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Scout leaders needed for area youth

A world of adventure, outdoor experience and friendship awaits for individuals who embrace the ideals and wish to lend a helping hand.

A world of adventure, outdoor experience and friendship awaits for individuals who embrace the ideals and wish to lend a helping hand.

Scouts Canada, the leading organization in the nation for youth, is currently running a campaign to get new members to join in on over a century of tradition.

“Banff is definitely in need of help,” said local Scouts commissioner Venita Sobering.

“First, you have to volunteer and then what happens is we do reference checks, police record checks, and an interview and then from there we do training.”

Sobering was quick to point out you do not need to be a member or former member to become a Scout leader.

“We start off with what is called Wood Badge Part One training and it is broken down by age sections and that is where we get our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, Venturers and Rover Scouts and you have to take the appropriate training for each section.

“You get the training, that’s part of Scouts, and you bring your own skills and advance your own skills and you learn skills; that happened last weekend (Oct. 26-27) at Camp Gardner near Calgary,” said Sobering.

“We had a skills weekend which is part of our training, with everything going on from fire lighting, tent set-up, stoves and Dutch oven cooking so leaders can get the experience they need and build their confidence and learn new things.”

Scouts have a group committee which runs each section made up of volunteers. The group committee consists of the commissioner or chairperson, a secretary, treasurer, registrar and sometimes they’re involved with the group either as leaders or volunteers.

“It’s the first steps of training in Wood Badge One, and it’s available online now,” said Sobering. “It’s a five-hour course in which you learn about your section, you learn about our bylaws, policies and procedures, how to run a camp; just various things on how to work with kids.

“We have other training called child and youth disability. We make sure that the program is age appropriate for the youth and it all goes through reference materials available for each section, so the members aren’t just going, ‘How do I do this?’ ”

Volunteers always have a team of support workers who assist leaders and groups. “They are following a program and it’s not just, ‘Oh, we’re going to get together every Thursday and play games and call ourselves Scouts,’ ” Sobering said.

You only need to take the training for the section you’re going to be applying for, with each section needing five hours of training.

“I have all my training for all the sections except Rovers because we have no Rovers in the area,” she said.

“A lot of things have changed and there is that misconception that people think they have to be in the program the whole time. I’ve only been involved in Canmore for 13 years now, but I never worked with any of the Cubs or Beavers or anything as a youth and I never worked with Girl Guides either.

“This is new to me. My kids were in it, so I volunteered as a parent and moved up through the ranks with training and now I’m the area commissioner,” said Sobering. “I assist groups in Banff, Canmore, Cochrane and Bragg Creek – that’s my area and I work with them and make sure they are following the standards and the qualities and leading a safe program.”

She said an average week, with the meetings themselves, is around five hours, but it varies with what position a volunteer has. “If you are a Scoutmaster, it takes a bit more because you are leading your other scouters. You’re putting in a lot more work, but as the kids get older they take on responsibility for program planning,” said Sobering.

“Right now, we’re getting excited for the world jamboree that is in 2015 in Japan, that’s one of the things we’ve already started planning. Even our local kids are encouraged to take part in international travel; my daughter has been to Scotland with the Scouts and our local adventure company last year went down to Belize to do their open water dives ”

For more information, email: [email protected] or phone:1-888-726-8876.


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