Tron

I'm a Nova and Supernova counselor and my assessment is that they are good to have on hand, but not what the kids are interested in. At the Cub level my Pack tries to do at least 1 Nova year to provide exposure to STEM, the Scouts like it because everyone without a Nova gets a new patch (the Scouts with a Nova are blahzay as they only get a pin for the patch). Considering that the program is set up like Merit Badges I sort of expect this to eventually get absorbed into Merit Badges or at the BSA Scout level turned into Merit Badges eventually.

Well this is absolutely false, Scouting in general, and thus the BSA was founded on outdoor skills.

Promoting from within is critical if you are attempting to maintain positive aspects of internal culture. It does cause slower responses to external cultural shifts; however, most people are not looking for the same thing in BSA that they are in other non-profits. In my opinion, we want promotion from within, and every paid Scouter should have the strongest Scouting background possible. The volunteer positions can absorb the people with weaker or no Scouting background. I was at UPS for 15 years, in management meetings I would always bark out, "When are we buying our company back?" because we lost a huge part of our corporate culture when we went public, and subsequently started hiring management from the outside. We went from work hard, play hard, take care of our people, to work hard, no playing, and squeeze the employees as hard as you can. Trust me, bringing in outsiders to fill critical executive positions will in a few short years obliterate the culture of BSA just like it has obliterated other non-profits and for profit companies.

What if Venturing became something like a Venturing Patrol at each Troop? Or perhaps turn it into a college club like program? My only issues with the DEI is that it breaks from the mold of other Merit Badges; there is literally no way to test the knowledge. The Merit Badge is just another requirement thrown on the heap.