Rush Creek Cadet Council has a volunteer team to Develop Counselor Education (DCE).  This team plans workshops at monthly counselor meetings in order to help counselors expand their knowledge of the Cadets ministry, and be more effective counselors.  Please look over the 2024/2025 workshop schedule, and select some workshops to attend.

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** No Head Counselor Meeting **

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Thursday, Sep 12, Hager Park Reformed, 7pm

• PVC Water Pipe Project: Water fight! Boys love them and you will love this one-night project that Cadets can use soon after. Come to this workshop to learn from Dan Dennis how to build them and take the idea back to your club.

• How to get More Boys and Men Involved in cadets: It is the goal of the Cadet ministry to help boys grow more Christlike, but how do we do that if we can’t get boys or men to come? Join us at this workshop to learn some ways to get more boys and men involved in your club, led by Tom and Jim.

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Regional Training Conference

Saturday, September 28

GVRC Campground

Conference Website

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Thursday, Oct 10, Messiah CRC, 7pm

​This is a combined counselor meeting with Grand Valley Council

• Internet Safety: Al Vandenbosch works for Ottawa County, and will make you aware of the dangers that our Cadets, and our own children, face when they are on the internet.  Join us as we all learn about these dangers, the consequences of decisions, and how to protect children.

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Thursday, Nov 7, Hudsonville Reformed, 7pm

• Computer Aided Design (CAD) Merit Badge: Unity Chistian High's Dave Vruwink is eager to teach you what CAD stands for - did you know that there is a Cadet Merit Badge about it? Join us as we spend some time learning about this badge and how to teach it to our Cadets.

• Computer Knowledge Merit Badge: How much knowledge do you have about computers? How do you teach a merit badge bout it if you have limited knowledge? Join Paul De Windt this workshop as he runs through the badge.  Time allowing, you might even take apart a real computer!

• Counselor Certification: Rush Creek Council is pleased to hold "Counselor Certification" for new or newer counselors, led by Tom Caryl and Craig Bruins.  Our goal is to bring new counselors into a group led by experienced counselors for an open-ended conversation about what a counselor needs to know to be effective in this ministry.If you have questions about cadets, council activities, or the Cadet Corps, this is an opportunity for you!  Before a counselor gets to Certification, an open book course must be taken whose purpose is to make a new counselor familiar with all aspects of cadeting in general, and the counselor manual in particular.The Developer of Counselor Education (DCE) team in Rush Creek requests that counselors take this course on their own, at their own pace.  The DCE team will take finished workbooks or the new interactive PowerPoint version.  The completed course will be sent to Corps headquarters, and a counselor stripe and name tag will be provided for the counselor, free of charge.

• Jr Counselor Certification: Do you have Cadets that are being called by God to become an effective leader? Only a few Christians are given that calling and this workshop is for those Cadets listening to that call. In this workshop the Cadets will learn what leadership is and what skills, qualities, and attitudes a Christian leader should have. They will acquire from Jim VanderWeide the certification needed to allow them to lead younger Cadets to become more Christ-like in all areas of life.

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Thursday, Dec 12, Faith Community CRC, 7pm

​​This is a combined counselor meeting with Grand Valley Council

• Getting Cadets Certified for ICC: Do you have a Cadet who is interested in going to the 2026 International Camporee? Paul De Windt will show you a detailed schedule get your Cadets through the required badges in one or two cadet seasons to become certified to go.

• Getting Counselors Ready for ICC: If you are interested in going as a Counselor or Junior counselor to the 2026 International Camporee, come to this workshop where Don Van Der Klok will help you figure out the needed skills.

• Small Gasoline Engines Merit Badge: Dan Ebels will show you how to run this merit badge with your cadets.

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Thursday, Jan 9, 2nd Byron CRC, 7pm

This is a Grand Valley Council counselor meeting

• ICC Counselor Orientation: Doug DeWent will lead counselors and junior counselors through this "phase I" of getting certified for ICC 2026.  Rush Creek counselors and JCs are invited if they cannot make the March session.

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Thursday, Jan 16, Immanuel CRC, 7pm

This is a Rush Creek Council counselor meeting

• DCE Workshop Exchange: Thornaple Valley DCE, topic TBD 

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Thursday, Feb 13, Bethany URC, 7pm

This is a combined counselor meeting with Grand Valley Council

• Raising Kids in a Digital Age: Raising a middle schooler in this and age is simple...or not. Young teens are confronted by a myriad of different experiences. Middle school age students have always faced issues such as puberty, academic pressure, self-worth, identity, and friendships. However, students today also face new issues arising from the digital age, complicating long-standing challenges while adding new ones, like social media, pornography, sexuality, hostility, and cultural division.  Unity Christian High's Dan Landstra will target these topics with Biblical advice for parents and youth leaders.​

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Thursday, Mar 13, Jamestown CRC, 7pm

• Genealogy: Have you ever wondered who your ancestors were or what they did?  Come to this workshop to learn from Craig Bruins about what you can do to trace your heritage.

• Chivalry Merit Badge: Chivalry is a word that is not very well known in today’s culture. What can we do to teach our Cadets about it? Scott Oudbier will show you the Chivalry Merit badge and ways to help our Cadets bring this concept back to our culture.

• ICC Counselor Orientation: Paul De Windt will lead counselors and junior counselors through this "phase I" of getting certified for ICC 2026.  Grand Valley counselors and JCs are invited if they cannot make the January session.

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Thursday, Apr 10, Hanley CRC

This is a combined counselor meeting with Grand Valley Council

• Annual DCE Roundtable: Do you have some great ideas for workshops to bring to Counselor meetings for next year? Do you have any suggestions for improvements to our workshops and meetings? Please bring those to this meeting and share them with the rest of us. All ideas and Counselors are welcomed by the DCE teams of GV and RC Councils.

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