Leaderboard

Update: Council approved my workbook and it is now time to schedule my EBOR. Again, thanks to everyone who gave me advice on here.

WiW, which candidate is being endorsed? This is the reverse: an elected official is endorsing a particular citizen. We're going to expend a lot of energy if we go around chasing every issue button and ball cap off of every uniformed scout. Miss Ireland is coming off as unprincipled. Her stance would be more mature if she requested BSA go back retroactively for a lot of people ... way back ... probably even before Katrina Yeaw in 1991, and then ask National to work its way forward based on the official records they may have of similar denials of the award. It's like the whole ins

That is why I thought Silver Buffalo would work. It doesn’t seem to have those limitations.

People are over-analyzing this. IF the scout is going for the "Deutsch" strip, as I did, hand him something he has never seen before, such as a magazine, book or newspaper written in German and ask him to translate it. Do the requirement. Nothing more, nothing less.

Good analogy. IMO at the start of this Eagle Path that Scouts BSA generously provided and communicated, she should remove all insignia not officially earned and get to work. My harsh $0.02,

Because Moderator staff try to keep continuity of topic

https://bsabeststudy.org/ “The Building Evidence in Scouting Together Study will help the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) make Scouting the BEST program it can be. When participating in BSA programs, Scouts learn and become leaders through interactions with each other and adult leaders. Scouters’ beliefs and actions are shaped by their training and experiences. We will learn more about the Scouting experience through surveys and interviews conducted with thousands of Scouts and adult volunteers and through observations of BSA trainings.”

No collection of Dutch oven camp recipes can ever be complete without at least several recipes for authentic Pan de Campo. What's that? You've never heard of Pan de Campo! Clearly you are not a real Texan. After all, in a rare showing of bipartisan unity, the Texas State Legislature passed a bill in 2005 naming Pan de Campo the "Official State Bread of Texas". Here's how to make it in a Dutch oven. INGREDIENTS 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 cup buttermilk (regular milk would work too) 1/4 cup cook

Pardon me for being foolish, but will there be control groups of non Scouts and Scouters, or is this yet another RAH RAH SCOUTING disguised as an attempt at a rigorous study? is there even a hypothesis?

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/01/17/scouts-and-presidential-inaugurations-have-a-long-interesting-past/ Perhaps the uniform police can go after all of these Boy Scouts who wore their uniforms at Presidental inaugurations..... (actually, an interesting history, but I would say a good parallel to attending a SOTU). Note I do agree with you about the button & patch.... so perhaps the rest is an agreed to disagree. @RememberSchiff makes a good point. She is a 17 year old kid who is bound to make some mistakes. BSA seems to be holding strong to no exceptions outs

Use of the word (or it's longer form) POLITICAL 4 times in one sentence is impressive. And I would agree. The setting, use of the BSA uniform with a rank patch she knows very well was not actually awarded, and wearing an ERA button is very much a political (see definition below) statement and not happenstance. She is putting as much pressure as possible to get what she wants, sort of scorched earth at this point. A definition of politics (and there are many) - Politics is the process of making decisions that apply to members of a group. It refers to achieving and exercising positions

Careful...you could get labeled a conditional Scouter and un-Scoutlike for posing such questions......

Pardon me, but no. Go back and read the numerous articles, watch and listen to interviews, about/by Ms. Ireland. My opinion is her focus has almost always been about attaining Eagle for resume and scholarship purposes. From my viewpoint she and her father have had many negative and incorrect things to say about BSA, Scouting and negative implications toward Venturing. I don't think it is a stretch to say it has been a me, me, me focused effort. As for Silver Buffalo - I hope not. That award is for "truly noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth" and "exceptional character

Wow...I guess it is all about her. Guess the whole all about the journey thing is not in her wheelhouse. She has a path to earn the Eagle Scout rank, but feels that is not the way she should earn (be awarded??) the rank. She want to be "recognized immediately, and not asked to re-do years of work as Scouts BSA has suggested" No. You will be asked to do the work as a registered Scout under the advancement guidelines as every registered Boy Scout (now Scouts BSA) participant has done and will do. Nothing more and (note this) nothing less.

The rules on wearing the uniform at political events seem more aimed at rallies or events where a particular candidate is being endorsed. The SOTU address is a room full of politicians from various parties, no one in particular is endorsed.

Where are the uniform police when you need them?

I was part of a polled group when National was writing NYLT. Very little of the results I saw are in the course. I'm very skeptical because my observation is that National interprets data to fit in their predetermined plan instead of using it to question the present program. Take for example First Class in the First Year commitment. National found in their study that scouts who earn a first class rank in one year tend to stay in the troop for at least three years. So, they encouraged units to get scouts to first class in one year, even putting that promise in writing in all the Scout Ha

https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/92-103.pdf "Long-established policy limits the award of the Silver Beaver to adults 21 and older who are registered with the Boy Scouts of America as volunteer Scouters."

It might be a royal PITA to have to keep doing background checks, training, etc., but sometimes the experience is worthwhile. I also was required by chartering church to take VIRTUS training and I found the experience to be much better than YPT. VIRTUS was more in-depth, more amenable to discussions and scenarios, and most importantly to me, included a very well-informed discussion of online predators (which BSA's CyberChip gets into a bit....but most adult scouters never get into the content of CyberChip). VIRTUS was a FAR better youth protection training than YPT. I'm glad I

I fully agree. If she gets to automatically count her unregistered time as official time, then we need to go back and retroactively see who else to credit? All venturers? All siblings that showed up at cub scout and boy scout events? IMHO, at earliest, she can earn eagle in 14 to 17 months. But she needs to do the positions and complete the requirements while registered as a scout in a troop. Anything else is just wrong. On a personal note, I did not mind her wearing the scout uniform if she is now registered as a scout. That's fine. Wearing it at a very political event is q

I was in an SM Specific training last year with two researchers from Montclair, one of the partners, sitting in to observe and ask questions. They were doing the same with a series of trainings around the region and had even taken Wood Badge. Interestingly, they were both registered with the BSA and wearing the field uniform, I presume to better blend in and not skew the group dynamics. Unfortunately, I was the only “normal Scouter” aside from the trainer who showed up to the training. Three people ditched the day before. I guess they learned something from that, if not exactly what they

She has unofficially been part of a Troop in Manhattan for several years. The leaders have signed off on her MB and leadership positions in the Troop. If she was an official member she would be at Life Rank and she wears the patch. I agree she should not be given the Eagle Scout (she needs to start over and the BSA response is spot on) but I would support the BSA in awarding her the Silver Buffalo award. She was a strong and vocal advocate for adding girls to the program and while I think others reasons caused BSA to change their policy, she was the most visible reason behind it. Ther

I doubt there will be any capitulation on this matter, even though legislators are passing resolutions and making noise. Doing so would open Pandora's box on so many levels. For example, what do you tell the Life and Eagle Scouts that have joined Crews? All of the work they did as Boy Scouts, prior to joining Venturing, doesn't count towards awards in Venturing, but BSA would count work done by someone that didn't even bother to join Venturing? What do you say to all those girls joining Scouts BSA who have been in Venturing for years? Sorry, your work as part of BSA does not count, b

We'll that was a little weird to try an figure out! @Skye08, welcome to the forums. No two 8 year olds are the same. That said, smaller bodies are at more serious risk of hypothermia. If your daughter has not camped in these temps before, you're taking some chances. I would only visit camp for a couple of hours, then return and stay home with her, if I were you. It's really hard to make sure a child is safe when you are also helping keep track of other scouts.

It is indeed a "real" position.

I believe the website said it’s inviting 2,500 troops.

Also bear in mind- a 13 or 14 year old doing Scout-First class is probably going to go a whole lot faster and smoother than a 10 1/2 year old doing it.

Here is a whole odd thread about children and jacket zipping. Perhaps we need a subforum. 😀

I supported Sydney in every effort she made to get into the BSA and have a shot at Eagle. When I wrote letters to BSA executives to urge them to consider changing the rules on allowing girls, I mentioned her by name. Even wrote one letter to Surbaugh exclusively in support of her. But this is where I have to draw the line in support of her goal. While I whole-heartedly applaud her work done so far and her incredible efforts to get this far, I can't support a rubber stamp on her Eagle application for that work. And in the end, I think she'll be glad she had to do it this way, too. Looking

This will be an interesting test One would hope that with the extension the BSA has given the opportunity. If life (little L) experience becomes the standard, then it opens a tremendous can of worms. Why can't any camping nights count for advancement, not just those with a troop?? Why do you have to do your project when you are a Life Scout, why not now?? Prerequisites are for losers, I did something similar and mom signed off....

a good alternative to candles and flashlights is solar powered lights, I use a luci solar light all the time, full charge lasts me for a week of camping, only time it ran low is when I left it on during the day, still wasn't a problem just left it out in the sun and was charged when I got back. on a rainy trip once we also used the lantern as a makeshift campfire, where scouts did skits around the lantern, worked great. also works better than a flashlight when out doing tasks as it lights up an area, not just spot its pointed to. solar light should be part of everyon

This is where Sydney starts to loose my support. This is one push too far. BSA has now given her the opportunity that she has been asking for, too be able to earn Eagle Scout even though she will turn 18, and now she wants her Eagle now. I understand the frustration she (and a number of Venturers I know) have about not being able to count camping and activity they have already done. But the fact remains that she didn't complete ALL the requirements, which include signatures from council, and being a member of a BSA troop. Webelos do not get credit for camp outs or activity they do befor

I had a discussion with a neighboring SM a few summer camps back who was chastising me about not having those fire buckets outside each tent. His was the first troop I had seen them with since my days as a scout in the 60s-70s. I told him that ever since we stopped letting the scouts smoke in their tents we hadn't really seen the need for them. That was a really interesting week; he had some very strong ideas about there being only one right way to do scout stuff. By the end of the week, a few of my scouts, having spent time with his, said they were sorry for any complaint they h

When I initially saw this Scouting article earlier in the year, I thought to myself, "Wow, this is ME in 30 years!" https://scoutingmagazine.org/2017/02/one-veteran-scouters-tips-getting-scouts-hooked-nature/ During IOLS courses, I ask Scouters to take a walk for about 15 minutes and find something in nature that interests them. Then, I ask them to "tell us the story" of that thing. The results are always spectacular! One time, a Scouter wrote a poem about a shelf fungus she found on a tree. Another Scouter found deer sign and told a beautiful story about the changing of the seasons

if the schedule were something like: week 1: co-ed week 2: boys only week 3: girls only week 4: co-ed week 5: co-ed It would seem fair. But, something like: week 1: boys only week 2: boys only week 3: ce-ed week 4: co-ed week 5: boys only Does not.

This is not an uncommon occurrence. Units are "owned" by their Charter Organization, so unit volunteers are also volunteers with that CO. For example, my troop is chartered to a Catholic parish. All leaders have to do BSA YPT, as well as our Diocesean youth protection training.

Here's a little piece I wrote over the summer to help get parents thinking about summer camp. https://mikecooney.net/top-10-reasons-scout-camp/

They already did. From the patch article above, quoting her father:

Well, let's start from the bottom up. The BSA didn't create a unified program at the Scout BSA level, they created a gender-segregated program. It's no secret I don't agree with the decision to bring girls into scouting, but, anybody with a brain saw the gender-segregated solution was going to cause more problems than solutions. As for the Cub Scouts, we don't have the discussion because the packs are co-ed but the Dens are segregated. Mostly a cosmetic difference but a difference non-the-less. Working around family vacations, grandparents, custody, summer jobs, summer school, and