Difference between revisions of "Coastie the Safety Boat for Cub Scouts"

Revision as of 13:22, 29 July 2009

Coastie the Safety Boat for Cub Scouts

Contents 1 Summary 2 Lessons learned 3 Resources 3.1 Gallery 3.2 Contributed by

Summary

Coastie is a robotic cartoon character used by the Coast Guard Auxiliary to assist with teaching recreational boating safety to younger audiences. As such he is a natural for helping the local Auxiliary Flotilla engage Cub Scouts in a fun discussion of boating safety.

Lessons learned

1. Organize this event through the right leader, the Cubmaster. I was initially contacted by a Den Leader, but they were not responsible for the entire Pack. To get the best participation, you need a full Pack meeting with Cubs from all of the Dens. The Cubmaster's name and contact information is readily available from the local District Executive. Call the local council office and ask to speak to the "D.E." (District Executive) for your town.
2. Whenever possible, bring together two Packs into a special, combined Pack meeting and have one of the Packs host the event. Most Packs have about 30 Cub Scouts. We got twice the number of scouts with combined meetings.
3. It takes time to put on a Coastie event. The more scouts you can present him to at once, the better. For a 45 minute to an hour presentation, it takes about 4~5 hours for each Auxiliarist with travel, setup, actual event, breakdown, and return travel.

Resources

• Auxiliary Coastie Events
• Coastie's Boating Rules
• Coastie lesson plan
• Letter to Scout Leaders
• Coastie the Safety Boat on YouTube
• Coastie the Safety Boat

Gallery

Coastie: Photo gallery

Contributed by

Jack Morrison, 5th District (Northern Region), Flotilla 4-9