Stacy Martin to ALL:
SM> Hello! I am a twelve year old scout from Regina, Sask.  I was
SM> wondering if anyone out there who is around my age (or any age
SM> for that matter) who is part of a scout troup (or cubs or
SM> ventures) would write to me about what it is like to be a scout
SM> where evr you live. ie. Where you go for camps, what you do at
SM> camps, major scouting events you've attended etc.
   Just learned that the 1st of 3 pages, ULd a couple days ago in
response to the above of yours, probably didn't in fact get sent
upline thru the net with pages 2 & 3.  Here then, is the beginning
of that 3-part post again.
                         ____________
   Howdy!  I'm a bit over 12 (fact is, I'd be overjoyed if I could
*remember* being 12!), but I'd be happy to chat with you about
Scouting down here ... "down here" being Denver, Colorado.
   Guess I should start with the broadest differences between Boy
Scouts of America (BSA) & Scouts Canada.  BSA is just for boys, but
*all* Scouting is a family activity, so a fair number of Scouts'
sisters participate right alongside their brothers - they just can
not be registered members & get awards.  The US is divided up into
Regions (5 or 6 - it changed a year or so ago & may again soon),
but except for Jamborees & high-level training, the real Scouting
program is handled at the Council level.  Councils have between
2000 & 20000 Scouts, & most states have several.  I think there're
3 states with just 1 Council, Colorado has 6, but crowded places
like New York may have as many as 6 in just the *city*.  Every
Council is divided into Districts - Denver Area Council has 7.
Districts sponsor Camporees, activities like sports tournaments,
& basic Junior Leader training, all of which need to draw from a
bigger bunch of people than a single Scout unit can field.  The
Scout units, of course, are where the main action really is.
   BSA has units for youngsters of all ages: Tiger Cubs for 7 yr-
olds, Cub Scouts for 8-10, & Boy Scouts for 11-17.  Explorer Posts
are for 14-17 yr-olds, & they focus on 1 High Adventure activity,
or do all the HA activities but nothing else, or are related to
some career (Medicine, Law, Law Enforcement, Electronics, Aviation,
etc).  14-17 yr-olds who stay in a Boy Scout Troop may form a temp-
orary Venture Crew or Varsity Team to prepare for & do a specific
adventurous activity in depth, but they remain part of the regular
unit.  Girls can join Explorer Posts as full members, but are out
of the advancement loop.  Girls are welcome to participate in all
aspects of Venture/Varsity activities, but are "guests" rather than
members (Right! ... I make guests in *my* home work, don't you?!?).
Each Cub Pack, Boy Scout Troop, & Explorer Post is supervised by
it's own Committee (mostly parents), even when a Pack & Troop &
Post are all sponsored by a single church or school, unlike SC,
where a single Group Committee oversees multiple related units.
There are also a few Sea Scout units (called "Ships") around, but
BSA hasn't made any effort to promote them since aviation pushed
seafaring largely into the background.
   I'm Outdoor Program Chair & Gopher Without Portfolio for the
Committees that support T-36 & T-361, Arapaho District, Denver Area
Council.  DAC is spread out, with 17,500 Scouts.  About 65% live in
Denver or the suburbs, & the rest in small rural towns.  Arapaho
District includes all the southern 'burbs of Denver & a lot of
ranchland & mountain towns, and serves about 5500 Scouts, making it
DAC's largest District in terms of number-of-Scouts.  I live in
Englewood, a suburb immediately S of Denver proper, & the 2 Troops
I hang with are in Littleton, the next 'burb to the S.  Most of the
T-36/-361 guys live in Littleton, but several live further S on
ranches, or W up in the mountains.  There are 86 guys in T-36, & 41
in T-361.  T-361 split off in Sept because 120+ Scouts were just
too many for 1 Troop, & some of the guys weren't getting to do what
interested 'em since activities are selected by majority vote.
       - continued in message parts 2 & 3, sent earlier -
 * OLX 2.2 TD * 
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