NJCubScouter

We had a project in our troop in which the Scout obtained some donated, used computers from somewhere, then he and a few other kids wiped the hard drives, maybe installed some more memory or something, then a larger group (including me) sat around a table with the computers in front of us and (with instructions given to us by the Scout, who also was there to supervise) installed (probably from CD's, I think this was after the floppy-disk era) a new operating system and some word-processing software. Ultimately the computers were to be donated to some families on public assistance, with the main idea being that they would use the computers to write resumes, send out letters seeking employment, etc. That was the idea, anyway. I recall not being all that impressed with the project. The kid made Eagle though. Added Note: And I guess I should emphasize, in light of what this thread is about, that in that case the Scout did show up for his project!

Sounds to me like there's probably more than one problem here. In addition to the question of whether this should have been approved as an Eagle project, and not showing up for his Eagle project, it sounds like he was extremely discourteous to the "church ladies" who went out of their way to help him. I think the first step needs to be a personal apology to them. (This assumes there is not a very good reason for his failure to appear or communicate - like if he was lying in a hospital somewhere with amnesia or something.)

I have not seen any indication of one. They seem to be issuing new editions every two years - the completely revamped edition (the first to actually be called "Guide to Advancement") was in 2011 I believe, with revisions in 2013 and 2015. Of course, none of this means that they won't decide to publish a revision this year, but I see nothing to suggest that they will. I don't think the changes to the requirements necessarily require a new edition of the G2A. To my recollection, the actual requirements are not printed in the G2A. The only thing I know of that is probably now "wrong" is that Scout is now a "rank" rather than the "joining badge", and the 2015 edition has a picture of the old badge (they changed the color of the fleur-de-lis from brown to gold.) But the procedures for "Scout" are still the same - there is still a Scoutmaster Conference but no Board of Review. It is possible that there are also a few other things that are outdated, but I doubt they would be enough to require publication of a new edition sooner than they would otherwise.

Our troop has its own bank account (using the church's tax id #). As far as I know, the church has never asked to see anything, and nobody has ever done an audit.

I assume when people say "forest green", they mean the Boy Scout loops, not the Venturing loops. (I still wear the red ones.) I just looked on the Internet and see the Boy Scout loops variously described as "olive" and "hunter green". On scoutstuff.org it says the Venturing loops are "green" and does not say what color the Boy Scout loops are, but the photos they have of each one look almost exactly the same to me. On the actual subject of this thread, I agree with the others, it should be the "Boy Scout" color, whatever that color may actually be.

I think a different kind of "green" is the motivating factor here.

It's good to have a variety of interests. But you've got to watch out with the throwing knives and tomahawks, the next thing you know the kids will be using water guns.

I don't think our affiliated Venturing crew will be going, I just found out they gave up the ghost and did not recharter at the end of the year.

With the spelling police following closely behind.

If the commercial was on during the 4th quarter, I was asleep. I think I made it about 10 minutes (real minutes, not minutes on the clock) into the 3rd quarter.

I remember some of that. I do not recall store window displays. I do recall wearing my uniform to school, at least as a Cub Scout (which would have been mid/late 60's). As for Scoutldr's post, we had no displays in the mall, because there was no mall until slightly after I aged out as a Boy Scout. I do remember a Scout-O-Rama (or Scout-O-Ree or whatever) for which we sold tickets, it was held at Newark Airport. I'm pretty sre I have a neckerchief slide from that one in my "Scouting box." I don't recall either the pack or troop ever doing anything with Scout Sunday or Scout Sabbath (the troop was probably about 40% Jewish), it may have had something to do with the fact that our CO was a public school (back in the days when you could do that.) Our troop now does Scout Sunday at the church that is our CO. But otherwise there is no recognition of "Scout Week."

First of all, John, thank you for the important information. The rest of this isn't directed at you, but at BSA National. Three different sets of requirements for the same merit badge in use at the same time? I suppose it doesn't matter to a Scout, who is only going to be using one. But something here strikes me as being a little unfair to the merit badge counselors who have to deal with three different sets of requirements for different Scouts. I think this is part of what I have called the "Good Idea Syndrome" that afflicts National. People have good ideas (whether for improvements to requirements or adding additional programs and awards) all the time, but that doesn't mean the BSA has to change the requirement (or add the program) every single time someone has a good idea. I'm not talking about major wholesale changes to requirements when a new handbook comes out - in concept, that is fine (although I have issues with a few of the new requirements.) It's the piecemeal additions and changes from year to year that I think are often unnecessary and often disruptive. Certainly three different sets of Cooking MB requirements in three consecutive years strikes me as disruptive. Added Note: Here is a link to the blog post itself. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/02/02/eagle-required-cooking-merit-badges-2016-requirements-now-effect/Nine people have commented so far and it does not look any of them have the same issue with it that I do. It is interesting to look at the comments to Bryan's blog sometimes and compare them with the comments people here have on the same subject. Sometimes they go in the same direction, sometimes they don't.

Doesn't the BSA teach "servant leadership" as well? When I have asked some of the Scouts who have attended NYLT about it, they almost all seem to know what I am talking about, so I have to conclude that if one pays attention at NYLT one learns about servant leadership. I have never attended Scoutmaster training but it is my impression that it is covered there as well. Whether a particular Scout or adult actually practices it, and to what degree, is another question, but that can be true of any skill. My guess is that the same is true in the Red Cross or any other organization. Putting principles into practice is often somewhat of a struggle.

At first I didn't have any idea what "jammie dodgers" were, but from reading further in the thread I see they are a "Dr. Who" reference. I still don't know what they are. My kids would know, and maybe my wife, but the sci-fi references that I know are mainly from Star Trek. (Somewhere in South Carolina, Packsaddle's ears perk up.) I have never heard of merit badge work at a camporee, and hopefully I never will. In the past (that is, when my son was in the troop, and I was attending) the main program at the fall camporee was patrol competitions, and the main program at the spring camporee (presumably after the Webelos joined the troops) was more instructional and practice on T-2-1 skills. Since I stopped going, they seem to have gotten more "creative", which I think is mostly due to the fact that the adults running the camporees were getting bored of the same-old-same-old. (In other words I think the kids probably benefited more from the way it was done in the past.) As for selling things, sometimes they would sell hot dogs and hamburgers for Saturday lunch, so they didn't necessarily have to interrupt the activities for everyone to go back to their campsites and cook. These were sold by the district, more-or-less at cost. Neither the OA nor Girl Scouts nor anybody else were doing any fundraising at the camporees.

We do the same thing, one COH in the spring and one in the fall, with rank badges (but not MB's) handed out as soon as they are earned. The fall COH is mainly for advancements and MB's earned at summer camp, and is usually in late September or early October to allow for BOR's. I personally would like to see three a year, so we are closer to what the BSA recommends, but I run into "We've always done it this way."

For periodic (i.e. non-Eagle) COH's our troop has snacks and desserts after the ceremony. There are signups for the Scouts before the event to make sure we have the basics covered (i.e. chips, pretzels and drinks) and then a number of the families make some kind of dessert. Some things have become kind of traditional, like Mr. A always makes his rice pudding, Mrs. B bakes cookies, etc. We had a Scout whose parents are from the Middle East and the mother always made baklava, which I had never had before, which was wonderful. For Eagle COH's it is up to the Scout/family. Usually it is actual food. The troop buys a big cake with an Eagle on it, and there is coffee, which we don't usually have at the regular COH's. Added Note: Now that I think about it, for the last couple of regular COH's it has been emphasized to the boys that if their parent is going to make cookies or whatever, they should at least be helping and learning how to do it themselves in the future.

That's #3.

I was going by the original poster's estimate of 16 days. I guess it all comes down to what you want to do and how much money is available to do it. I myself have never been to either Disney World or a national (or world) Jamboree.

Well, but you're talking about one week at Disney vs. more than two weeks at the Jamboree, including related touring, etc. Even if you figure a "discount" for the more rustic accommodations, you have to balance that with the fact that it's a Scouting event (for which we always pay extra, usually willingly), and an event that only happens once every four years.

You're not kidding. Reminds me of the local middle school ice hockey team I heard about where they ended up having to make a rule that in order to attend the games, the parents had to attend an anger management/sportsmanship class. Not the kids, the parents. I am sure some of the dads would gladly have gotten onto the ice to show the opposing dads a lesson.

No wheelbarrows, I think those are prohibited by G2SS now.

I agree that a lot of the reason for the attention to Girl Scout cookies is that they are so "institutionalized." Girl Scout cookies - not just the cookie sales themselves, but the concept of "Girl Scout cookies" - have been around for as long as I remember, so I checked Wikipedia (The Source of All Knowledge, Most of it True) and found that Girl Scouts have been selling cookies for almost 100 years on a local and often home-made basis, but that the first National licenses for bakeries to produce the cookies were given in 1936. (And yes, there is a Wikipedia article on "Girl Scout cookies". A search for "Boy Scout popcorn" also turned up a page, but it is a "redirect" to "Weaver Popcorn Company", which makes (or made) the popcorn.) So it is really part of the national consciousness. On the other hand, I never even heard of BSA units selling popcorn until my son became a Cub Scout. When I was a Scout we did a variety of things to raise funds, I remember selling lightbulbs and also that we collected newspapers for recycling. We collected a lot of pounds of newsprint and it is likely that we got something in the local newspaper about it, since the Scoutmaster (my father) was big on creating local publicity for the troop.

No doubt tastier, too. Although I prefer the Tagalongs. By the way: How do you know when your organization has become a little too bureaucratic? Answer: When you have a committee called the "National Merit Badge Maintenance Task Force".

Um, are we still talking about Robert Gates??

Moving this to Open Discussion. I suppose it could go in Fundraising, but it's about more than just fundraising.