Greetings to All.

This is the final Projectoree 2002 Newsletter, and closes out this year's event.

1) Projectoree Accounting
Paid attendance was 348, a new record.

There were two minor shortfalls on Troop payments, and one minor Troop overpayment; these will be handled separately. Assuming the shortfalls are made good, the total receipts for Projectoree 2002 will be $5295. Total expenses were $4962.54, for a surplus of $332.46.

The carryover Projectoree Surplus (maintained in the Troop 111 Treasury) after Projectoree 2001 was $886.81; therefore, the current surplus is $1219.27.

As always, the Projectoree accounts are available for anyone who so wishes to audit. If you are interested in doing so, please contact me.

2) T-Shirts Available
For some reason, we have a LOT of Projectoree T-Shirts leftover, mostly mediums, but there are a few other sizes as well. I do not know if the T-Shirt Company just gave us a bunch of extras "on the house", or if one or more Troops failed to pick up their total orders (everyone did pay for their total orders, but that obviously doesn't mean they actually took their total orders).

If you feel you were shorted on your T-Shirts, CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY.

Anyway, all of these excess Shirts are offered at $5 each - WELL BELOW COST! - on a first come/first serve basis. Best Deal In Town. Let me know before the upcoming June Roundtable; we can hook up then. Any funds raised will go directly into the Projectoree Surplus Account.

BTW, we only had 9 patches left, and I will hold on to those. Only one Troop actually paid for extra patches, and (since they didn't answer my inquiry in the last Newsletter) I am assuming they got them.

3) Patrol Sizes
You will recall that this was a major topic of discourse in the last Newsletter. After discussing this with several senior level Scouters who have participated in multiple Projectorees, we will proceed as follows: We will modify the Scoring Sheets so that the number of Scouts that are participating for the Patrol in each event will be noted. If a Patrol has 5 or fewer members, they may participate, but their score will be an automatic DSQ. In the scoring scheme used for the Projectoree, this will place them at the bottom of the rankings for that event, and their final placement in that event will vary versus other DSQ Patrols based on average age only. This is far easier to administer, and is clearly more fair, versus the "averaging" plan I originally proposed.

Again, I will re-state that the far better way to handle this is to make sure each of your Patrols will have at least 6 members all day long.

As a pertinent aside, boys who feel that missing a 2 hour soccer practice (or whatever) on Projectoree Saturday will be the end of life as they know it, shouldn't sign up for the Projectoree in the first place.

4) Patrol Evaluations
26 of 29 Eval Forms were turned in. One was discarded because only the Acid Bath was evaluated. Another was discarded because every event was checked "OK", indicating a complete lack of thought or effort on the part of an irresponsible Patrol Leader who obviously didn't give a damn.

In the following chart, 5 points was great, 4 was good, 3 was OK, 2 was poor, and 1 was terrible.

Acid Bath	3.9
Ball Toss	3.6
Caber Toss	4.0
Cave Rescue	3.7
Egg Toss	4.4
Firebuilding Race	4.3
Hot Lava Rescue Relay	3.7
Nuclear Reactor	4.1
Obstacle Course	4.6
Radioactive Basketballs	3.2
Running Kim's Game	3.1
Walk the Plank	3.7

Some Comments:

Ron Pelley has stated several times that the ability of the Scouts to evaluate the events is one of the unique and most valuable aspects of the Projectoree. That said, however, it is clear that we have some problems. To whit, I also compared how the Patrols placed versus their evaluations, and one clear correlation emerges - if a Patrol did poorly on an event, they hammered it into the dust on their evaluation. While I suppose this can be expected, I am disappointed because we specifically asked that the Patrols evaluate each event on its own merits, not how they did on it.

In addition, there were three Patrols that basically blasted everything except the events that their Troops were running. [Two of these three Patrols placed in the top ten, and received Award Ribbons!] One has to wonder if the Patrol Leaders were playing some kind of silly game here, because if the Patrols really had this poor an experience, their Troops should probably not attend future Projectorees. I will not publically tag the offenders, but each Scoutmaster should ask their Troops *NOW* whether they enjoyed the Projectoree, and would like to attend another, while the memories are still fresh. If the answers are negative, that should figure heavily in your Calendar planning for next year.

An interesting written comment that appeared on a number of evaluations indicated that the Scouts downgraded two events because they were "adult-run". That was probably the most mature and insightful observation made.

I am not sure how to address all this. One idea is to ask the escorting adults to keep the evaluation forms and solicit for feedback from the *entire* Patrol after each event, reminding them in each case to judge the event, not their performance. This might also generate more useful feedback comments. However, it removes a valuable aspect of the Projectoree from the Patrol Leaders, so I'm not sure that's the way to go. Another idea would be to ask the Patrols to complete the evaluation in their campsites during or after dinner, with Adults monitoring the proceedings, versus the "on-the-spot" mechanism currently in place. I am open to comments and/or suggestions.

5) 1998 Patrol Standings?
And now for something completely different.... I have been trying to re-create the Projectoree standings for all 8 years (9 Projectorees) for posting on a future Chain Bridge District History Page (on one of the District Websites). I have every year except 1998. All I have for that year is the fact that about 15 Patrols participated (from Troops 104, 106, 111, 149, 167, 638, 647, and 648), that 5 placing ribbons were awarded, and that the Pedro Patrol from Troop 111 placed 2nd. So now I am trying to figure out the other four placing Patrols and Troops.

As best as I can determine, I never reported the results via a Projectoree Newsletter, either in email or hard copy (1998 was the year I made the wholesale switch from mailings to emailings). Nor is it in the nascent issues of Chainemail, which was just getting going that year. Neal Wood has (thus far) been unable to find it in his ancient computer files. So about all that's left are the monthly Newsletters (if any) from the participating Troops, and the 1998 award ribbons on the participating Troops' or Patrols' flags. BTW, that years ribbons were gold print on blue ribbon, stating "Projectoree 98"; also, the award streamers were sewn on the top of that year's ribbons, not on the bottoms as has been the case most other years.

So I am asking you to please check your archived Newsletters, your Troop flags, and your Patrol flags, looking for the 1998 award ribbons for 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place. If you find anything, please get me the Patrol name and place. Thanks!

6) Troop 638 Projectoree Poem
A surprising number of people asked if I would duplicate this for general consumption, so here it is:

The early sun rises in the camp wilderness,
And soon everyone has to do their restroom business,
The boots, shirts, pants, and more,
Arrive early at the camp breakfast tour.

Get in line, and don't be late,
For sometimes it's not good to hesitate,
Sound the horn for the first sport event,
And try to figure out who set up this wacky event.

A fall here and a jump there,
If it doesn't happen right it seems unfair,
But whatever the results happen to be,
All the Scouts will discover to see,
That the point of trying your best is simply,
The bottom line of the Projectoree.

Thanks Dr. Bob!

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11 June 2002