Quarterdeck Notes - June 7, 2023

Meeting started 6:00 pm

Present: Brandon, Kai, Nathan, Jennie Stricherz, Jeremy Fuksa

  • Discussed the significance of a quarterdeck meeting
    • Basically the same as PLC in Scouts BSA
    • Should have monthly (First Wednesday?)
    • Boatswain runs the meeting
      • Nathan ran the meeting as provisional Boatswain

Activities

We discussed a number of activity options and sorted them into small, medium, and large adventures

We should keep adding to this list so we always have an idea to plan.

Troop 394 is going to Smithville Lake on Sunday, June 11 from 5p–7p. They invited the ship to come along if interested and available.

Service

We discussed the service requirements for Sea Scout rank advancement and got the following commitments from Skipper Jeremy:

  • For scouts working on Scouts BSA advancement as well as Sea Scout advancement, service hours performed for one program will also count toward rank in the other
  • Service hours performed outside of Scouting that benefit the community will be considered. If the hours counted toward service requirements at school, then the hours will also count here
  • The requirement of serving the ship via equipment maintenance, etc. will be tricky since we don't own a boat. More discussion is needed to decide what kind of service will be appropriate to fulfill that requirement.

The church has asked Troop 394 and the ship to keep overnight watch on the fireworks stand that will soon be in the back parking lot. The dates for this will be June 30 and July 1. Each shift will be 8p–8a. The troop plans to play games, eat snacks, and watch videos when not on patrol. Kai mentioned that he and a couple of friends were interested in participating.

Another good service opportunity is Feed His Lambs in Bonner Springs, near Camp Naish (possible joint project with 7007?)

The scouts that were in Troop 247 agreed that they enjoyed the river cleanup activity done in 2021 and want to do it again with the ship. Dates are available for cleanups in the fall.

Other Business

Some additions were made to the ship's Code of Conduct:

  • Full uniform not required at meetings between Memorial Day and Labor Day
    • Wear activity wear (Scout t-shirt, etc.) to meetings
    • Since we don't have a shirt yet, nautical-themed clothing or Hawaiian shirts are also appropriate
  • The person running a meeting needs to have a backup person in case something prevents the first person from coming to the meeting

Processes for position elections were discussed. We preferred the method of electing the Boatswain's Mate and, when the Boatswain's term is over, the Boatswain's Mate becomes the new Boatswain. For this first election, a Boatswain will also have to be elected.

Janessa had asked for Zoom meetings to be set up so she could keep up with meetings while on camp staff. We'll get that set up for the next meeting on June 14.

Nathan asked if the group was willing to meet at 6:00 pm for June. He and Brandon are going to volleyball practice on Wednesday evenings, and moving the meeting time makes it possible for them to do both activities. All present agreed that 6:00 pm is fine for June.

7394 unit number patches were ordered two weeks ago and should hopefully arrive in the next couple of weeks.

At some point soon, we should hold Introduction to Leadership Skills for Ships (ILSS) training to learn more about how a Sea Scout ship works.

New unit paperwork was turned in today by our COR, Jerold. He says that they are holding the paperwork until we supply two missing YPT certificates from the adults. Otherwise, we'll be official soon!

Meeting adjourned 6:37 pm, Nathan and Brandon headed off to volleyball practice