camper Society – the Order of the Arrow.   Late in the year, after three delays for weather, John completed his Eagle Service project.  He (and 10 of his fellow scouts) removed hundreds of invasive Bush Honeysuckle plants from a local botanical garden.   I’m sure that in next year’s Christmas letter, we’ll be telling you about John the Eagle Scout, so stay tuned!

Joshua has continued his improvements – the last several years academics have been a struggle due to his ADHD.  This year a combination of different medications and excellent teachers have made 7^th grade the best school year in a long time.   He’s also very active in Scouting, completing his Star rank (two below Eagle) at the end of the year.   He’s served since July as the troop’s Chaplain’s Aide, helping to promote religious awards and leading services on camping trips.  (He even helped open a worship service for a very large group at a District Event).   Joshua has continued his love of baking, culminating with four loaves of homemade bread the day before Thanksgiving.   He told me he’d worn himself out.   He’s VERY excited to start Foods Class at school in January.

Karen had a busy year professionally.   In March, an agency where she’d sent a resume years before called her. . . and she started as a Therapist at Living Hope Counseling Center, working primarily with children and adolescents.   That continued until December (actually, until next week) and on January 7 she starts a new full-time position at Autism Services Group, as the only Mental Therapist in their Springfield office.  This is an expansion for ASG, as they’ve never offered mental health services, and it’s exciting for Karen because she’s getting to outfit an office.  She’s buying furniture and toys and therapeutic tools on someone else’s dime!  It’s fun to be working on something else and have her come to me asking if “this 4-foot-long crayon set will look good on my wall”.  In celebration of her work with autistic children she added a puzzle piece tattoo to her right ankle.   

Karen is continuing to work with the boys’ Scout Troop, teaching junior high religious awards.   Patrick has also talked her into assisting him in teaching other adults how to administer the various religious awards (but that’s another topic for next year’s letter).   In March, the Boy Scouts recognized Karen with the God and Service Award for “Outstanding Service to Youth in the Name and to the Glory of God”

Much like his days with Secretary State, Patrick’s “enjoying” being in a public sector union in a time of strong growth in his industry.   The market prices for IT professionals have risen sharply, and several of his coworkers have departed.  But the union contact spells out maximum starting salaries so low that nobody applies for the positions – thus he’s now responsible for the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Payroll System, Federal Highway Funds System, Material Handling System and Commercial Motor Vehicle Enforcement systems.   In all, he’s doing work that four people in total were working on in 2016.   Luckily, he finds working with Scouts to be a great source of stress-relief.   He’s continuing to attend most of the camping trips that the boys attend, and especially is volunteering as a Unit Commissioner.   He’s currently working with 4 Cub Scout packs and 5 Scout Troops.   While the work is its own reward, he was pleasantly surprised this spring with the District Award of Merit.

The best events of the year, however, have concerned others in our lives. . . in April Patrick’s dad moved from Springfield to Chatham, to be closer to his sons and grandsons.  In June, Karen’s brother and sister-in-law informed us that we’d have a niece in January (although just now it looks more like she’s going to be a December baby).

We’re especially excited that we’ll be celebrating our 15^th wedding anniversary just after Christmas, and we’re going to have a very small ceremony renewing our wedding vows in front of just our sons and a minister on Thursday December 27.  (Look for pictures in NEXT year’s letter)

We’re hoping that your year is blessed and that 2019 is even better.

Patrick, Karen, John and Joshua

Merry Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas from the Provarts!

In our household, we have a firm rule that no decorations are hung until after the boys’ birthdays are complete –John’s birthday is the 15^th, and we were very busy on the 16^th, so today was the “hanging of the greens” was this afternoon, the 17^th of December.   So, the tree is up, the stockings are hung and even the presents are all bought and wrapped.

It’s given us the chance to reflect upon the year that we’ve had.  And it’s been a busy year.

Joshua had a few minor problems coping with his ADHD early in the year, but a change to medication has turned him almost literally into a different young man.  He’s a sixth grader, and still playing in the band.  He’s continued to be active in the Boy Scouts, and has earned the rank of 2^nd Class.  He’s taking winter swim lessons at the YMCA, hoping to complete his 1^st Class Scout Requirements before spring.  Joshua spends his days thinking of Minecraft, Pokémon, Legos and Baking.   We see a future for him in engineering, robotics, or culinary arts.

John’s continued in Scouting as well, earning the rank of Star Scout (two below Eagle) at the end of the summer.  He’s continued working with Cub Scouts as a Den Chief – this year with one of the Chatham Cub Packs (mom and dad are pleased his meetings are 5 minutes away instead of 25 minutes).  John also decided to become an athlete this year – throwing the Shot Put and Discus for the Glenwood Intermediate Titans.   He’s a 7^th grader, and officially a teenager.  His personal favorite milestone of the year was back-to-school shoe-shopping, when he realized his shoes are now the same size as dad’s.

As promised, the Illinois Counseling Association published Karen’s 2^nd paper in January.   She says she’s contemplating a third, but has a lot of research yet to finish.   In the meantime, she’s serving both the Cub Pack where our boys attended and their current Scout Troop as Chaplain.   It’s been a fun adjustment to Scouting, where her primary job is to advise the youth Chaplain’s Aide.   Although she’s been able to coordinate the teaching of God and Me for 1-3^rd Graders and to teach God and Family to 4-5^th Graders and in is the midst of teaching God and Church to 6-8^th graders.   To Patrick’s surprise, she’s spending some time this winter taking Outdoor Education classes from the BSA curriculum, in order to camp with the Troop.

Patrick’s as busy as ever with Scouting – he’s transitioning from a WEBELOS Leader at the pack where the boys were into serving as that pack’s unit commissioner.  A commissioner is an advisor and trainer to adult leaders and he’s now working with two cub packs (boys K-5^th Grade) and two scout troops (boys 5^th grade through age 18), and continuing to serve as an Assistant Scoutmaster in the boys’ troop.   Mid-year, however, that troop changed – the original troop we had joined in Chatham is a great unit, with wonderful leaders.  But it was a poor fit for Joshua and wasn’t accommodating to his ADHD, so we transferred down the street to a troop with a much more highly structured program, and it seems to have been very good for Joshua.

Karen’s been enjoying the boys increased involvement in Scouting, to a point.  It’s good for her to have a “mom time” weekend from time-to-time with all the men out of the house. . . but she’s also started to get lonely, so she joined us on a campout in November. 

Here’s hoping this letter finds you all well, and wishing you a prosperous New Year and a Blessed Christmas.

John - Age 13

Joshua - Age 12

                     

Pictures this year were taken on Kaskaskia Island, near the first capitol of the State of Illinois.  John is 13, Joshua is 12 and Patrick and Karen are celebrating 14 years of marriage.

Patrick, Karen, John and Joshua