Once a Scout, always a Scout. When I was young, I was a cubscout and boyscout, but left Scouting when I was 12yo-ish. In 2012 my son (then a boyscout) asked me if I wanted to be a scoutleader, since his current leaders were more into games than into Scouting techniques. So I became a Scout again. 😀
My Scouting resumé
Sometimes people ask me what I do in Scouting, the answer then takes some time.... 🤣 Below what I did/do in Scouting:
- 2012-2018: Leader/teamleader Scouts at Scouting van Maasdijk Heerenveen
- 2013-now: member and from 2016 on chairman of the Friese Regionaal EHV Team, a first aid Scouting group
- 2013-2015: co-author of the Dutch Scouts Pocketbook at our NSO Scouting Nederland
- 2016-now: member and from 2021 on chairman of the Speladviesteam, a national team advising national Scouting events on the Scouting Method
- 2016-2018: development mentor at Scouting van Maasdijk Heerenveen
- 2017: presenting workshops at the national Scout-In event
- 2018-2019: IST at the 2019 World Scout Jamboree, assisting Dutch troops before and member of the NA1WJ JOTA staff at the WSJ
- 2018-now: coördinator at the HIT (Hikes, Interesse en Trapperskampen) national event, location Heerenveen
- 2018: dispatcher first aid and security at the Roverway international camp and Nawaka seascouts national camp, both consecutive and at the same location in the Netherlands
- 2018-now: founding member, development mentor, board member and until 2020 teamleader Scouts at Scouting Polaris Heerenveen
- 2019: presenting workshops at the national Scout-In event
- 2019-2020: IST for the 2020 European Jamboree (which was cancelled due to Covid)
- 2021: member of the projectteam Blended Learning at Scouting Nederland
- 2021-2023: IST at the 2023 World Scout Jamboree in South Korea, assisting Dutch troops/IST before and member of the 6K25WSJ JOTA staff at the WSJ
- 2022: head of on-site activities at the international Intercamp camp in France
- 2022: running the JOTA activity as PC22NWK at the Nawaka seascouts national camp
- 2022-now: member of the projectteam Scouting Academy 2.0 at Scouting Nederland
- 2023: subcamp chief at the international Intercamp camp in Germany
- 2023-now: development mentor and assessor for the (national) Scouting Method merit badge at Scouting Nederland
- 2023-now: IST at the 2024 international Roverway camp in Norway
- 2023-now: member of the projectteam Merit Badges 2.0 at Scouting Nederland
- 2024: IST for On-site Programme at the international Intercamp camp in Poland
In the future I hope to be IST at the 2025 Rover Moot in Portugal and IST at the 2027 World Scout Jamboree in Poland. No better way to spend your summer vacation than camping with 1000+ other Scouts. 🥰
Jamboree on the Air
I am a scout and a HAM Radio operator, callsigns PC5E and WC5E. So I regularly am part of an international JOTA station, as you could read above. You can check out my PC5E HAM Radio site if you want to know all JOTA stations I participated in.
Qualifications
At Scouting Nederland we have an extensive set of qualifications, of which I hold:
- qualified leader (beavers/cubs/scouts)
- qualified teamleader (beavers/cubs/scouts)
- camping qualification (scouts/explorers)
- qualified development mentor
- qualified instructor (level 1 trainer)
- qualified Scouting Method specialist
- qualified sailor level 3 (CWO 3, external qualification)
- qualified First Aider, including AED and First Aid for children (external qualification by Orange Cross)
- qualified HAM Radio operator Full (external qualification)
- qualified Marcom A (maritime General Operator Certificate, external qualification)
Wood badge is not a qualification you get by doing all applicable trainings, but you receive wood badge after doing a personal Gilwell coaching course. Since I did a couple similar ones in my working life, I still did not do the Gilwell course. Hmmm.... 😏