Plummer gets patrol foxtrotting toward completed tickets

Nicole Plummer sharpens her flag-folding skills
as part of the troop guide exhibits at the start
of the course's Day 1 activities.

After the Fox Patrol's rendition of "What the Fox Say?" during the course, perhaps dance analogies aren't the best for our Foxes, but Nicole Plummer's completed ticket has her among the first of the Fox Patrol's members dancing toward receiving their Wood Badge beads. Nicole, who when she began her ticket was an assistant scoutmaster in Ft. Benning's Troop 27, sees her role as "teaching, coaching, and mentoring boys in Scout skills and leadership to become self-reliant, skilled, and compassionate young years. I provide a safe environment for boys to grow and explore their world."

In fulfilling that role, Nicole's ticket items support her vision of guiding as many boys as are interested on their path to become an Eagle Scout; helping them learn life skills and gain the knowledge they need to be successful in life, as well as grow in confidence and self-reliance; and turning them into self-reliant, skilled young men who know how to lead others with compassion and understanding:

• Goal 1: establish a new-Scout patrol and develop a First Class-in-12-months program for the troop
• Goal 2: establish a troop library and merit badge pamphlet exchange program
• Goal 3: lead a troop outing to the Andersonville National Civil War Historic Site and help Scouts learn more about the treatment of POWs in different wars
• Goal 4: enhance troop operations by updating and sharing with Scouts and their families a troop policies document, and develop a system for better troop communications between Scouts and with leaders
• Group 5: create a patrol book to be used by all patrols to help patrol leaders with leading their patrols and patrol members

"I think my most-challenging ticket was establishing a First Class-in-12-months program," Nicole noted. "Finding the right older Scouts to take charge of the program as troop guides can be a challenge, and balancing the needs of the individual Scouts within the program requires constant fine-tuning and adjusting of the program."

While at the Andersonville National Historic Site,

the troop conducted a flag-lowering ceremony

and held a crossover ceremony for a Webelos

at the park’s Star Fort.

She said the troop's Andersonville Historic Site campout was her most-rewarding ticket item.

"The boys learned quite a bit and enjoyed exploring the park, though the historic trail needs more time than the four hours the website suggested in order to fully take in and digest all it offers," she indicated. "For a service project, we repaired and built prisoner shelters and, after a short introduction and history lesson from the park ranger, the Scouts enthusiastically went to work and would have happily spent all day improving the prison site."

Nicole's success didn't come without the need to reconsider and revise one of her ticket items along the way. The revision resulted in part from a change in her troop role, which necessitated her stepping into the position of Troop 27's scoutmaster.

"Originally, one of my ticket items was to restart the troop’s knotmaster program. But after taking over as scoutmaster, I realized the troop was not ready to add this program to its schedule and found it more important to update the troop’s operating procedures and ensure everybody was fully aware of how the troop should be run," she said. "I think this was a very good decision and we can always add a knotmaster program at a later time. As a matter of fact, the PLC just decided to add a weekly instructor-run “skill of the week" revolving around basic Scout skills and knots."

Nicole joins five other course participants to date who plan to receive their beads at the council's Jan. 3 Wood Badge Reunion, including : the  Beaver Patrol's Joel Moore; Bobwhite Patrol's Toni Sue Bobyarchick; Bear Patrol's James Ormsby; Eagle Patrol's Jeff Ayers; and the Buffalo Patrol's Terry Booton.

Bobwhite's Bobyarchick 'gets happy' about completing ticket

Toni Sue Bobyarchick (second in line) is all smiles as the Bobwhites
complete the "Trolley" patrol activity during Day Four's
problem-solving round robin activities.

The first of the Bobwhites has left the nest, and the chirping of "come on, get happy!" now resonates throughout Gilwell Park! Toni Sue Bobyarchick, the fifth completed ticket from S9-91-14 to report here on our course blog, serves as an assistant scoutmaster for Saugahatchee District's Troop 218, chartered by Auburn/Opelika Lodge #1834 of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

Toni Sue's Wood Badge ticket items support her vision of continuing to grow Troop 218 in members and leaders, since the troop has no associated "feeder" Cub Scout pack; making Scouts safe by educating them about bullying/cyberbullying; and creating a greater sense of “unity community” by unifying the troop with exposure to other faiths and worship practices:

• Goal 1: develop a troop recruitment program that can be implemented and used by future leaders
• Goal 2: attend Outdoor Webelos Leader Skills (OWLS) training to help expand personal knowledge, ability and leadership skills, and to network with Webelos leaders as a way of recruiting potential troop members and leaders
• Goal 3: staff Cub Scout resident camp as the resident camp nurse and network further with potential troop members and leaders
• Goal 4: develop a presentation on bullying, specifically cyberbulling, that can be used by many groups inside and outside Scouting, and use that information to make a presentation that will also include handouts and a display board
• Goal 5: develop an interfaith worship pamphlet for the troop's use to guide worship services on campouts and during other troop activities

Of those five ticket items, Toni Sue noted her first goal to develop a troop recruitment program was the most challenging: "My most challenging ticket item was developing a recruitment program, but I learned the most from this project," she said. "On Scout night, the boys visiting our troop enjoyed talking with and learning from our Boy Scouts. My twin boys enjoyed teaching knots and talking with our visitors. I could see the boys growing into leaders."

"Volunteering as camp nurse at Cub Scout resident camp was my most rewarding ticket item," Toni Sue said. "I was so motivated by all the enthusiasm of all the resident camp leaders and the young Scouts."

She credits her scoutmaster, Joe Higgins, as her source of support while working her ticket: "He was always giving support and encouraging me on. I know he will be proud," she said.

Toni Sue notes that while her ticket is complete, it's by no means finished.

"I will keep 'working my ticket' by continuing the recruitment program and 'duty to God' emphasis in our troop, teaching cyberbullying classes annually, and volunteering with OWLs training and resident camp," she said.

Toni Sue, one of five reported completed tickets announced to date, will receive her beads at the council's Jan. 3 Wood Badge Reunion. Other beadings will include the Beaver Patrol's Joel Moore, Eagle Patrol's Jeff Ayers, Bear Patrol's James Ormsby, and the Buffalo Patrol's Terry Booton.

Beavers' Moore sinks his teeth into completing ticket

Joel assists the Beavers gear up on Day 5
before departing for the outpost overnighter.

The Beavers are in the house with the completion of the patrol's first ticket by Joel Moore. As a troop committee chair for Troop 371, chartered by Lakeview Baptist Church, immediate past chair of the Saugahatchee District Committee, and current council vice president for programs on the Chattahoochee Council Executive Board, Joel's ticket items focused on his vision of leaving his unit, district and council better than he found it. "In this way," he said, "I can help not only current members of Scouting, but also future members." Those ticket items, which benefit his troop's communications and "duty to God" efforts, as well as users of the council's camping facilities, included:

• Goal 1: replace the troop's website, which was old and outdated, with a new, public website built on a modern content management system to enhance prospective-Scout recruitment, keep Scouts and their families updated on troop news and information, and help Scouts maintain their advancement records and troop involvement
• Goal 2: increase the troop's "duty to God" emphasis by supporting the appointment of one of Lakeview Baptist Church's associate pastors as the troop's chaplain through developing a job description and chaplain training specific to the needs and requirements of the troop, and assembling resources for the chaplain to use in meetings and on campouts
• Goal 3: develop a curriculum for the troop to use to teach appropriate religious emblems at the troop level, as well as recruit religious emblems instructors and offer an overview of the religious emblem program to Scouts in the troop
• Goal 4: develop a fire safety plan for users of both Camp Frank G. Lumpkin and Camp Pine Mountain based on the fire danger rating as published daily by the Georgia Forestry Commission, to be enforced by the camp ranger
• Goal 5: create a development and use plan for a primitive, back-country camping area at Camp Frank G. Lumpkin for consideration and approval by the Council Executive Board, and execution by the Council Camping Committee

One of Joel's ticket items, a fire safety plan for the council's
two camping facilities, includes signage on each property
and a website that updates daily with fire danger
ratings. Check out the website at http://fire.campfgl.com.

Out of his five ticket items, Joel noted it is the primitive camping area at Camp Lumpkin that was his most-rewarding project.

"I'm most excited about the creation of the primitive camping area at FGL," he said. "It will serve as an 'outpost' destination once our new waterfront is fully operational this coming spring. Hopefully this area will be used as a back-country site by hundreds of Scouts in the coming years."

"All of my tickets have room for me to continue 'working my ticket,'" Joel noted. On that list is continuing to maintain, and train others on maintaining, the troop's new website; continuing to mentor the troop's new chaplain; assisting in implementing the God & Church and God & Life curricula he created; developing a brochure for the camp fire safety plan; and promoting the camp's new primitive camping area.

Joel will be among the four reported beadings announced to date that will occur at the council's Jan. 3 Wood Badge Reunion. Other beadings include the Bear Patrol's James Ormsby, Eagle Patrol's Jeff Ayers, and the Buffalo Patrol's Terry Booton.

Hibernation ends with first completed Bear Patrol ticket

James Ormsby, the most-recent S9-91-14 participant to complete his ticket,
presents course staffer and fellow Bear Kevin Hicks with one
of his patrol's totems.

It may be nearing hibernation season for real-life bears, but the Bear Patrol of S9-91-14 is just coming out of hibernation with its first completed Wood Badge ticket — completed by James Ormsby, Webelos den leader for Pack 125, chartered by New Community Church in LaGrange. James' ticket items centered around his vision to to cultivate and prepare Webelos Scouts to crossover into a Boy Scout troop by making Scouting enjoyable and relatable to Scouts and ensuring that all boys have the ability to achieve all they wish to in Scouting:

• Goal 1: serve on staff for a district or council Outdoor Webelos Leader Skills course by teaching a session on ropes and knot-tying
• Goal 2: teach and assist with the Webelos Transitional Program in the Yellow Jacket District as a way of improving Webelos retention and crossover to Boy Scout troops
• Goal 3: establish a fundraising program for Scouts who cannot afford to fully pay but who have a high interest in participating in high-adventure Scouting programs
• Goal 4: establish a chaplain program for Troop 125, to include identifying a qualified and interested leader and providing a faith-based program for spiritual growth and development in both meeting and campout settings
• Goal 5: mobilize Pack 125 Cub Scouts and Troop 125 Boy Scouts to establish and maintain a recycling program for New Community Church so there is increased recycling of disposed paper, aluminum and plastic items

James notes his ticket item assisting Scouts with raising and saving money for their high-adventure trips was the most challenging — from the perspective of developing the guidelines and documentation to track funds, as well as getting Scouts to think about long-term spending. He credits Chattahoochee Council Assistant Scout Executive Phillip Wright, who he worked with closely on the Webelos Transitional Program, and Troop Guide Krystal Tumlin's overall help, as essential to his success.

"My biggest supporter was Krystal, our troop guide," James said. "I did not want to let her down — she worked so hard to get us where we were, and I respect her for that. The only way I can repay her was by putting forth my best effort."

James plans to receive his beads at the Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, Wood Badge reunion. To date, the beading will include him, Jeff Ayers, and Terry Booton.

27th Wood Badge Reunion set for Jan. 3

Scouters from across Chattahoochee Council representing four decades of Wood Badge tradition will gather at Camp Lumpkin on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, for the council's 27th annual Wood Badge Reunion. The gathering will feature good food, the typical Wood Badge fun, and Gilwell-style camaraderie — and a new format that brings Wood Badgers together earlier in the day.

The reunion, held in the Camp Lumpkin's Callaway Dining Hall, will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET, with the meal scheduled to be served at 2 p.m. ET. The reunion, expected to last until 4 p.m. ET, is open to all Scouters and their families, and is a great opportunity to introduce other Scouting volunteers to the concept of Wood Badge. The cost of the reunion is $20 per person. Reservations are required and should be made by the close of business on Tuesday, Dec. 30. Reservations received after this date will include a $5 late fee and will total $25 a person.

To RSVP, please download and print the adjacent registration form, or register online at http://2015woodbadgeReunion.kintera.org.

The program for the event will include the presentation of beads to S9-91-14 participants who have to date completed their tickets. If you are near the point of completing your ticket and wish to have your beads presented at the reunion, please email Andrew Baird, assistant scoutmaster for troop guides, immediately.

The evening will also include the annual awarding of the council's Gilwell Award, presented to select Scouters who continue to "work their tickets" through their ongoing service to the council's Wood Badge program. At the reunion, the course director for the council's next Wood Badge course, to be held in 2016, will also be announced.

If you have questions, please call the George and Jo Jeter Scout Service Center at 706.327.2634, or contact S9-91-14 Course Director Tom Lytle at lytlet21@gmail.com.