 Gail Beaver, a new Scouter writes:
"I have been asked to make decorations for the Blue & Gold Banquet and help
the boys weekly with arts and crafts. I'm new to volunteering and don't have a clue! Any
help would be greatly appreciated."
I first answered her with the normal responses of :
- "Visit your local Council Scout
Office to find out what literature is available.
- Attend Roundtable each month and get
ideas for activities based on the upcoming Cub Scout monthly theme.
- Attend Cub Leader training.
- Talk to experienced Den Leaders.
- Check the Cub Scout handbooks for ideas.
- Visit the library.
- Browse the ScoutER NetCompass category for Cub Scout Crafts...........?"
?DID I SAY THAT?
Even though the NetCompass boasts 400+ Compass Points of topics, with thousands of links, there is no
category featuring Cub Scout Crafts. One certainly could (and should) question
"Why?" Actually, I have a pretty good answer. The NetCompass is an ever-evolving
web site. Since everything couldn't be done at once, in the beginning pages were built
with general Scouting themes. Then the focus switched to building web pages with primarily
Boy Scout themes. Why was this? The builders were overwhelmingly more experienced in Boy
Scouting than in Cub Scouting. (Girl Scouting wasn't even discussed at that point.)
As the web builders continued, they found time to slip in a Cub Scouting page here and
there. Again, since neither Rome nor the NetCompass could be built in a day, it was
necessary to concentrate on areas where there was the greatest need. Let's face it! With
so many craft magazines, craft store patterns, and Pow Wow books available, Den Leaders
weren't exactly in a craft famine!
When I joined the ScoutER family as Online Editor for the NetCompass it had less than
200 Compass Points. Many of those web pages were blank categories or redundant ones. Ed Henderson and I, together with our
Editor-in-chief Terry Howerton, spent many hours "pruning" the unnecessary
categories, re-defining topics, and trying to see the web site from YOUR point of view.
Pruning will cause a plant to grow thicker. It worked the same with the NetCompass. It has
more than doubled in size since then and now offers over 400 Compass Points containing more than 3000 links.
Other features have been added such as Scouting articles, the weekly NetCompass Comments, the AIS Survey, YOUR Viewpoint, and the PDS series. There is a new NetCompass
Newsletter and a contest for you to enter with real prizes offered to
the winners. We will probably even have a Cub Scout Crafts
category. (Girl Scouts, you'll be included in the craft links. Watch for more for you in
the near future, too.)
In the meantime, in the true Scouting
Spirit, for all you Den Leaders and Brownie Leaders who don't have time to wait until the
web page is built, Gail kindly
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