[Philmont] Increased Participation

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Bacon, Bruce" <bbbacon@walshgroup.com>
>
> I would rather see another direction taken before increasing the
> pressure on the ranch by increasing the number population at any given
> time. I would suggest to Philmont that they "weight" the application
> process so that groups that have a greater number of years between treks
> have a greater chance of being selected over groups that have a lesser
> number of years between treks. (Assumption: groups must apply annually
> to attend Philmont to receive a more favorable "weighting". You have to
> try to attend)

I am a mentor for a US FIRST high school robotics team (www.usfirst.org) that has a similar issue in selecting which teams are eligible to go the Championship event each year. Some teams get to go by winning regional qualifiers and others due to their service to the program ("Chairman's Award Winners" -- sort of a "Council Unit of the Year" recognition). The rest of the slots in the Championships are given out in a lottery to which teams apply.

Without dragging you all through the details, the longer it has been since your team last attended the Championships, the higher your chance of getting in. If you attended the previous year and did not qualify on merit (not an issue for us with Philmont) this season, you are not eligible for this year. Rookie teams that do not qualify based on merit are not eligible for championships.

So, for Philmont, how about this:

1. New troops/teams/crews are not eligible to attend Philmont in their first two years as chartered units. This would keep a troop from chartering a new crew just to go to Philmont as a unit that has "never been." Not that anyone would try this...

2. Put applying units in "pools" based on how long it has been since they've been to Philmont. For a unit that has never been, the time span would the number of years they have been a continuously operating unit. For example, if our troop went in 2004, we would be in pool 3 for 2007. If our troop had never been to Philmont, as we are six years old, we would be in pool 6.

3. Philmont starts filling crews from the "bottom." All units in Pool N (the oldest one) would be given slots, then pool n-1, then pool n-2. When the allocation gets to pools that are larger than the number of slots left (pool 3 has 200 units in it, and there are only 100 slots available, for example) Philmont will run a random-pick lottery for that pool. All remaining pools are randomly sorted and assigned a waiting list spot.

What affect will this have? I'm sure I'm only going to come up with some of them, but here goes:

1. At first, there will be a lot of old units who will go which never have.

2. Units that are dying to go every other year will feel somewhat cheated, especially those who used to have "cell phone parties" for registration under the old "first come, first served" system.

3. Some units will find ways to cheat the system. I can think of three off hand -- all of which would require major dinking around with troop structures and would be un-Scoutlike, IMO. (For example... how many Venturing Crews could a troop of 100 scouts charter just to improve their Philmont lottery chances? Get one crew in and then have all your scouts "transfer" into it. Cheesy, but easily done and would take an alert DE to stomp out.)

4. Positive effect: Some units who might be intimidated by the inscrutable scheduling system might take advantage of Philmont.

5. Positive effect: Troops who get frustrated in their Philmont desires might consider alternatives. Northern Tier is terrific (according to my son, who has been to all three National High Adventure bases). A lot of councils are offering high adventure activities of national-quality that might pick up "frustrated" Philmont crews. For example, how many of you know that Camp Parsons in the Chief Seattle Council offers both week-long sea kayaking treks and 50+ mile Olympic Mountain backpacking expeditions? Just like Philmont, the camp provides boats, food, and rangers. They don't have the same kind of back-country programs like Philmont, but the scenery is just as good, and the adventure is as challenging. (Sorry for what sounds like a shameless plug, but it IS pretty cool.)

Anyway, I'm rambling. Just an idea for a system that seems fair in a different way than a random-chance lottery.

Rick Tyler
Assistant Scoutmaster
Philmont Coordinator (Retired)
Troop 575, Chief Seattle Council

P.S. Did I mention that my son gets his Silver Eagle Palm at our COH this Friday? Oh, I guess I just did...

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Received on Wed Sep 27 14:20:54 2006