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How-To Hold a Jump Start PDF Print E-mail

Jump Start is the first portion of the team meeting.  Jump Start is intended to help Scouts get to know each other, to be a step between playing outside and Best of America, and to prevent Scouts from missing more important portions of the meeting if they are late.teen with microphone

 

The Jump Start portion of the meeting consists on a series of questions being thrown out “hot potato” style.  A few Scouts will comment on each question.  You should be able to get through several questions within a few minutes.  An example:  “What was the last movie you saw?  Did you like it?  Why or why not?”  The question is intended to be asked quickly, answered quickly, and tossed like a “hot potato” to the next Scout.

 

Because Scouts are answering questions about themselves and their tastes, Scouts will get to know each other better.  If a Scout says they loved a particular movie and another Scout did as well, that becomes the source of a discussion.  We employ shared experiences to generate quality conversation between Scouts and their parents, and it works for building friendship between our Scouts as well.

 

It also serves as a step between playing outside and the next portion of the meeting.  Because Jump Start is lively, Scouts can be exuberant and burn off the last of their energy before Scouts need to quiet down to listen to the Best of America presentation.  It is a good step in between.

 

Jump Start also serves as a time buffer for Scouts who are late.  If they miss the first few minutes, they did not miss anything vital.  Of course, Scouts should be on time, but if they are late, missing Jump Start will not affect getting the most of their meeting.

 
Adventure Scouts USA