[philmont] Program Activities

There are a set of resources included on the PhilSearch home page under crew
trek selection tools that are designed to get the youth of the crew thinking
about the program, terrain and hiking options before trek selection. I
believe a process like this is an essential one in forming a crew and
maximizing the experience.

YiS

Jim
  -----Original Message-----
  From: philmont@troop47.com [mailto:philmont@troop47.com]On Behalf Of
GEORGE TAYLOR
  Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 11:59 PM
  To: philmont List Member
  Subject: [philmont] Program Activities

  The discussion of the 2008 itineraries brings to mind an issue that we
encountered last summer on our Trek. We really didn't discuss with the boys
in advance the program aspects of the Philmont treks, other than to note one
or two options in various itineraries. The boys did not have much interest
in picking treks but we finally settled on a strenuous trek, complete with
burros (#27) that turned out to be great for us. Even the burros (both of
them) were cooperative and helpful.

  Our failure to discuss program aspects of Philmont became something of an
issue during our Trek as we had a small minority of boys who didn't want to
do ANY program activities. It started with reluctance to hike down from
Sioux Camp for the cantina at Ponil, and became more pronounced at Pueblano
when half of the boys would not participate in the logger activities there.
By the time we got to Head of Dean, there was heated debate over whether to
participate in the challenge course. (We opted not to, much to the
displeasure of the Head of Dean staff.)

  We hear a lot about boy-led activities, and ultimately all our decisions
were made by the consensus of the boys, but it took considerable discussion
during our trek to work out the question of which activities to participate
in. The process itself was a good one for the boys and taught them a lot
about leadership and the decision-making process. On balance, we did a fair
amount of program activities and have no regrets about our trek BUT, on
reflection, I wish we had talked more about the program activities in
advance of the trek. Had we spent an intense session going through the map
step-by-step and talking about the programs, that would have given us a
better point of reference when we were on our Trek. We could have said,
"remember, we decided . . . ." rather than engaging in the discussion for
the first time. As an adult adviser, I found myself arguing strenuously
that the boys should participate in all the program they could because there
would not be returning to the Ranch. My comments were probably not
respectful of the boy-led troop principle.

  SO, if there is something I would add to the discussion, it would be my
recommendation to talk about your specific trek a lot in advance,
particularly the program aspects, so that when you are out on the trail, you
will have a pre-determined sense of what the boys expect to experience, and
you can spend your mental energy soaking up the beauty of the ranch rather
than discussing the day's activities.

  Yours in Scouting,

  George Taylor

  Dave Smith <dave-s@pacbell.net> wrote:
    We did trek #11 in 2005 (it was called Trek #6 then). After setting up
    camp in Vaca and getting ranger training, I highly recommend hiking over
    to Harlan to do the Burro Racing. Our ranger suggested it, the scouts
    didn't really want to, but the adults gently coerced the scouts into
    going (scout led - within guidelines). Boy were the scouts happy they
    went. It was no more than a mile hike, and as the scouts rounded the
    corner and saw what was happening, they broke into a run to join in the
    fun. They had time for three races, and had a blast.

    It was hot the first 2-3 days - I sweated a lot. Then, the morning at
    Comanche Peak Camp, it was freezing cold. Be prepared for a range of
    temperatures.

    Good luck,
    Dave Smith
    Troop 32
    Santa Rosa, CA

>OK I'll break the ice. We had a crew meeting last week and had the boys
>review, assess, vote on their top 5 programs they wanted to do then
>selected what mountains they wanted to climb. Using Philsearch they
>then figured out which treks would most suit their requirements. Having
>said this, any comments or recommendations out there on Treks 4, 11,
and 13?
>
>David Barkdull
>Philmont 08-0610
>
>
>
>

    -------------------------------------------------------
    Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
    Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
    Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
    List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
    List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
    -------------------------------------------------------
    To Unsubscribe send text email to:

    To: listserv@troop47.com
    Subject: unsubscribe
    Body: unsubscribe philmont@troop47.com
    -------------------------------------------------------

    As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
    Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
    loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
    cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
    -------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
-------------------------------------------------------
Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
To Unsubscribe send text email to:

     To: listserv@troop47.com
     Subject: unsubscribe
     Body: unsubscribe philmont@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------

As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Sun Mar 2 23:18:57 2008