Leaderboard

And not just with skills. The PL Council, or Green Bar Council was the go to for both youth advancement on basic skills for the lower ranks, but also were the judges and juries for most issues of discipline or unit functions. Adults sat in to observe, and only if absolutely required would they use their adult power, and often even then it was taken to the committee if needed. Peer pressure is a good thing, and the expectation that you are NOT performing skills properly, as monitored by the peer group, is very powerful. And IF some type of disciplinary function was needed, it too was more l

To refresh everyone's memory, this is 9b (b) On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision. (1) Hike up a mountain, gaining at least 1,000 vertical feet. (2) Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least 4 miles. (3) Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or at least four hours. (4) Take a nonmotorized trip on the water of at least four hours or 5 miles. (5) Plan and carry out an overnight snow camping experience. (6) Rappel down a rappel route of 30 feet or more. A troop leadersh

I could support the scout's signing off on scout spirit, active in your troop and serve actively. Also, you can minimize BORs. Just because it says three adult committee members doesn't mean it needs to be 30+ minutes. It could be five minutes of three committee members. ... The one I would strongly suggest never to dilute is the scoutmaster conference. The scoutmaster needs to know the scouts and hear what they say. Period.

Our Scouts signed off everything up through first class except for the adult required signatures. The only issue that ever popped up was the scouts for some reason didn't put dates. That caused some issues at first until we retrained them. And we did invite senior scouts in the BORs. I do miss the old days. Barry

I am old school. I remember when Scouts could sit on BORs (1972-1989, but I know of some troops that did it later than 1989). I also remember being able to sign off on advancement, especially the First Aid Skill Award since teaching it was a requirement for First Aid MB, and hence First Class Rank. So I do let select youth sign off until 1st Class. In my experience the Youth tend to do a better job of this than adults.

From my old guy view, only as a feedback for the actual approval of the SM or his assigned adult proxy. Part of the role of a SM is to mentor, and Scout Spirit is a primary element of that description. Still, the older days, when the PLC actually did boards for the lower ranks, is a great loss to today's leadership training, at least in my view. The take over by adults of the advancement board was one of the many changes that has catered to the concept that youth are not able to make sound judgements. Again, just my view, though we see the results of NOT allowing young adults to actually b

Yes! I think this could be a good tradition to add to your troop. Essentially the PLC would be granting their approval for each scout as they rank up through the Scout Spirit requirement. Anecdotally, this requirement is typically incorporated into the Scoutmaster conference in our troop. Do what works best for your scouts! I agree with @fred8033 that time delay can be a concern. They shouldn't have to wait for each monthly PLC meeting to have a requirement signed. Have the SPL gather with some of ASPLs, Troop Guides, and PLs who are available if a scout requests it at a meeting, camping

Agreed. If your troop is scheduling monthly camping trips, this should be easy to achieve. Our troop has had done all 6 activities at least once in the last 2 years. If you never accomplish any of these on any camping trips, you should work with your PLC to incorporate them.

One thing to note is that the requirement specifies a scouting activity, it doesn’t say with the troop. So these nights, and their corresponding activities can be done within scouting but outside the troop. That could mean OA, jamboree, provisional scout at a summer camp, council contingents to high adventure, or just tagging along with another troop where he has a buddy. Broadly, I haven’t seen many scouts struggle with 9b if they are easily completing 9a. Where are you located, and what does your troop do on campouts that they’re not getting these things in? My theory on t

Exactly. Scouters who think that women have less intrinsic value than men are not going to be able to do a good job of growing units with girls, and if they're teaching boys that, then they are also failing to deliver good moral training. Clarifying whether we have such problems is practically important. I doubt Eagledad is trying to recruit girls, but this is not a private conversation and girls reading something in that direction here aren't going to be magnetized.

2/7/2024 New York: With the merger of Iroquois Trail Council and the Greater Niagara Frontier Council into the Western New York Council, Camp Dittmer closed in 2023 and is for sale through Timberland Realty - 317 acres with private 110 acre Remick Lake for $3.7M. "Camp Babock-Hovey on Seneca Lake in Ovid is being sold by the Rochester-based Seneca Waterways Council. The 284-acre site is listed for $9 million. The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation may be interested in purchasing the property, as are private developers. The Seneca County Board of Supervisors

I tend to agree. Lower rank BORs should be done by the youth leadership in the troop. I do wish BSA would re-design to the old world concept.

Policy? No. It's just very, very different than how almost all other troops work. It will raise dozens of questions that can escalate. #1 Make sure you don't call it a Court of Honor or a Board of Review (BOR). ... Scouts still need to sit in front of a BOR comprised of three to six adults that confirms requirements are met. ... Your troop is just creating a PLC meeting agenda item where they review scout spirit. ... #2 All scouts don't sit in the PLCs; just the SPL, PLs and a few others. So the scouts needing advancement won't be there for the PLCs. So, how do you handle th

Actually #1....if it is designated an official scouting activity, the Dads need to be registered with the BSA under the new rule on who can camp overnight. Also under #1 completing requirements must be done as a Boy Scout. There is language in the GTA that requires requirements to count if and only if done while a Boy Scout so parents can't claim their youth did that one as a 6 year old on a school trip.

That continues throughout life as any married man will attest... LOL, some boys may mature faster than some girls, some girls faster than other girls... however, they will all have to live in a world filled with both genders and multiple levels of 'maturity'. We do know that for certain ages that boys prefer to hand with other boys and the same with girls but that is no reason to keep them apart in the program. Learning to appreciate each other through scouting makes a lot of sense to me. Many girls and parents are attracted to the BSA program for multiple reasons and they are valid reasons. T

It's been around a lot longer than since 2015. I earned it in '86 and it was essentially the Boy Scout version of the Bobcat. A Scout can still join in 5th grade and earn the AOL in 6 months. That doesn't change. Instead, your DL will now have 6 months to complete 8 adventures. In some cases, even less time. We have a Scout who turned 10 at the beginning of 4th grade. He could earn the AOL and cross over in February 2024. The other two would need to wait until December 2024 since they don't turn 10 until July. That gives the DL realistically 3 months to accomplish all

I really like this new organization. It looks like someone has actually thought about and designed a six-year program, as opposed to the current structure that appears to be made up of one band-aid solution on top of another. I'm also glad to see Arrow of Light as simply one of six rank badges. The idea that Arrow of Light was some great culmination of Cub Scouting never made any sense to me. Any kid who joins a Pack in 5th grade and participates for six months can get Arrow of Light. Whoop-De-Do. I also agree about eliminating the random awards. In the past six years I think our Pack aw

That leads me to believe that the admissions committees don't have a clue about the AOL. Let's be real, it's nowhere near the level of an accomplishment of a First Class Scout, let alone Eagle.

Most Ivy League schools and top employers, including the upper-echelon law firms and wealth management services, won't even consider you if you don't have Arrow of Light on your resume.