Teaching the Boy Scouts

Tomorrow I will be concluding another exciting edition of a Boy Scouts Merit Badge Forum.

Yes, I was a Boy Scout. No, I didn't make it to Eagle - I was a Merit Badge and an Eagle project shy of completing Scouting's highest rank.

As a former Boy Scout, I give back to Scouting by volunteering from time to time as a Merit Badge Counselor. It makes perfect sense that the Merit Badge I'm often asked to teach is Cinematography (although it is my understanding that the name of the badge has recently been changed to Moviemaking - which is a better description of the badge as cinematography is just one important aspect of it).

Merit Badge Forum, for those not familiar with the concept, can best be described as a school for Scouts to take a couple of Merit Badges in a classroom setting. They often take place on Saturdays at local schools and churches.

When I was a Scout, I participated in Forum and it was always at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Shawnee.

As a Counselor, the Forums I taught at started at Northwest, then have moved to Mill Valley High School (in western Shawnee), Lexington Trails Middle School (in DeSoto), United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (in south Overland Park), and now to Westridge Middle School (where I went to middle school, in Overland Park). How I teach the class is this:

• The first session is devoted to the more academic requirements, like discussing the various jobs on a film set and the elements of good visual storytelling. Once that's done, they start planning for their own film shoot.

• The second session is devoted to shooting their short film.

• They also have homework - visiting a professional film set or a local television station.

As for their short film, beginning with the Mill Valley experience - which produced a controversial short called "Quest of McLovin" (this film lasted less than two days on YouTube before I had to take it down and will never be seen online again) - I've established some ground rules:

1. No weapons or violence in their short film (a feature of the aforementioned short, which included swordplay).

2. No gay weddings (another feature of that short - and the primary reason I was asked to take it down).

3. Language at PG-13 level or lower.

One last note: because there's so much to do and a lot of attention is required, I generally prefer the Scouts in my class be First Class in rank or higher. This is because, beginning at First Class, Scouts are taught leadership skills and expected to become leaders in their troops. With leadership comes the responsibility and maturity that are critical to a successful Merit Badge project - or, for that matter, a successful film shoot period. Below First Class, there's generally too much horsing around going on.