Rover Scouts are youth aged 18-26 years and are the most senior section of Scout Canada. We are kind of like the magical unicorns of the scouting world. People have heard of our existence, but we are few and far between in the wild.
Growing up in Guiding, I always wanted to become a Rover Scout after Rangers (the most senior section of Girl Guides). I knew they did cool things, and I also knew they faced great challenges. In their program work (outdoors stuff), in their personal development, and in their community service, as well as having a stronger connection to Scouts around the globe.
So, at the age of 21 after moving over to Scouts I decided to join, and pretty much try and recreate a Rover Crew at the 36th Halifax. This is still a work in progress, but I am happy to announce we had 100% growth this year, growing from 1 lone rover to 2 rovers!
I began working away at my award. Transferring my skills into the Scout badges, camping A LOT, physically challenging myself, and adding up the community service hours.
You can see its requirements in the photo below.
The reality of what I actually did is . .
Outdoor Adventure Skills: Needed for Award 32 Total Completed: 35
Camping Skills 9, Winter Skills 8, Emergency Aid 6, Trail Skills 5, Scout Craft 3, Vertical Skills 2, Sailing Skills 1, Aquatic Skills 1.
Scouting badges range from level 1 to level 9 (being the most difficult to achieve).
Community Service Hours: Needed for Award 80 Completed: 126 hrs from Scouting Only
Beaver Scout Meetings: 2017-2018 25 meetings attended avg. x 1 hour a week = 25 hours
Beaver Scout Meetings 2018- March 2019 50 meetings attended avg. x 1.5 hours a week= 75 hours
Beaver Sleepovers Fall 2017, Fall 2018= 8 hours x 2 sleepovers = 16 hrs
Area Youth Commissioner Duties 2018- Feb. 2019= 10 hrs
(When I added in my outside of Scouting service hours I had around 200 hours over 2 years, then gave up and stopped counting)
STEP 4: Meaningful Service Project
The project I completed for this award was inspired by the anniversary of 100 years of Rovers worldwide. I organized a craft drive to collect supplies for the IWK children’s hospital to create craft kits. Craft kits are used by patients who spend long days at the hospital in clinics or waiting for test results. The kits are designed for the children to be able to do the kits independently with all the supplies being in the bag.
This was meaningful to me as a child who spent extended periods of time at the IWK hospital I know how boring the wait can be and how hard it can be to stay entertained. Also, through my university studies at Dalhousie University in Therapeutic Recreation, I know the importance of leisure activities. Especially creative ones, they help reduce stress and provide an outlet for youth to express their feelings.
Plan: Broadcast on social media the craft drive for specific supplies for the IWK craft kits. Or gift cards that could be used to purchase the supplies. Also, to reach out to local organizations who can help me get my message out. Plan is to collect supplies all of July 2018, with the kits being complete and donated to the IWK by the end of August 2018.
Do: I did broadcast the drive and reach out to local organizations. The result was gift cards for Walmart that allowed me to purchase 108 boxes of crayons, 100 Ziplock bags and 20 colouring books. The result was 108 craft kits donated the IWK.
Review: Looking back on the project, I wish I has created kits for youth as well. So older patients at the IWK could have benefited as well. I also would have like to involve more youth in the project so perhaps doing it during the traditional scouting year would have allowed for this. I am happy with the result of the project, as the kits will go a long way to help children at the IWK.
My Rover Award was something I had set as a goal for myself, one that when I started, I was honestly unsure if I would ever succeed. As it was a lot, but it was also important to me, which helped me stay motivated.
I learned throughout this process a lot about myself, about those who are around me who support me and want to see me succeed in this award (both inside and outside of Scouting). And also, those who don’t, and that’s okay. Not everyone will like and support you, especially when your working towards change, and as hard as that may be, its okay. That alone, took me months to accept. But at the end of the day I started this journey because I wanted to challenge myself not to win a popularity contest or others approval.
At the end of the day, I earned the highest award a youth can earn in Scouting and was the first to be awarded in Nova Scotia. And one of the few who have earned it across Canada. So, I guess, it was a kind of a big deal in the big picture in the end.
Next challenge? My Scouts of the World Award! And to continue growing Rover Scouts in Halifax.