Use your Scouts BSA Handbook… and stay safe
Dear Scouts,
We had a wonderful time during our first meeting at All Souls Episcopal Church. The entire Scoutmaster Staff, Troop Committee and (especially) Father Jadon and Bishop Mariann were very proud of you for completing your very first Scoutcraft skills classes and for joining-in during our ceremony to begin Scouts BSA Troop 248 for Girls. Fifty years from now you will be about my age and will come back to participate in a great 50th anniversary celebration for Troop 248. You will recall our wonderful first day along with your daughters and other family members.
Your New Scout Handbook for Girls
Everyone received their Scout Handbook for Girls during our first meeting. Make sure to look it over carefully. I contains details about what you will be learning in Scouts BSA and also shows how you will be recognized by the advancement system. The Scoutmaster Staff is going to work with you over the next two months so you can attain your first rank of Scout and begin to work on your second rank, which is Tenderfoot. We have all of the materials you will need to learn these skills and get signed-off on your work by the Scoutmasters. But, you always need to bring you Scout Handbook to every Troop meeting. Look in the back pages and you will see that is where the Scoutmasters and others who will be helping you sign that you have passed each requirement.
We Will Keep You Safe
We do everything together in Troop 248 and use what we call the “buddy system”. Whenever we go hiking, swimming, camping or just about anything else, girls always choose one or two friends to be buddies and look out for each other. We do this whenever we do anything in Scouting. For example, girls buddy-up when they go to see merit badge counselors, receive instruction on a scouting skill from one of the Assistant Scoutmasters, travel or go swimming or boating.
Buddies keep an eye on each other and make sure to tell adults if they ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable in any way. Members of our Troop Committee, Scoutmaster Staff and Parent Support Committee and the leaders of All Souls want you to be safe in Scouting and won’t allow anyone to bully, touch or treat you badly in any manner.
It is never a good idea to keep secret anything that someone may be doing that bothers you. There is nothing secret in Scouting and the Scoutmaster Staff will never tell you to keep something secret from your family or friends. Please tell your parents and any of the adults associated with the Troop or Church if you ever feel uncomfortable or fearful about anything. This include things that others might do or say about you on the internet. We will protect you and stop anything that is not Scout-like behavior.
Your new Scout Handbook for Girls includes a pamphlet (just behind the front cover) that is about how to respect yourself and require everyone else around you to respect you as well. It talks about how to avoid bullying and things like making sure people do not treat or touch you inappropriately. One of the requirements to earn your Scout rank is to talk over the pamphlet with your parents. So you can begin doing that right now!
Be Happy
Think positive thoughts, and don’t dwell on the negative ones. Remember the words of Helen Keller, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” She was happy without hearing or sight yet found a way to be both successful and happy.
Remember that happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions. It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about. So, when you want to feel happy, consider thinking of the door to happiness you family has opened for you by having you become part of Scouts BSA. *
Sincerely,
Scoutmaster Burkhardt
* Adapted from Scoutmaster’s Minutes, Mercaldo