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HDC Blog Posts
Scouting Isn't Just Camping: 10 Things Your Scout Can Experience
When people think about Scouting, camping and campfires are often the first things that come to mind. While outdoor adventures are a big part of the program, Scouting offers so much more! From learning new skills to exploring future careers, serving the community, and building friendships, Scouts have opportunities to try things they may never experience anywhere else. Here are 10 things your Scout can experience through Scouting! 1. STEM and Hands-On Learning Scouting makes
6 days ago3 min read
Taming Email
Approximately 80% to 85% of people in developed regions like North America and Europe report using email. The percentage for 18- to 25-year-olds is greater than 98%. Love it or hate it, it is definitely big part of our everyday lives. Within our council, the email lines are constantly buzzing. There are staff to staff communications coordinating actions and solving problems. There is a constant stream of communication from volunteers to staff and there is also a fair amount o
Sep 95 min read
Why Do We Do Service?
Service to others is burned into Scouting’s culture: • “Do a Good Turn Daily” • “...to help other people at all times...” • “A Scout is ... Helpful” • “I ... will endeavor, so far as in my power lies, to be unselfish in service and devotion to the welfare of others.” But knowing that we are supposed to engage in service doesn’t answer the fundamental question: Why? I believe the answer to that question comes in three parts: First, service benefits the community around us. Peo
Sep 73 min read
Communication Musings
I would like to devote this blog space to a discussion of communication. It was George Bernard Shaw, who said "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." Communication within our council is critical and is certainly a challenge. I guess I’ll devote this first post to a description of how we are attempting to meet the communication challenges that we have within the council. We have a Communications Group comprised of volunteers and p
Aug 243 min read
Partnerships
I hope everyone is having a safe and fun Summer! Now if we can just get some cooler weather for a while… My thoughts right now are focused on partnerships. At its July meeting, the Council’s Executive Board passed this resolution: RESOLVED, that the Council fully embrace a third-party partnership model to expand program variety, geographic reach, and flexibility while reducing liability and capital expenses. That resolution came directly out of the work on the Outdoor Success
Aug 183 min read
Report from our Annual Meeting.
Report from our Annual Meeting. As you know, we just finished our first full year as the High Desert Council, and held our annual business meeting on April 11 at the Inn of the Mountain Gods outside Ruidoso, NM. The business meeting was combined with our annual awards banquet, making for a great day! Here’s my report from the day. There were plenty of accomplishments in 2025 for us to celebrate. Our 2,400 youth members earned almost 1500 ranks, including 102 Eagle and 2 Summi
Apr 163 min read
Happy Spring to all HDC Scouters!
I returned this week from the “Thrive 2026 West” conference in Las Vegas (the other one, in Nevada.) That was a gathering of Councils from the western half of the country to get updates from our National leadership and to exchange ideas for meeting challenges that we are all facing. • The main takeaway from Thrive was the serious need to boost membership, locally and nationally. 2025 was disappointing on membership, as Scouting America slipped lower in numbers. That pattern i
Mar 202 min read
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