Home.10 May 2001
Greetings to All.
I hope everyone has recovered from what I think we can all agree was our best Projectoree ever. I am very pleased - from the weather, to the attendance, to the more salient role played by our Senior Scouts, to the well-run events, to the service project, we did very, very well.
And now for the post-mortem and paperwork (the job's not done 'til the paperwork is finished....)
1) Receipts
If you have any receipts for reimbursement, please mail them to me
postehaste. The deadline is FRIDAY, MAY 11TH. After that, you have
just gained yourself a wonderful tax writeoff. Don't delay!
2) Extra Patches and Patch Protectors
I have not yet heard back from my Registration Czar, but it is my
understanding that we had about 40 patches and patch protectors
leftover. If you PAID for patches and pp's, but didn't receive them,
please let me know immediately - you have first dibs on the
leftovers. I'm pretty sure everyone got their stuff, but I'm asking
just to be sure.
If you want EXTRA patches and pp's, let me know how many, and I'll set them aside for you. Again, the cost is only $1 each set (actual cost to the Projectoree was about $2 each set, so it's a bargain).
3) T-Shirts
We have a few extra T-Shirts, plus some Troops got "burned" as usual
by late dropouts. If you were shorted on your order, you have first
dibs on the extras. If you want to buy any extra T-Shirts, let me
know. Similarly, if you have any extras that you'd like to sell, let
me know that also.
In either case, I need to know the SIZE of the T-Shirts you want to buy or sell, and also whether you need a "Staff" logo on them.
4) Lost and Found
A few minor items were left at the Lost and Found:
* Coffee Cup, maroon, Snake River Adventures
* Navy Blue Hand-Towel
* Light Blue Washcloth
Also left at the site (at least as of 11am Sunday) were the cross-beams from the Log-Raising Relay (left in the woods).
5) Return Requested
Someone took the hose bib (the little plus-sign shaped tool to
turn the water faucet on) within 2 hours of the first Troop's arrival
Friday night. Why anyone would want such a thing I can't imagine.
Souvenir?? Anyway, if you stumble across this, or if a Scout gives it
up, I sure would appreciate getting it back.
6) Service Project Tools
If you left any tools at the service project, please give me a
description immediately - I can still recover them this week from the
Pohick Bay Ranger Station. After this weekend, forget it - you just
got another tax deduction.
7) Equipment Dropoffs
If anyone has any game parts they want to store in the Scout shed at
my house, please contact me to set up a dropoff time. I have Scout
events each of the next 3 weekends, so weekends are not good times;
go for a weeknight before dark, and contact me well in advance to set
up the appointment.
8) Patrol Evals Needed
A number of Patrols did not turn in their evaluation sheets. As
noted at the Friday night PLC, these are important, and I hope the
respective Scoutmasters will make the effort to secure these forms
and mail them to me asap. The Patrols were:
#3 - Rancid Milk (149)
#7 - Radioactive Croutons (667)
#8 - Green (638)
#11 - Poison Chalupas (167)
#17 - Batsnake (143)
#23 - Pyros (828)
9) Troop Evals Wanted
As I have noted in the past, there is a direct correlation
between the evaluations and how well the scoring Patrol did in that
event. Not surprisingly, the Scouts are very harsh on those events
where they performed poorly. [It would take a very mature set of
Scouts to admit that an event was great and they were just terrible
at it.] So, I am requesting each Troop that ran an event to
self-evaluate it this year - how well do YOU think your event went,
and what changes would you implement (if any) to make it better?
Please be as honest as possible in your self-appraisal; no one will
be taken out and shot at dawn.
If you have any other "evaluation" comments concerning any other aspect of Proectoree 2001, please forward them as well.
10) Results
The following chart was prepared by Neal Wood, our Scoring
Coordinator. Note that we had 3 "ties" this year, 1 within the
"placing" Patrols. Per published policy, in such cases the tie goes
to the younger Patrol.
Patrol
Troop Patrol # Total Score Overall Rank Scorpions
638 2 82 21 Rancid Milk
149 3 146 2 Spectre
111 4 136 3 Constipated Cows
624 5 122 9 Burning Pants
111 6 135 4 Radioactive Croutons
667 7 91 20 Green
638 8 95 17 Conquistadors
111 9 129 6 Silver Eagles
647 10 95 17 Poison Chalupas
167 11 117 10 Scooters
111 12 193 1 Mad Cows
104 13 116 11 Stonecutters
111 14 104 15 Pioneers
151 15 126 8 Batsnake
143 17 129 6 Shocking Vipers
167 18 113 12 Purple Wombats
149 20 113 12 Screaming Eagles
1866 21 80 22 Hobo Lions
638 22 131 5 Pyros
828 23 75 23 Snake Eyes
111 25 97 16 Sly Shrews
624 26 52 25 Wall Tacks
624 27 64 24 Cobras
128 28 94 19 Flame
167 29 109 14
Some followup remarks:
A) As expected, a number of Patrols complained that their "set"
of games was harder than other Patrols. As we noted at the PLC, the
Patrol sheets were handed out completely randomly, and each Patrol's
overall score is determined by the internal scores earned at each
event. The relative difficulty of an event has no bearing on a
Patrol's overall score. No one has a case here.
B) There were also some noticeable grumbling at the campfire about Troop 111 taking 4 of the 8 ribbons. First off, with 6 Patrols entered, we should take 2 ribbons just based on statistical averaging (6/25 x 8 ribbons). Second, as you all know, 111 starts practicing the Projectoree events in late February, JUST AS I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE ELSE TO DO. Some of you do; many of you don't. So we should do better. I conducted a quick survey of the placing Patrols - with one exception, all practiced the events to some extent prior to the Projectoree. Troop 151 placed 8th at this (their first) Projectoree - they had also practiced EVERY event over the past six weeks. There's an obvious point there, yes?
Nonetheless, this is a negative factor that I find both disturbing and disappointing. I don't run the Projectoree for the "thrill" of having my Scouts kick butt - I think you all know that. I hope you can use the success of *all* the placing Patrols as an example to encourage your Scouts to practice next year - as I have stated many times, if you practice the events, I have succeeded at my primary goal - building your Patrols - even before the Projectoree starts, even if it was rained out! Believe it or not, I would be [nearly] as happy if my Troop did not place a single Patrol - because even my lowest placing Patrols still had a great time. Does anything else really matter?
One of the things I will do next year is ask Neal to announce only Patrol names - and not the Troop numbers. I hope this will nip this issue in the bud. But I also ask that you discuss it with your Scouts as well; this can be used as a good Scoutmaster's Minute on the meaning of sportsmanship and what really matters.
C) I have the event-by-event placing chart, but it is too large to fit into an email. If you want it, please email me, and I'll forward it to you.
11) Next Year's Projectoree
As you know, the traditional date of the Projectoree is two weeks
after Easter. However, Easter is in March next year (3/31). So I am
tentatively scheduling Projectoree
2002 for the same weekend as this year; that is, April 26th -
28th. Please make a note of it. Fortunately, the Scouting on the Mall
Show (also scheduled for next year) falls on Saturday, May 11th - so
there won't be any schedule conflicts for [you know who] to
complain about.
12) Thanks
It isn't possible to properly thank everyone who helped make this
year's Projectoree the great success it was - nonetheless, there are
a few people I want to specifically cite for their efforts "above and
beyond":
Matt Bangs, Rich Sheehey, Rick Wolff (all 111), and Brian Fasci, for constructing the Obstacle Course - 25 man-hours of work!
Clay Henderson (104), Rick Wolff (111), Neal Wood (647), and Brian Fasci, for chainsaw work on our service project - What a Jungle! The tree planting would have been nearly impossible without all the unexpected "emergency" site prep Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
Mark Wray (167) and Wayne Blincoe (624) for extra effort on the tree planting part of the service project.
Glen Smith (149) as Registrar, Bill Sample (638) et al. (First Aid/Timekeepers/Rovers), Neal Wood (647) for Scoring, Clay Henderson (104) for Staff Food, and Curt Dove (167) for Site Coordination.
Senior Scouts Brad Jones and Chris Wolff (111) for running the Opening Flag Ceremony, the PLC, and the Closing Campfire.
...and everyone else, especially the Senior Scouts, who stepped up and made a difference. My apologies if I missed anyone who played a major role; regardless, it was (and is) greatly appreciated.
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