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Idea from Shaun Reeves, Den 4 Leader, Pack 776
Quivira Council, Woodbadge C-39-09 Bobwhite
We should create an award for military appreciation, meaning a pin, knot, or something that signifies that a person served. I feel that this is should be an important award that shows someone's service to our great country.
As you know Boy Scouts was started with Lord Baden Powell's idea that was loosely based on his training in the military, but geared towards young boys. I think that this tradition should have been kept in scouts all along with some kind of recognition for leaders that served.
Also considering that the US military works with scouts in most aspects, from borrowing equipment when needed, to providing support to the boys to help with tasks (flag deals and such). Even some bases have scouting on them. They even give advancement in rank in the military for eagle scouts. I think a simple pin or something could be awarded at our end that recognizes an individual's sacrifice to and for this country.
Someone had suggested that these individuals could maybe be awarded one of the three heroism awards. But I think that considering that this is one that anyone can be awarded isn't enough. There should be one that is strictly for the military people. I mean there are awards earned for individual religions. Yes I know that these are given by the church and not scouts but this is allowed to be worn on the uniform and recognized by BSA. So I think this should be a simple thing with showing the individual's form DD 214. To the scout shop. Also there is very few awards that is given to leaders. This is just one more that could be given out.
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My guess is this may already be in the works, but it would be great if a new updated version of the Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Specific Training was created. It could even be distributed in an electronic format. The things I've noticed have just recently helped set up the training is the following:
There are some resources listed that may not be currently be available
1. It speaks of "New Leader Essentials" which is just a recent change
2. The materials needed for each session is incomplete. As you read through the training it will be of a resource, book, brochure, or something else, but it is not contained in the materials list.
3. Off to the side periodically it makes reference to a slide in the PowerPoint presentation. It would be just as helpful in the training to also list the resources as they need passed out in that same area.
4. In one of the last sessions it talks about passing out several pieces of paperwork and it says they are contained on the CD. Only about a third of the resources are actually on the CD. If a page with links to the current information could be placed on the national website or even in MyBSA if they need to be kept secure, that would make it easy to always have the most current resources available for all training
5. The training refers to posters and honestly I've never seen any posters associated with the training.
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Our Scouts would love to see a Spelunking Merit Badge. They have gone caving twice with professional spelunkers and
Loved it! They have asked me about a caving badge and I have not even found a ‘fun patch’ for them. Just thought I would
give you another idea for a new merit badge.
Thanks,
Carol Combes
Troop 74
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I propose to make Triathlon a merit badge. Swimming, biking and running are life long skills that every boy should know. There are many other elements involved in the sport. One must be prepared at any distance during a triathlon. Lots of things can happen during an event, flats on the bike, nervous stomach, shoe laces break and all sorts of other things. You must be mentally awake. Also know that you don't have to have the most expensive bike and shoes for this sport. Races include paraplegic and amputees, this can be discussed in a section with alternative requirements to include special needs scouts.
Most triathletes that you will meet have also done service work. Many of us volunteer to work the races and help others. Races take a lot of people doing a lot of different things. I do have two pro triathletes that are waiting to help with this project. One is Pip Taylor, a nutritional specialist. Adding diet to this project will give us another thing to fight childhood obesity. The other is Ben Hoffman who trains with NTTC. Ben could give us a prime example of a race day plan.
Triathlon is the fastest growing sport in the world. There are sprint, Olympic, half-iron man and iron man distance. We can scale a Scout triathlon or Scout distance to fit our needs. We can make it challenging and reasonable for our boys. There are many times that sports take boys away from Scouts. I propose that we add this to attract boys to Scouting.
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Update the individual Scout record form to match the 2009 Boy Scout Handbook.
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At a recent Scouting event that was attended by several Eagle Scouts, my wife was somewhat troubled by the way several of our young men, Eagle Scouts, were conducting themselves at the banquet table. It appeared they had no training on how to properly handle a fork in such a setting.
As a Scouting professional I find it very impotant to know proper etiquette when it comes to lunch with a CEO, the proper way to answer a phone or several other "embarassment stopping" etiquette skills.
Maybe it is time to encourage our Scouts to learn the importance of proper etiquette. Their moms and wives will appreciate it.
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I am looking to see if anyone has ever used Varsity Scouting as an older boy adjunct program to their Soccer and Scouting Cub Scout program.
We run an internal league here at our Council (Meck. County Council in Charlotte, NC) with about 300 participants. We charge 30 dollars for a 12 week league, and to date are seeing the program produce about a 55% advancement rate, extraordinary when compare to the YMCA league we played in last year (less than 5% advancement).
Our problem is that National produces some excellent Program Helps materials for Cubs, but little to nothing for Soccer and Scouting for older youth. It's pretty much just a Cub program. But our families, primarily Latino, are looking for activities and organizations in which EVERYONE can participate. So we try to be flexible. We even have a LFL group for the younger sisters!
Anyway, it seems that Varsity Scouting/Sports is a near PERFECT fit to our program, which we renamed SCOUTING THROUGH SOCCER, to re-emphasis the Scouting aspects. We wouldn't even have to do much program creation or adaptation, as Varsity is so flexible to begin with.
My question is, can anyone see a down side to this? Other than the obvious ones of money and unit leaders. Speaking just from a program stand point, do you think it would work? Any suggestions? Has anyone done this before. IE Started a Varsity Team primarily for Latino youth playing soccer? How did it go?
Thanks,
Karl Strohminger, Ph.D.
SDE - Special Initiatives
Charlotte, NC
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On the Eagle Application why does Requirement #6 have two parts? Many scouts miss the second part which is their statement of ambitions and life purpose, and listing of postions held, etc. Can this requirement be made into #7 so we don't have to call the scout and say we need this in order to put you to board? I'm sure I'm not the only one that has this problem.
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More and more colleges in the Baltimore Area (I assume nation wide as well) are creating majors for this topic so shouldn’t our Scouts get an early jump on this education?
What do you think?
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Cooking is substantial skill that is needed everyday. Cooking Merit Badge should be required for Eagle.
What do you think?
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I had a leader ask me about how to know which merit badge books and their requirements are up to date and which are out of date. I told him that probably the easiest way would be to look in a current edition of the merit badge requirement book and take the dates off of the page that lists all the merit badge books and the year the last revisions were made.
My suggestion is to put on the website a date next to the requirements to let everyone know what the last date the requirements were revised; maybe even a downloadable pdf that gives the names of the merit badges and the last date of revision. Also, I'm not sure how often requirements are changed or new editions of the merit badge books come out, but would there be a possibility of a notification via e-mail when new requirements come out or when a new edition of a particular merit badge book will be published?
This could really help volunteers to make sure their library of merit badge books is up to date and
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I've been working on a special summer session of our normal merit badge classes here at the museum. I ran into some issues this past week with scouts wanting to take the Personal Management class that is this Saturday. Unfortunately they had to pull out here at the last second because their Scoutmasters refused to give them a blue card. The rational of the Scoutmasters happen to be that the boys were "too young" to take the merit badge.
The BSA policy is that all boys who are registered members of the Boy Scouts of America and are in the Boy Scout program can take any merit badge they want whenever they want. These Scoutmasters are indirect contradiction to BSA policy and unfortunatley the parents are unwilling to go against the wishes of their son's Scoutmaster.
I think we need to make merit badges a key point in the training of Adult Leaders. Otherwise, we need to find a way to make sure Scoutmasters cannot deny the Scout the opportunity to take a merit badge.
I believe a Scoutmaster should have the right to voice his disapproval, but he should not be allowed to refuse a blue card to a Scout wishing to take any merit badge.
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I've noticed that there is a distinct lack of mention of Varsity program. Just here in the Ideas site alone there isn't a category for it. To my knowledge there hasn't been any recent literature or training to support it. Maybe revamp it to make it more appealing to the youth:
- Triathlons
- Cross Country Races
- Mountain Man competitions
- BMX and/or skateboarding
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Technology series merit badges . Also, make this a whole group, like the citizenship group.
Scouting Heritage Merit Badge. Studying history of our organization will develop greater meaning and appreciation for those who are interested.
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If we're supposed to be turning out the best of the best as Eagle Scouts, can anyone tell me why Scholarship Merit Badge and Public Speaking Merit Badges are not required for Eagle rank?
Scholarship goes without saying. An Eagle Scout should be a decent student who works hard in school. To not make it required suggests that the Organization doesn't value good scholarship in our youth. If you don't do well in school, don't worry, you can still be an Eagle Scout.
Public Speaking should at least be optionally required with something else. How many Eagle Ceremonies have you been to where the new Eagle Scout got up to speak and had no idea what to say, or how to properly present himself? I'm not saying we can create the perfect public speaker, but we should encourage our young men to learn the basics of talking to groups. It's a skill that will carry on with them their whole lives.
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With all the advancements in technology and the internet I think it would be a great time for an interactive Boy Scout Handbook. I am not suggesting that we do away with the printed version of the handbook, but supplementing and enhancing it with a web based interactive version. This handbook supplement could include things like how-to-videos, interviews with noted outdoors men and women, tutorials from different outdoor gear suppliers, and so on. There are many reasons why this would be beneficial to the overall program.
First: I have seen many new leaders come to Scouting who do not have the background or proficiency in the outdoors. This would be an opportunity for us to offer how-to-videos on things like starting fire, first aid, swimming and life saving skills, lashings, orienteering and map reading, etc. Practically every still photo illustration in the printed version of the handbook could be supplemented with some form of how-to-video or tutorial that could show how it is actually done. This would help improve the program for those scouts and leaders who are visual learners and allow them mimic what they see in the videos. Now, I know that we have Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills, but not everything is covered in that short weekend to fully orient the leader on what to do in the outdoors. Plus these videos could be a great resourse for Roundtables and Universities of Scouting.
Second: This would allow us to partner with national organizations like the Red Cross, North Face, R.E.I., or Kelty (or another gear company) for gear, USDA, Leave No Trace, and other groups that would like to instruct Scouts and leaders in the proper way of performing certain skills. This would also offer the youth special access to these companies/ organizations for special training and insights that would not be available to the average person. I propose something like an online Red Cross first aid certification that each Scout could earn through the enhanced version of the handbook, or something along those lines.
Third: These how-to-videos and tutorials could be produced by Scouts from troops across the country. We could put out a notice for scout troops to shoot videos of them performing certain Scout skills and then have them upload it to a website or Youtube. This could be billed as a national contest and as an opportunity to earn the cinematography merit badge. I would think that Scouts learning from other Scouts would be more entertaining for the youth and get them excited about being like the young men they see on our training videos.
These are just a few of the possibilities that exist by having an enhanced version of the handbook. We could also make the progress tracking sheets in the back of the handbook into savable PDFs that each youth could then track their progress electronically. There is also an opportunity for us to promote this change as the Boy Scouts are “Going Green” by attempting to limit the amount of paper we use. I think the possibilities are endless.
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Web & Database Development: Grow your knowledge of how websites really happen and how databases support the web and other applications. Learn about programming languages used, development principals and the career opportunities in this field.
Video Game Design: Learn the ins and outs of this fast growing career. Gain an understanding of the game development process and tools used and come to understand how the concepts are used in applications beyond games.
Security & Networks: Develop an understanding of how digital networks are created and how they support the world wide web and private networks. Learn how security is established to protect the network from spam, viruses, and hacking.
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Learn about the ancient and modern history of cryptography and codes and how they have been used in government, politics and business. Learn how to build and codes and how they are used in modern-day security.
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Baden-Powell had a patent on a kite?? Was he having fun or putting it to work? You can do both in this merit badge for Kiting. Design, build and fly your own kites. Learn about the concepts of flight, the many types of kites (indoor, giant, miniature, and modern sport kites) and new uses for kites like kite surfing and kites used as a “green” power source.
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Learn about the history of disk sports and how to participate in the various disk sport disciplines of Disk Golf, Ultimate, and Freestyle.
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Learn the skills necessary to effectively and safely use the internet. This badge would cover internet safety, internet terms, online shopping, email usage, the basics of web development, social networks and blogs.
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After a recent Eagle board of review, a Troop committee chair asked who had signed the application because he had never seen it. upon inspection of the application after the board of review passed the scout the signatures of the Scoutmaster and Committee Chair were from the previous two people and the current ones did not know this application had been processed. Nowhere in the advancement guide is there a requirement or suggestion that those dates and signatures be checked to ensure they were signed after the project was completed and not before. When a registrar submits the eagle application on line there is no entry date for the scoutmaster, committee chair or the scout required so therefore the application will not be flagged if the required entries are incorrect. The scout, scoutmaster and committee chair dates should be entered into the computer to ensure the signatures were done AFTER the project completion and not before.
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This idea came from a volunteer of mine.
There is a growing trend over the past couple of years in which many people are beginning to regain interest in many traditional activities and skills. Park districts are offering blacksmithing courses, organic gardening, urban agriculture programs, suburban livestock (sheep, goats, chickens), community supported agriculture (CSAs) and traditional skills such as weaving and hand crafts. Scouts in my troop are expressing an interest ins some of the "cool merit badges" which have been discontinued over the years (stalking is the one on which they are currently focused). I see evidence online of similar interest in other troops (one troop looking into the bee keeping merit badge, as an example). As I look through the older editions of scout handbooks at the merit badges which have been discontinued, I see many skills which are consistent with the resurgent interest in traditional skills. These discontinued badges can be a useful introduction to many of these skills and would encourage a useful focus on traditional scout values of thrift, productivity and handiness. I would like to propose the following approach for these badges as a part of the BSA program:
Program overview
All of the discontinued badges would be offered as a part of a Heritage Merit Badge Program. Discontinued badges would refer to those badges which have been offered in the past and have been discontinued entirely, as compared to those badges which became other badges. The discontinued badges would be offered under the requirements which were last utilized before the discontinuation of the badges (unless societal or safety reasons require amendment of them). Scouts would then be allowed and encouraged to approach these merit badges in the same manner in which the current offerings are approached. The approach detailed herein would allow the BSA to utilize currently existing materials at no material cost to offer a broadened array of merit badges with no real increase in support or supply demands. It would provide a means for making information about these traditional skills available to scouts without burden to the BSA and (if the BSA so chooses) could be a means of offering these badges as a further array of elective merit badge options.
Recognition/Tracking
The heritage badges can be tracked in the BSA system like any other merit badge. The discontinued badges (as compared to those which were simply changed into other badges) still have unique identifiers which have not been re-used. The badges could be tracked in the main system just like any other merit badge. This approach offers the flexibility to allow BSA to decide how they will permit the badges to be recognized; they could be counted only as free standing awards with no impact on advancement or they could be counted as elective merit badges toward rank and palms. In either case, tracking them in the system will allow the BSA to easily monitor the popularity of these badges to decide whether to resume their development in the main program.
Requirements/Pamphlets
These are already in existence in their last incarnation before discontinuation. To save the cost of printing, the documents would be posted to a section of the scouting.org website as a PDF download. This would make the materials freely available to any interested troops or scouts at no cost to the BSA.
Patches
The patches which existed when the merit badges were still active would be used; re-issued in the current round format, perhaps with a black rim to signify that they are retired merit badges. Depending on cost, the BSA could choose to either maintain a supply of the patches for order through the Councils, or could license patch companies to make the patches to order at the unit's expense. Either approach would allow the BSA control over use of the designs without much cost to the BSA.
Counselors
Counselors for these badges could be managed in the same way that the current merit badge counselors are managed.
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I am writing this to suggest that the Boy Scouts may wish to consider a new set of emblems for the adult leaders that have special medical training. These emblems would be worn on the left shirt pocket of the leader thus saving time in identifying them in any emergency situation.
Among our ranks we have many adult leaders who are Physicians, Nurses, Paramedics, and Emergency Medical Technicians. These individuals can be a tremendous resource when a tragedy strikes the Boy Scouts of America family.
The emblem could be designed to have a Star of Life emblem in the center as it is easily identified with medical personnel. Then the area around the top of the emblem and bottom would have the appropriate level of training.
The emblems could be available in the normal Scout stores however the individual would have to show current certification or license for the appropriate level of emblem.
We all hope that we never have to deal with a medical situation however quick identification of those who are trained to respond as we know can make a tremendous difference.
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All of the data has shown that Scouts attaining First Class in the first year have greater retention rates and stay in he program longer. These are facts we have understood for many years. Why not create an alternate First Class First Year Emblem. It could be as simple as changing a border or another minor change to the standard emblem. This would get the attention of the parents, the Scouting volunteer leaders and the young men in the program.
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