AOL & crossover tradition changes

Now that everyone has thoroughly researched and commented on
AOL/crossover requirements, I wanted to ask the list community for a
gut-check on some changes that I and the pack committee are contemplating
to make with our pack.

Some background:

Our pack of about 75 boys graduates 10-15 boys to boy scouts (or other
pursuits) each year. Our pack tradition has been to hold a special
combined AOL/crossover ceremony at our evening Blue & Gold banquet in
February. We usually bring in a scouting-related mountain man, indian, or
magician to help conduct the ceremony.

Here are the problems that I (and others) perceive with our traditional
approach:

1. The Blue and Gold program is taken up mostly by the ceremonies for the
2nd year webelos.
2. The boys must wait up to 4 months after meeting the requirements to
receive the AOL at their last pack meeting. They never get to wear the
award on their cub scout uniform, and the other scouts never see cub
scouting's highest award worn by a cub scout.
3. Some experienced parents have come to believe that the Blue & Gold
should be reserved for the 2nd year webelos (like the american High
school prom is typically reserved for the graduates). However, I
strongly believe that the Blue & Gold is a celebration of cub scouting
for all cub scouts and their families.
4. The AOL ceremony takes up most of the program time, leaving us to rush
through the crossover ceremony. Our program time requires about an hour
and a half above and beyond eating time - too long for an evening banquet
that includes tiger cubs and younger siblings.

So here is our plan for making changes:

1. In our school, six months past 4th grade occurs in November. All of
next year's graduating webelos are confident that they will meet all the
AOL requirements by then. Therefore, we're going to move our AOL
ceremony to November. If there are any advancement stragglers in the
future (like my son was last year), we will make every proactive effort
to help them meet that date, but we can always award the AOL to them at a
future meeting.
2. I will work with our gaining scoutmasters to make our crossover
ceremony at the Blue & Gold a little more meaningful about the principles
of boy scouting. We will also make a special graduating recognition for
the boys deciding not to go on to Boy Scouts - some for very good time
management reasons. This is intended to show our appreciation for and
recognition of their participation in cub scouts. (I did this last year,
and I think it helped keep the door open for these boys to join boy
scouts in the future - when their current semi-professional sports
careers are over. ;-) )
3. Our blue & gold will expand its program to celebrate all cub scouting,
but we will keep the program reasonably short to match the attention
spans of all the ages present.

Now, my question to the list: Is our new approach reasonable? Have we
created any unforeseen problems? Any other suggestions for improvement?

Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom...

YIS, Bob Knudson
CM, Pack 528 SA, Troop 476
Sierra Elementary School Zerger Elementary
Arvada, CO Westminster, CO
Gateway District, Denver Area Council

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