National Outdoor Badge

[Buffalo Skipper]

Has anyone seen this new award?

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/Youth/Awards/NOA.aspx

 

It looks a little more complicated than I would like to see things, but pretty all all encompasing. At the higher level there is a medal to be awarded (National Outdoor Achievement Award) which according to one site is said to replace the National Camping Award. http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/award/national_outdoor_achievement-2112.asp

 

However, if you look at the requirements, The Outdoor Achievement Award is far beyond the National Camping Award!

 

Your thoughts?(This message has been edited by Buffalo Skipper)

[Eagle92]

Buff,

Thanks to the link. But req 3 for camping has me scratching my head:

 

Earn two of the following three merit badges: Cooking, First Aid, Pioneering.

 

Isn't First Aid MB still required for Eagle?

 

[shortridge]

The Camping one looks kind of sad compared to the others. 25 days/nights could easily be snagged in a year of plop & drop car camping. But the others seem to require real effort - 100 miles hiking or backpacking is nothing to sneeze at.

 

I'm loving 8b for the medal - "Successfully complete a season on a council summer camp staff in an outdoor area, such as aquatics, Scoutcraft, nature/environment, climbing, or COPE." Sweet!

[ChaiAdventure]

Overall I am very impressed with the thought that went into this. The mdeal will be no small achievement.

 

It would have been easy to include venturing in this program just by including the words "satisfy the requirements for the .... merit badge", but sadly, that was not the case.

[Buffalo Skipper]

Interesting perspective, from the Venturing side. Though in my own mind, I had thoughtlessly dismissed this as a Boy Scout only award, I immediately came to realize that this IS very much like a venturing award: the Ranger. Remember that the Venturing Silver is the highest award on the Venturing side, and that the Ranger is a separate recognition following a different track. And there is a similar level of commitment between the two awards (exceedingly high!). Now that I think about it, it may be more appealing if they had given it a more snazzy title; "National Outdoor Achievement Award" sounds a little dry.

 

Eagle92, for the camping award (rocker), yes, this is easy, and possibly intended so for the purpose of making this achievable by a great number of scouts. It falls more into place when you look at it from the perspective of the NOAA, which requires that the scout earn the silver level of the camping. That is 125 nights. Our troop hasn't seen an Eagle scout meet that requirement alone for as long as I can review our records (maybe 10 years). And I don't think any one of them would have earned more than a single rocker in aquatics and nothing else. But to earn a camping silver and TWO golds in each of two other areas?

 

This is truly a significant award. We have some active scouts in our area, but I doubt that one in 100 or more Eagles in our council would qualify for this. Those of us who may have quietly been thinking that BSA standards are becoming more and more lax should put those ides to rest when considering the National Outdoor Activity Award. (Man that is a mouthfull...)

[Eagle92]

As someone commented, there si discussion about his award onthe Venturing forums. Apparently the folks who created Range did have a say inthis award for scouts.

[DeaconLance]

If you ask me the Ranger requirements pale next to the requirements for the National Medal for Outdoor Achievement.

[BrotherhoodWWW]

100 miles hiking or backpacking is just 30 miles over that required for hiking MB..

[ScoutBox]

found this on the Scout Stuff page.

 

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=NEW&C3=&C4=&LV=2&item=610646&prodid=610646%5E8%5E01RTL&

[ScoutBox]

Question?

Can one count non scout related camp outs. my son and I camp about a month every year.

 

Also this helps me with my older scouts. Will give them another goal to meet.

 

 

[Buffalo Skipper]

Each area states under the requirements "...approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America..." As such, I would say this excludes family camping.

 

If we follow the premise (which has not been discussed, by the way) that this award replaces the National Camping Award, I think this makes sense. The NCA (along with the Camping MB) just this past year was rephrased to include only Boy Scout camping, both of which had previously included non-BSA experiences, such as camping with the family.

[ScoutBox]

Thanks for the info.

 

OK Since I'm the Troop ASM and my son is a Scout what does this mean.. although I don't count anything we do away from the troop. I've of others who have.. That's why we have to have two leaders and at least two scouts "YP" to do anything scout related in our troop.

[Oak Tree]

If you and your son go camping, you are not doing it under the auspices of the Boy Scouts of America. You aren't following the Guide to Safe Scouting, etc. You are just on a family camping trip.

[Oak Tree]

Actually, as I re-read the requirement, I'm less certain of the answer I just gave. I was presuming that Buffalo Skipper's quote applied to all of the camping. However, the phrasing is actually this:

 

4.Complete 25 days and nights of campingincluding six consecutive days (five nights) of resident camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America

 

My interpretation is that it is saying that the long term camping has to be done under the auspices of the BSA. I do not interpret this as saying that all of the camping has to be done that way.

 

That phrase is used in other places to apply to long term camping, as per the OA requirements.

After registration with a troop or team, have experienced 15 days and nights of Boy Scout camping during the two-year period prior to the election. The 15 days and nights must include one, but no more than one, long-term camp consisting of six consecutive days and five nights of resident camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America. The balance of the camping must be overnight, weekend, or other short-term camps.

[Nike]

Oh, for the want of a comma.

 

I'm going to show this to the ASPL in the house and see what he thinks they could do in the next two years.