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Let us consider adding a basic sewing technique (such as sewing abutton on a shirt)to the requirements for tenderfoot. One of the neccessities of outdoor life is the ability to replace a button or repair tents, covers, traps, etc. All of these can be essential to a safe outdoor experience yet, at least in my experience, very few Scouts can even thread a needle.
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In addition to working for the BSA I am also an assistant scoutmaster with my sons troop. Our Patrol Leader's Council wants to go rafting through the Grand Canyon in 2011. A couple of us dads are looking into the costs and services provided by several of the river outfitters.
As we research different outfitters it occurred to me that perhaps the BSA could offer a wilderness outfitter certification. The outfitter could have to complete some basic training on BSA health and safety issues, and be certified by a national organization (if applicable) in that wilderness activity.
The BSA could then maintain a website of approved BSA wilderness outfitters for all sorts of high adventure activities across America such as caving, white water sports, climbing, etc.
This might inspire more troops to do more high adventure activities, thus increasing membership retention; and it would help troops, teams, & crews to find outfitters who understand BSA safety rules, and who have certifications to do the activity correctly/safely.
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The technology exists to create a total electronic Eagle Scout workbook. This change will teach use of technology and be a way to reduce paper waste.
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While participating in an Eagle Ceremony rehearsal, the mother of two Eagle Scouts approached me with a concern with the design of the Eagle Scout Mother's Pin.
Here are her comments...
"As you can see...they all match until you get to the most important last one...the Eagle parent pin. It looks quite bland in comparison; it is just disappointing. They have a gold or pewter Eagle Mentor pins. The parent and mentor pins are exactly the same except for "mom", "dad"or "mentor" on the bottom. Anyway, hopefully the design can be changed to look awesome next to the other rank pins".
Any thoughts about a redesign to make the recognition more appealing for Eagle mothers?
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I have had several Scoutmasters inquire if there is any possible way the Scoutmaster Handbook could be made available in a "pocket" version? The current edition is a bit cumbersome to have with you on campouts and other outings.
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Add a leadership development component to each rank advancement. We currently have leadership opportunities, but do not have a lot of training. Each rank could focus on a different aspect of leadership: visioning or goal casting, conflict management, character of a leader, time-management, team communication, team development, etc.
I'll be Randy Cline would love to help us develop this!
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The quarterly National Eagle Scout Association’s magazine (Eagletter) can be both informative and inspiring. Unfortunately, the only people who usually get to see it are Eagle Scouts (assuming they have registered for the NESA) and their families.
Why not provide each Scoutmaster with a copy of the Eagletter (or an email link to the current issue)? This could benefit the boys by giving the Scoutmasters an opportunity to share “real” information about Eagle Scouts and their success outside of Scouting with their troop. This could also provide some fresh inspiration and perspective (e.g. the Mike Rowe article in the Fall 2009 issue) from someone other than the leaders the Scouts hear from every week. Who knows, awareness and participation in the NESA may also grow as a result….
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A couple of customers have asked for a beret. With a BS logo,the centennial logo or Jamboree would be great.
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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 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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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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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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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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Instead of us all proposing individual new merit badges on the site, how about a total revamp of the system. I believe that Merit Badges should be categorized: Careers; Hobbies; Sports & Physical Fitness; Scoutcraft (or something like that). In particular, we should be encouraging youth to explore careers through merit badge work. We have hundreds of careers that aren't even covered by a merit badge. In a revamp, a boy earns, say, 10 career-oriented badges, 5 hobby merit badges, 3 physical fitness, and say 5 Scoutcraft for Eagle Rank. In any event, the natural outcome of revamping would be that many more careers an hobbies or recreational merit badges could be added.
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The Scout oath and law taken by all Boy Scouts include a promise to be reverent and to do duty to God. If we insist on Boy Scouts believe in a god, then why are religious medals still only optional? Why isn't earning one's respective religious medal a requirement for Eagle? I suggest that earning one's religious medal be added to the requirements for Eagle Scout.
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