Scoutdance Film Festival
In order to maintain relevance in today's society, it is important for the Scouting program and its leaders to evolve and find new ways to spread the core values of Scouting. Steve Borgerding, Scoutmaster of Troop 68 in Melrose, Minnesota, has been using an often overlooked method for reaching out to his Scouts and potential future Scouts. Troop 68's website features a number of Scouting related videos ready for download. The videos cover a variety of subjects including skits, troop activities and events, and BSA promotional videos. Steve has even put together a few videos covering Scout topics such as the Scout Law and Oath using a puppet named Buttons.
In the late 1980's, Steve began taking a camcorder to some of the Troop's outings to film the boys as they participated in programs or took advantage of some free time to make short films. Around the same time, Steve started seeing various BSA promotional videos at council and district events and would make copies of the tapes for his personal archive. These films remained on Steve's shelves until about a year ago when he helped a Scout film a project for a class and in the process discovered YouTube for video distribution. Steve thought this would be a great way to get some of his Scouting videos to the public, and maybe to some kids who have never seen them.
Scouts and Parents alike enjoy watching Steve's films. Steve says
"The boys like watching themselves on television and the internet. And they like showing their friends what they have done. For the last couple of years I have taken the pictures I have of camping trips and activities, put them to music, and then transfer the videos to dvd. Almost every family wants a copy of that. In fact, I get requests for copies of most of the DVD's I have produced in the troop. They are a great keepsakes for the boys as they get older. They can look back on these DVD's and see how they have grown and how much fun they had during their years in Scouting."
Last August Steve tried an experiment and incorporated a puppet named "Buttons, the radical Boy Scout" into videos on the Scout Law and Oath. He received such positive feedback via email from people commenting on how much they enjoyed the videos that Steve did more. In addition to the videos listed on the site, Steve plans to do three more videos of Michael and Buttons doing the Cub Scout Promise.
There is no denying the amount of time that leaders (and their families) volunteer to Boy Scouting and Steve is no exception. Steve has spent up to 20 hours editing some films, in addition to being the Troop's Scoutmaster. Using the Internet, Steve has found a seldom used avenue to reach out to Scouts and their families. His videos offer Scouts a look back on their Scouting history and potential Scouts a look into their future with Scouting.
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