Europe Leadership Team Interviews

This Tuesday we take the next step to building our youth leadership team for our 2019 Adventure to Europe!  Youth that were ranked highly by their peers as well as youth that requested a leadership position are invited to attend a panel discussion with our Europe Leadership Selection Committee.  Youth Leadership candidates will meet with the selection committee in a group of 4-5.  This is less an interview than it is a discussion group where we all work together to build the best possible leadership team for Europe.  Candidates will be asked a series of questions that will focus mainly on their past experiences and leadership qualities.  Candidates will also be asked why you want the position, and who you would likely choose as your assistant leader.

The Selection Committee members will take notes as to each candidates strengths in the various criteria we are looking for in each position.  After the discussion panels are over, the Selection Team will work together to build a consensus on our Leadership Team – if you were selected for a position, you will know by Wednesday morning 🙂  Of course, if you are selected you do NOT have to accept the position.  You can think on it for a few days if needed, but the sooner we have our team in place the better.

The criteria that the team is looking for includes (but is not limited too):

All Positions:

  • F.A.S.T. and/or F.O.C.U.S. trained
  • Proven ability to lead
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Skilled at resolving conflict within their team
  • Past experience as a patrol leader or an expedition leader is an asset

Patrol Leaders

  • Previous experience leading a patrol at camp

Expedition Leader – Ireland

  • Excellent time management skills
  • Energy and enthusiasm
  • Ability to motivate team members

Expedition Leader – Switzerland

  • Skilled at making use of people resources (knowing your team’s strengths and using them)
  • Delegation skills

Expedition Leader – Backpacking

  • Work well under pressure (perhaps a LOT of pressure)
  • Decisive – able to make well thought out decisions quickly
  • Cool headed – calming influence on others
  • Remains positive even under not-ideal conditions

The Discussion Panel Groups will be as follows:

Tuesday @ 6:15pm

  • Candidates: Maiya K, Josie S, Steven D, Zoey H
  • Panel Youth: Nathan B, Ben N, Ben O, Jacob O, Shanlee M
  • Panel Scouters: Scouter Gerry, Jason, Mark, Shannon

Tuesday @ ~7:00pm

  • Candidates: Cameron S, Heidi G, Ben O, Brady M, Liam G
  • Panel Youth: Nathan B, Steven D, Ben N, Jacob O, Shanlee M
  • Panel Scouters: Scouter Gerry, Jason, Mark, Shannon

Tuesday @ ~7:45pm

  • Candidates: Nolan S, Declan M, Alex P, Ella N
  • Panel Youth: Nathan B, Steven D, Ben N, Ben O, Jacob O, Shanlee M
  • Panel Scouters: Scouter Gerry, Jason, Mark, Shannon

Please wear your FORMAL uniform 🙂  See you on Tuesday!


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Backpacking Across Europe

So what started out as a joke over a great game of S.W.G. at Scout Camp has morphed into a pretty awesome pre-camp!  So… how many countries could you visit in Europe on the way to the Jamborette if we weren’t picky about fancy things.. like beds…?

The answer is, A LOT!  As much as we always say things like “this trip isn’t for everyone”, let me be really clear – this trip is NOT for everyone!  First off, on the way to Rome, our flight will transfer somewhere… either Ireland or the United Kingdom. so that is country #1.  We’d be joining in with the Switzerland crowd touring Rome, Italy and Vatican City (#2 & 3) and traveling to Kandersteg, Switzerland (#4).  After a day or two at Kandersteg it will be time to hit the rails!  While our exact route will need to be well researched for suitability and safety, our best case scenario for country-count would be Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and into the Netherlands.  All this acheivable thanks to our EuroRail Global Pass which will give us unlimited rail travel in Europe for a SUPER reasonable price! That puts us to 20 countries!  Fair enough, in each of these countries we’ll get little more than a selfie and a meal, but at least we can scratch another country off the map 😉

 

This is the one pre-trip that also turns into a post trip!  After the closing ceremonies at the Haarlem Jamborette, instead of going back to camp we’ll be heading to the train station to scratch off a few more!  First stop is Copenhagen in Denmark (#21), then through Sweden (#22) and finally to Oslo, Norway (#23) for our flight home.  Unlikely to get a direct flight from Oslo, so expect a layover in Iceland (#24) before returning home to Newfoundland & Labrador.

In this pre-trip you will sacrifice personal comfort for adventure.  You will sacrifice a set itinerary for the uncertainty of public transit through countries you have never heard of.  We will need to think on our feet, change the plan hourly as needed, and always, always be prepared for the unexpected.

This pre-trip requires a truly enormous amount of work in advance as you will need to research all the cities we plan to stop in as well as alternate cities in case things don’t go according to plan.  We need to know what to expect in the 24 countries we plan to visit and have a risk assessment plan for our itinerary as well as for our back up plans.  This is a monster of an effort, but would add a clean two dozen countries to your list 😉  This is literally the sort of trip you talk about for the rest of your life.

Obviously not for everyone… but is it for you?   I should add that this trip is likely only feasible for youth 16+ at the time of the trip.

             


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Switzerland

Our Swiss adventure actually begins in Italy… no we’re not lost, just making the most of our flight to Europe!  Ever heard of “Rome in a day”?  No?  Neither had I, but Scouter Gerry was just crazy enough to pull something together!  After arriving in Rome, Italy after a long flight we will travel to Vatican City, the heart of the Roman Catholic Church and the smallest country in the world.  If you are a Catholic your draw to the Vatican is pretty obvious, but even if you are not, the Vatican houses some of the greatest art and architecture in the world!  Vatican City is WHY you visit Rome – it’s really that cool!

Obviously we can’t leave Rome without seeing the Coliseum, so we’ll work out a visit on our way back to the train station.  Our luxurious… er… our first night sleep in Europe will be sitting upright on a train through the Italian and then Swiss countryside.  Sure, not the best night sleep, but you just visited THREE new countries in a day!

After switching trains with the sunrise in Bern, Switzerland, we’ll transfer to our train to Kandersteg.  After the first World Scout Jamboree, Lord Baden-Powell realized (likely along with every other Scout and Scouter present) that he never wanted the Jamboree to end.  From that moment on it became his dream for there to be a permanent World Scout Jamboree.  A place of adventure, laughter and friendship that Scouts & Guides from all over the world could visit any time of the year and just jump in to the never ending Jamboree.  The Kandersteg International Scout Centre is the realization of that dream.  Kandersteg offers a full international Jamboree experience every single week, all year long!  Talk about the ultimate Scout Camp!!

Given that Kandersteg is in itself a full Jamboree, there is no way to really capture all that in a blog post, so let me direct you to their 2018 program guide (just released) => http://www.kisc.ch/?redirect=getfile.php&cmd[getfile][uid]=14705  Ya, I know, clicking links and reading PDFs is hard work, but seriously, check it out!  The stuff you can do at Kandersteg is UNBELIEVABLE!!

Seeing as you just did all that reading, let me throw a few videos your way to break it up 🙂  First off, what is the Kandersteg International Scout Centre?

Next is a general overview of some of the cool things Kandersteg has to offer:

How about an alpine roller coaster… Scout style!

Or tubing down an Olympic ski jump?

Perhaps a day trip to Bern?

Or Geneva?

Okay, okay, so you get the idea 🙂  Sadly we will, at some point have to leave Kandersteg 🙁  If you’re interested in leaving Kandersteg in the weeee hours of the morning on Friday you will have an opportunity to experience a bit of GERMANY!  You can either spend a day in Europa Park (Germany’s answer to Disney World), or spend the day in Frankfurt, one of the best cities in Germany!

A bit more on Europa Park:

And on on Frankfurt:

REALLY not an easy choice to make!  Regardless though, after a great Friday we’ll end up on the night train to Haarlem to start setting up our camp at the Haarlem Jamborette 🙂


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2019 European Adventure Trip Requirements

As for previous big adventures it fell upon our Troop Leadership Team to determine the participant requirements for our 2019 European Adventure.  This is NOT an easy task, and we had a pretty tight timeline to work through some pretty good debates.

Representing the interest of our Scouts we had our Troop Leader – Ella N, our Patrol Leaders – Alex P, Cameron S and Ben N, and our K.P. – Brady M.  Our Venturer Scouts were represented by Declan M & Steven D with help from Nathan B (Our Company CEO) & Maiya K.  We even had our Cub Scouts represented with Lex N.  To support the youths’ efforts we had Scouters Claudette, Erica, Gerry, Mark, Shanlee, Robin and myself.

It is important to understand where these requirements come from.  As this will be our fifth major adventure we have learned a few things along the way (and like good Scouts, often from “failures”).  The requirements are meant to ensure that all youth and adults that attend the trip can do so without risking their own or anyone else’s safety and to ensure that their behaviour will not negatively affect the experience of others on the trip.  Most of our younger members (keeping in mind that we will have Tracker Cub Scouts registering for this trip) will be missing a LOT of requirements at this point – DON’T BE DISCOURAGED!  Parents, Scouters and participants need to use the requirements as a road map to get the youth prepared for this adventure.

To make it easier to track your progress, the trip requirements will be set up on ScoutsTacker as a custom badge.

These are the requirements for youth participants.  The requirements for Scouters will be all these and a bit more (Scouter requirements will be determined in the next few weeks by our Expedition Leadership Team)

  • MANDATORY EXPEDITIONS
    • In order to attend the trip, all participants will be required to attend a minimum of two mandatory expedition camps.  
    • The expedition camps will be challenging in nature and designed to help prepare the youth and the Scouters for the adventure ahead.
    • While intentionally challenging, our expedition camps in the past have proven to be some of our best camps ever!  Examples include Hodges Hill 2013 (and 2017), Exploits Canoe Expedition 2014, Camp Froze-In 2015 and the Red Indian Rafting Expedition 2016.
    • A MINIMUM of six months notice will be provided for any mandatory event.  For that reason, mandatory means mandatory – if you do not attend the expedition camp you will not be permitted to attend the trip to Europe.
    • Please note that certain pre-trips may require an additional expedition camp if the Expedition Leadership Team feels it is important to prepare the participants for the trip.  As with all mandatory events, a minimum of six months notice will be provided.
    • The date of the first expedition camp has been confirmed for September 7-9, 2018 – it will likely be a canoeing/kayaking camp involving sleeping in improvised shelters.  While still an expedition camp, this camp will be designed to be accessible by our younger members while still challenging for our older youth.  Details will be confirmed by our Expedition Leadership Team, but please mark the date on your calendars!
    • PARENTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO ATTEND A WORKSHOP – There will be a workshop 6-8 weeks before the trip that youth will be required to attend along with at least one parent or guardian.  The purpose is to instruct parents on behaviour that will support their youths’ adventure and make it possible for the Scouters to ensure their youth have a great experience.  Topics will include managing home sickness, communication with home, and also some practical information on baggage, travel details, etc.
  • PERSONAL BEHAVIOUR
    • Consistently acts in accordance to the Scout Law and Promise (broken down at the bottom)
    • Consistently follows the Troop & Company Code of Conduct (Troop Code of Conduct)
    • Consistently shows respect for the youth leadership team and from Scouters, including consistently following their rules and instructions
    • Understands how to remain safe with adults & strangers, and has attended a workshop on staying safe (to be provided)
    • Consistently demonstrates the work ethic required in a camp environment
    • Consistently demonstrates that they can keep themselves entertained during quiet/wait times (examples could include knowing card games, improvised board games, or just being happy reading a book, quiet in thought, etc)
    • Has demonstrated a willingness to try new things and step outside their comfort zone
    • Has demonstrated they can spend multiple nights away from home without incident
    • Has demonstrated a willingness to try new foods and to consistently eat sufficiently (quality & quantity) to stay healthy in a camping and/or high-adventure environment
    • All participants must be actively engaged in the Scouting program. While there is no specific attendance requirement, it will be difficult for you to make a case that you are actively engaged if you attend less than 75% of the regular meetings and events between now and the trip.
    • ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST HAVE SCOUTS CANADA MEMBERSHIP IN GOOD STANDING.
    • ALL PARTICIPANTS REQUIRE A VALID PASSPORT TO ATTEND.  EXPIRY DATE CAN BE NO EARLIER THAN AUGUST 31, 2019
  • SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
    • Consistently demonstrates skills equivalent to Camping Outdoor Adventure Skill Levels 1,2,3 & 4 (details on ScoutsTracker)
    • Consistently demonstrates skills equivalent to Emergency Aid Outdoor Adventure Skill Levels 1 & 2 (details on ScoutsTracker)
    • Has experience cooking a small variety of meals on a propane stove
    • Has demonstrated their understanding and commitment to proper dishwashing at camp
    • Has demonstrated their ability to set up a basic (but functioning) tarp dining shelter
    • Has mastered basic pioneering skills (reliably tie clove hitch, square lashing, tripod lashing, diagonal lashing, round lashing, shear lashing and fisherman’s knot – it is acceptable to rely on notes and/or Knots 3d app or similar)
  • KNOWLEDGE
    • Participants will be required to research a portion of the trip and prepare a short video presentation.  Assistance will be provided by the Expedition Leadership Team and the Scouters attending the trip.
    • Participants will be required to attend a cultural workshop (to be provided) so they can learn about the culture, traditions and laws of the countries we will be visiting.
    • Participants will be required to attend a cultural workshop (to be provided) to ensure they know enough about the traditions of Newfoundland & Labrador as well as Canada in order to properly represent our province and country on the world stage.
    • Participants will be required to have a general understanding of the trip itinerary
    • WORKSHOPS: We recognize that “workshop” sounds inherently boring, but that is not at all the intent!  Last time we went to Europe we had a full day cultural workshop that proved to be one of the highlights of the year!  Scouting is not school – we learn by doing.  You will enjoy the workshops 🙂
    • TESTS: There will be a quiz of some kind for all the knowledge-based requirements.  The quiz is also meant to be fun, and participants will have as many times as you need in order to pass.  We just need to ensure you actually have the knowledge you need.

Scout Promise:

On my honour, I promise to do my best;
To do my duty to God and to the Queen;
To help other people at all times;
And to carry out the spirit of the Scout Law

Scout Law:

A Scout is helpful and trustworthy,
Kind and cheerful.
Considerate and clean,
And wise in the use of all resources

Breaking them down:

  • Scouts consistently do their best
  • Scouts respect the differences between all people, cultures, religions, etc and the validity of everyone’s personal beliefs
  • Scouts represent their country well and consistently follow the law
  • Scouts always provide help when it is needed, without having to be asked
  • Scouts do not lie – dishonesty is not tolerated
  • Scouts choose kindness over spite
  • Scouts remain cheerful whenever possible – we cannot always control our situation, but we can always control our attitude
  • Scouts are not wasteful and take care of equipment, supplies, and of course each other.  Scouts can manage money in a responsible manner

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