Were you elected because of your talents and ability, or was it a political thing? You know what I mean! I've been through it, too. Once a friend of mine was elected to Lodge Chief in Order of the Arrow when I was clearly the more qualified choice. He was elected because he had more friends at that particular meeting than I did. And that was just one meeting! On any other meeting day I would have been selected...
What they're looking for here is your ability to be a leader and help other Scouts become leaders as well. Being a good leader means bringing up other Scouts under you to fill your role when you move up and out. Are you humble enough to train someone to fill your position? You can start be asking the Scout if they have completed all the requirements to be considered next for this position. Does he currently fill a role in the troop that would transition to your position next? For example, it's hard to go from Patrol Leader to Senior Patrol Leader without any other positions in between. If he IS qualified, why does he think he wasn't elected? In my case the reason was really that I needed to work on my communication skills with the other Scouts...
Recite the Scout Law. Pick a point and explain what it means. Then I’ll pick one.
Obviously you know the Scout Law by heart by now, and you'd BETTER be able to understand what all the points mean by now as well. But how has the Scout Law affected your life? How has it created a structure for you in your life? Maybe the point you pick to further discuss if the point that reminds you daily what you need to work on most. This shows your desire to continue growth in and out of Scouting. Remember: when you stop growing you start dying. In my case I chose thrifty, because my family was having lots of financial problems at the time and it was a reminder to me each day to work towards financial success.
What is the hardest thing a new Scout has to learn about the patrol method? At what stage in your Scouting advancement were your when you learned this.
This is individual. For me it was learning that you needed help to be truly successful as a Scout and a leader. You can't do it all on your own! How can you win the first aid competition as a group when you're doing all the work? You can't! This requires the ability to listen well, communicate, and motivate! It takes practice for sure. I believe a Scout first learns this when they take their first leadership role in the Patrol. My first experience was a disaster! I tried to lead through bullying, because my way as the right way! And I was right, too, but it didn't matter. If you can't motivate your troops to follow you, you just can't succeed.
What would you do if another Scout brought cigarettes on a campout?
This happened to me when I was camping at Philmont! Several of the Scouts asked the kid who brought the cigarettes to throw them out. We didn't want to involve the adults because we knew the result would be this kid getting kicked off the trip. We figured that if he threw them out, then no further harm! Except that he didn't throw them out, got caught with them by the adult leaders, and ultimately the adults found out that we knew and didn't tell them. Our intentions were good, but we got in trouble. It wasn't fun. The best thing to do is motivate the Scout to turn them over to an adult leader himself. If this doesn't happen, then an adult MUST be alerted. Make sure the adult understands that you don't want to be made to look like a tattle-tale. Remember: protect yourself and others! Cigarettes have NO place in any person's life!
What is your favorite part of the Scout Law. What do you do to live it?
This is a great question that you can spend several minutes digging into. I was always influenced by the part... "and morally straight." It's easy to be influenced by bad kids to do bad things. It's harder, but far more rewarding, to do the right thing and maintain a "cheerful spirit, even in the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilties." By the way, it's always good to tie back in other oaths and laws from Scouting to support your answers. In this case I used the oath from Order of the Arrow.
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