Open House

by Caitlín

Yesterday evening Sea Scout Ship 7916 held its first membership open house. I thought we did rather well for the little formal planning we put into it, although there wasn't as large a turnout of prospective members as I had hoped (but then I was a little late in getting some of the publicity blurbs out).
I arrived early with my sister and my friend Chelsea to help Skipper Shay set up. Rebecca and her mom had come very early, and almost all of the other Scouts who came showed up soon and brought with them food and display items.

There's no real story to tell here, so some photos instead. The lighting in the VFW is really horrible for picture-taking, so they came out a bit grainy and everyone has red-eye:

Chelsea (on the right) and my sister Laurel put up a Venturing Advancement poster. (They did not like their pictures being taken, can you tell?) We had the most frustrating time trying to get the poster and chart--which had both been rolled up for however long--to lie flat. We ended up using a lot of tape.

No one noticed me taking this shot until it was too late. Skipper Shay explains what needs to be done to set up for the team-building activity Mate Dan planned.

Light refreshments were provided, including snacks, soda and other drinks from David's family, muffins from Rebecca's, and cupcakes from Gus's.

Everyone schoomzing.

Eight people were randomly assigned to either Alpha or Bravo team, with David and me as the leaders. Each team had to pick a container of "toxic waste" out of the middle of one 9'x9' square and move it--without touching it--to a second square using the supplies provided or stepping inside either square. Here, Alpha team (David's crew) lowers their invention down to the container.

David right where he likes it best; in the center of everyone and making them laugh.

This slide show I made--showcasing some of the best photos taken in our first year of being chartered--played throughout the evening to give visitors an idea of what we do.