[philmont] Trek selection: adults' and scouts' roles

I've read the last several posts to this discussion of trek selection
with great interest. Here's what our 2008 crew did, for better or
worse:

We have a crew of 12 first-timers from four troops scattered around
northeast Georgia, so it's hard to meet, and I quickly learned that
the scouts will read only a little of what I send them and only with
a great deal of prodding. So I e-mailed them a short questionnaire
asking them what they preferred in the way of difficulty level, # of
primitive camps, # of campfires, # of mountain climbing
opportunities, and whether they were going mainly for scenery or for
program activities. I also sent them the 2007 Guidebook description
of "Program Features" and asked them to rank-order up to 10 of those.
That yielded a critical mass of opinions from the scouts.

But the main problem with the whole voting approach is, our scouts
really can't figure out what they're in for, and neither can we
first-time adults. So we (the two adult leaders) asked for lots of
advice from Philmont veterans. Based on that, we decided that
"rugged" was as difficult as we would go, despite the apparent
enthusiasm for harder treks among some of the scouts. We also
decided on South Country treks, because so many veterans have said
that Scouth Country is the most scenic area of Philmont. We also
gave extra weight to some less-popular program activities that the
veterans said were actually more fun than they may have sounded from
their written descriptions.

All that made for a challenging exercise in multiple-objective
decision-making (a.k.a. glorified dart throwing). I ranked the top
six 2007 treks using our fingers-on-the-scale weighting and, like a
good administrative assistant, sent that ranking along with an
explanation to the one scout who seemed interested in the whole trek
choice process. He revised my ranking slightly, and I sent in his
revision on the 2008 post card.

So what do you think? It's too late to do anything about it now, but
I'm interested in whether our approach was reasonable and how we
could do better next time.

-Jim Ledvinka, Adult Advisor, Philmont Crew 620-O-6

>There should be PLENTY of discussion from adult ADVISORS. The BOYS
>indeed pick the treks. However, We cannot ADVISE the youth if we do
>not have an idea on the trek requirements, distances,
>difficulties,... and how to evaluate our youth and other adults and
>ourselves to "not bite off more than we can chew", the limitations
>of the smallest youth and the oldest adult, or to make sure we
>require the appropriate pre-Philmont training for the Trek the BOYS
>HAVE CHOSEN. What the boys want in terms of activities can be their
>primary selection tool. But Advisors need to know what the trek
>involves in terms of distance, difficulty, etc... And having a feel
>for the crew, including adults, we can advise whether they
>can accomplish that trek.
>
>I agree if the boys want the activities, don't choose the miles; If
>they want the miles, they need to understand there will be less time
>for activities. And I agree you can make any Trek longer by
>choosing different routes between camps if you want to add miles,
>but hard to "shorten" a super strenuous trek if you find the crew is
>not as good shape as they thought, or weather made the trails harder
>than expected, or minor injuries or sprains, ...
>
>Advisors should keep asking the questions.
>
>-mike-
>
>
>From: Cott1717@aol.com
>Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:15:45 -0400
>Subject: [philmont] oops - wrong subject---should say "trek selection"
>To: philmont@troop47.com
>
>Crew Chiefs and Crew Advisors
> My first comment about all the chatter about trek selection is
>that none of it is from the youth crew chiefs and all from
>advisors. Lets remember to let the boys pick their treks! Just make
>sure that in selecting the trek they remember to keep in mind the
>limitations of the smallest youth and the oldest adult! Do not
>forget that the more miles you hike the less tie you have at every
>destination for program. Every trek has good points and every one
>has draw backs. The BOYS need to discuss what they want from their
>experince and work that into the treks choices.
>
>
>
>
>Enter the Zune-A-Day Giveaway for your chance to win - day after day
>after day
><http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/ZuneADay/?locale=en-US&ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Mobile_Zune_V1>Enter
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>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Jim Ledvinka (ledvinka@uga.edu)
175 Landor Drive
Athens, GA  30606  USA
Home: (+1) 706-353-3027
Cell: (+1) 706-202-0500
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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.
-------------------------------------------------------