By
Todd N. Tingblad
Elements of this Webelos Transition Plan come from many sources. You can
impliment the program at any time throughout the year. However, no matter when
you begin, you must do Step One at least two months before you start.
I will follow the "Scouting Calendar", August to July.
Step One:
Have both Pack & Troop Committees and Program Staff (SM, ASM, CM, DL, WDL) meet to
review and approve the plan. Repeat this step once a year.
August/September:
School Night -- Have Boy Scouts (Den Chiefs) do the Opening. Have a Boy Scout sign-up
table at School Night. Advertise both Boy Scout and Cub Scouts School Night. The Boy
Scouts may get one or two new scouts in a year or two at this time. The Big item is the
Cub Scouts seeing the Boy Scouts. Seeing that there is life beyond Cub Scouts. See the
BSA's Flagship Camping Program -- Boy Scouts. After all, the number one reason boy's join
Scouting at any level is to go camping. Work to get every den to have a Den Chief. The Den
Chief is a troop's number one recruiter.
Younger boys love to follow the older boys. As the Den Chief "tells the
tales" of Scouting from his adventures in the troop and some past cub Scout
adventures, these boys will follow. It is how Cub Scouts was originally designed. Note:
Your DE will be very surprised that a Boy Scout troop wants to do School Night recuitment.
Your DE may even work extra hard to help it along.
September/October:
Go to your district's Fall Camporee. Hopefully, all 5th grade Webelos are also invited
to this event. This is a great time for the Webelos and their parents, to see Boy Scouting
working. When Webelos going camping like this, they must follow the Cub Scout Camping
requirements in the "Guide To Safe Scouting". This is a good thing for troops so
that they are not having to watch over the Webelos, and their parents get to see Boy
Scouts camping. They see local and District Scouting happening. Webelos and Boy Scouts
must not compete with each other on events and possibly should have a related program of
events of their own (National Guidelines & Policies, talk to your DE about it if you
have questions).
October:
I like taking the PLC out for Leadership Training and Calender Planning. I send the
remainder of the troop off camping somewhere else with the APL's running the patrols and
the ASPL running the campout. Both groups are getting Leadership Training...directly or
indirectly.
November:
Court of Honor and Family Feast. This campout, the Webelos are again invited to stay
the weekend, but not required. They and their families are all invited to the troop's Pot
Luck & Turkey Dinner...Family Feast This is held at the local Scout Camp. Many times,
this is the only time the parents get to see the facilities in full operations. Most see
them as you arrive or packed up to leave. Following Family Feast is a Troop Court of
Honor. All Webelos get to see the types of advancement awards in the Boy Scout program.
January:
5th Grade Webelos Dens start meeting on troop nights with the troop. Once the opening
is done, the Webelos move to their own room for their regular meeting. At the January Pack
Meeting, Webelos get awarded the Arrow of Light. Many packs award this at the same time as
Webelos Graduation. The AoL award seems to get lost. By awarding it one or two months
before graduation, the award now has importance, all the Cubs get to see the award, and
all the Cubs get to see it is not required to join Boy Scouts...but it helps. Also
important is, earning the AoL does not mean the Webelos stops earn Activity Pins. They can
continue to earn them until they graduate. For those who still have not completed the AoL,
now is their chance.
January/February:
Invite the Webelos to the next Court of Honor and Summer Camp Promo Night. Here the
parents of these soon to be New Scouts, will get the answers to their question about this
week-long campout. Sometime before Webelos Graduation, meet with the Webelos parents and
answer even more of their questions through a Troop Orientation. If your troop has a Troop
Handbook with the troop's Rules, Policies, and Operational Guidelines, hand it out to them
then. Get them to feel good about how the troop operates. They should have seen how a boy
led program works now, but you will need to revisit this at this meeting. More details on
how it works will be needed.
February/March:
Now is Blue & Gold time and Webelos Graduation. The Troop is present for the
Graduation. Limit the Boy Scouts to the Den Chiefs, SPL, ASPL, Troop Guide, Scoutmaster
and New Scouts Assistant Scoutmaster (Webelos Den Leader). Have the BSA Applications
available and get them filled out that night. Troops should pay the one dollar transfer
fee. Make those New Scouts welcome as soon as they cross that bridge. Have the parents,
New Scouts, and the other troop members present meet for 5 to 10 minutes after the B&G
to make sure everyone is on the right page and to get the applications. Make sure they all
know when the next troop meeting is (this should be the same as their old den meetings
since January). Make sure they have a troop calendar!
April
Scouting For Food time again and the troop and the pack should be doing this together.
A great service project for all to work together. Some councils do this in the fall. Same
thing, do it together. Time for the Boy Scouts to do another Leadership Campout like done
in October. I personally like to get 18 months of troop calendar planning done at these
outings so that we have one year done and are only adding another new six months.
May/June
Now the other Cubs graduate to the next level: Tigers to Wolves, Wolves to Bears, Bears
to First Year Webelos, and First Year Webelos to Second Year Webelos. For all except the
new Second Year Webelos, a new neckerchief is part of the graduation. It is a major symbol
of moving forward. However, Second Year Webelos don't see this type of change. Their
uniform stays the same unless they move up to the tan uniform. Step in the Boy Scout Troop
again. For the Second Year Webelos, the troop presents them with a Boy Scout Handbook. In
the book is the names and phone numbers of the key people Webelos and/or parents can
contact about questions about Boy Scouts. Most important, include the troops calendar.
With 18 months of planned activities, these Webelos and parents know the troop's plans
through October of next year. Start working to recuit that Webelos Den Leader to become
the New Scouts Assistant Scoutmaster when their Webelos graduate in Feb/Mar of next year.
June/July/August
Boy Scouts go to Summer Camp and other summertime adventures. Cub Scouts go to Day
Camp, Resident Camp, and other pack summertime adventures.
That's it. The parts all come together and make the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy
Scouts easy. It is also very important to invite all Webelos to any and all Eagle Courts
of Honor. A big and important show of Scouting. It also seems to keep more boys in Cubs
Scouts and Boy Scouts.
An important note about Den Chiefs. I like having a Scout commitment to a two year stay
if he is with a Second Year Webelos Den. The first year, he is the Den Chief for the
Second Year Webelos starting in May. When these Webelos graduate into the troop, he
becomes their Troop Guide. Now the New Scouts really know someone from the troop that is
their friend. I like to make a major thing about this at the first troop meeting of the
New Scouts in the Troop. Have them all come up as a patrol, bring up their old Den Chief
and have them (the New Scouts) award him his new Troop Guide patch and job. I also see the
Troop Guide as the third Scout in Command of the troop behind the SPL and ASPL's. This
makes an even bigger thing of the Troop Guide position and the New Scouts see that they
are so important theat the Third In Command is their friend.
The New Scouts Assistant Scoutmaster is an important position. I like getting the
Webelos current Webelos Den Leader to take this position. With proper recuitment and the
help of the Troop Guide and other Asst. Scoutmasters, this Assistant Scoutmaster position
is a easy position. It become more of a progress tracking position since the Troop guide
is doing most of the teaching, training, and requirement testing. These are important
selling items. Once these New Scouts are First Class, this Asst. Scoutmaster gets to enjoy
the full fun of a regular Asst. Scoutmaster...the easy life...ha ha!!
We were seeing big drops in Webelos numbers from First Year to Second Year Webelos,
almost 50%. Now it is only a 10% drop. We were also seeing the same big drop from Webelos
to Boy Scouts, that too is now only 0%-5%. New Scout to Regular Scout drop is in the 20%
range. Still looking for a good way to change that without pointing the finger at program
because 80% are staying.
It has been my personal view that Boy Scout Troops must do most of the work to recruit
these Webelos. It is not a given that Webelos will simply come walking through the door
looking for you. You must find them and earn their trust for them to join you. Even on a
single pack & troop town, it is still important to work hard to keep the boys in
scouting. More and the longer boys are in scouting, the better they will be in the long
run (national surveys have shown this too).
Hope this has answered the many folks questions on how I've been doing Webelos
Transition and I hope you too can use this information to help make your Webelos
Transition even better. Remember, you can change this as needed to fit your local unit
needs.
We're all in this together. We're all pulling for you. -- Red Green
Yours in Scouting,
Todd N. Tingblad
tingbltn@hudson.k12.wi.us
