New National Camping Award
Cliff Golden (C60DJK1@MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU)
Thu, 30 Mar 1995 00:13:00 CST
New National Camping Award
The purpose of the National Camping Award is to recognize troops who
go camping during the year. Previously the requirements were that
at least 50% of your troop received 10 days and nights of camping
during the year.
The new National Camping Award has two categories you can qualify
in, yearly and cumulative. The new awards include:
Yearly Award Categories Ribbon
10 days & nights Unit Award
20 days & nights Bronze Award
30 days & nights Silver Award
50 days & nights Gold Award
Cumulative Award Ribbon/Patch
100 days & nights Unit Award
250 days & nights Bronze Award
500 days & nights Silver Award
1,000 days & nights Gold Award
This part of the award is OK I guess. But the next part really
bothers me. "At least 33 percent of your Scouts must be in
attendance for each 24 hour period to count as a camper day."
That sentence bothers me a great deal.
For instance; if you have 30 boys in your troop, and you take 9
boys to Philmont Scout Ranch, and another 8 boys go to Sommers Canoe
Base, neither activities would count towards National Camping Award
because neither activity had 33 percent of your troop.
If your unit has some patrol campouts, those won't count either,
unless over 33 percent of your troop is in the same patrol.
I don't understand the 33 percent rationale. I believe a much
better solution would be to average the number of days/nights per
Scout within a unit. A unit averaging 10 days/nights per Scout wo
would qualify for the Unit Award, averaging 30 days & nights would
qualify for the Silver Award. I don't believe that ignoring small
group camping which should be practiced in a wilderness setting is
fair. I think the new National Camping Award was poorly thought out
and much less effective than the previous award.
What do other people think?
YIS, Cliff Golden
Scoutmaster Troop 33
DeKalb, Illinois
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
