When does your troop have a Court of Honor?

[Cubby's Cubmaster]

My son joined a troop this year and they had a court of honor in

 

June (lots of new scouts reaching Tenderfoot)

September (lots of scouts getting Summer Camp merit badges)

March (lots of scouts getting Merit Badge Challenge merit badges)

 

Plus, Eagle Courts of Honor occur when the new Eagle wants so they can be scheduled at various times of year.

 

My question to the forum is this...When does your troop have a Court of Honor?

 

Regards,

CC

[dg98adams]

3-4 times a year, like yours.

 

The one after summer camp (August) is a big one. One just before The Troop Thanksgiving dinner is good sized as well. The other 2 are needed, some ranks adv and several MB.

 

So far, the 5 ECOH were separate, and varing degrees of attendance.

 

I'd say the real answer is "as often as needed".

[OwntheNight]

Once every quarter, with ECOH scheduled as requested by the boy. We had one of our Eagle's right after the regular COH in August, That was a long night, but well worth it!

[Stosh]

Ours is on the fifth Monday of the month. I think that happens 4 or 5 times a year.

 

Stosh

[artjrk]

September, to recognize all the Summer activities, ie Camp, High Adventure treks.

 

Jan or Feb

 

June, held outdoors combined with a potluck dinner. Usually more ceremonial than other two. Gives us a chance to recognize leaders and seniors before they move on.

 

Eagle courts typically are on their on. On occasion one will be included in the regular troop CoH.

[CA_Scouter]

Three times a year for regular COH, as needed for Eagle ( 3 in our near future! )

 

April - Kinda light on the awards but we introduce the new PLC and do a dessert potluck

 

Sept - we do a family campout and COH - its well attended, we have a great potlock and campfire, activities during the day, etc... loads of good times!

 

Dec - Mid month - we make it the last meeting of the year and we also do our annual flag retirement ceremony

 

 

 

 

 

[Twocubdad]

Every Tuesday night.

 

As soon as any award is earned it is recognized, usually the same night. With ranks, they are annnounced and recognized immediately then again when the paperwork is done and the actual badge received.

 

All as it should be.

 

Personally, I think that's where the Courts of Honor should be, but I know that's not what you're asking. We also have formal Courts of Honor usually in late August and mid December. August is usually a picnic and December the holiday banquet.

 

With immediate recognition, I feel traditional Courts of Honor have lost their reason to be. Read off a list of badges you earned three months ago. Woopie. Last August, at least, we had two slide shows, one from summer camp and another from Jamboree. They were fun, especially the jamboree stuff, since most guys didn't go.

 

Coincidentally, at last night's PLC the program for the Dec. CoH was on the agenda. The boys have total responsibility for the program. Interestingly, the conversation turned to "why are we doing this?" The party is fine, but reading list of past awards is boring to the Scouts.

[jr56]

We have traditional courts of honor about 3-4 times per year. If you perform rank ceremonies, you are not just reading off lists of prior accomplishments.

[Oak Tree]

We do ours four times a year, at the beginning of March, June, September, and December.

 

I view it as a chance to build support among the parents by giving them a chance to be proud of their son's accomplishments.

[Cubby's Cubmaster]

jr56, That is how we did it in cub scouts. We'd bring all scouts of the same rank together to get the award. We'd have the parents behind the scout to hand the rank and get a Mom's pin. I haven't seen that done in boy scouts. But in a large troop it makes sense.

 

I agree that bringing scouts up one at a time when there are 50+ scouts is too time consuming and all get tired quickly. Rank promotion makes a lot of sense.

 

Now for the other awards, in cub scouts we'd put them in a baggy and not talk about them. How would you handle those? Not mention them...or Bring up everyone earning First Aid together then Lifesaving, etc? Kids earning more would get more exercise. ;-)

 

Regards,

CC

[IM_Kathy]

my son's troop does plan out their schedule and includes scheduling the CoH, but we do awards differently then some here.

 

when a boy earns a new rank or completes a MB the advancement chair goes to the scout shop asap and will get the badges awarded at the next meeting the boy and award is there. at CoH all the boys who have recieved awards get recognized and recieve their cards then and for rank that's when they do the parent pin.

 

as for how often scheduled...

they have one when we do OA vote, when we do friends of scouting, August (right after school starts), and then about 2 more as needed or when the PLC decides they want one.

[JerseyScout]

We dole out badges at our weekly meetings (usually you wait two weeks or so for your badge to make it back from council).

 

We have one Court of Honor each year, in December, to coincide with the troop's birthday. Quick recongniton of all adult volunteers (read names, everyone stands up, everyone claps, move on). Quick "state of the troop" speech on numbers on trips, advancements, etc. Together these take about five minutes, including bad jokes.

 

We then recognition of each Scout for their achievements the previous year. If we're lucky, they don't knock any candle stands over.

 

This is followed by the Scouts giving a brief (15 minute) slide show, which they usually find the most ridiculous pictures possible for.

 

Then we give our two awards- one to the Scout who attended most activities and one to the Scout who best shows Scout spirit as exemplified by a former Scout who died shortly after making Eagle (the award is named for him).

 

Then on to desert and storytelling for the rest of the evening. The whole thing, set up to cleanup, takes about two hours.

 

In years we have Eagle Scouts (which is all years, last year we didn't have at least one was 1991), we allow the parents to schedule the ceremony. They usually band together and have one ceremony in May or June for all the boys.

[acco40]

On Monday's, 7:00 PM four times a year.

 

Recognition should be given three times. Immediately upon earning, next meeting with badge/patch (specifically rank) and formally at a COH. A "quality" troop holds at least four courts of honor a year.

[qwazse]

IMHO - an average size troop should hold CoH twice a year, spring and fall. If SPL's are elected in Summer and Winter, this gives them a couple of months to nail down opening ceremony.

 

Frequency of CoH's has nothing to do with the quality of the program.

 

Frequency of excursions, on the other hand ...

[BrentAllen]

We hold 4 per year, in March, June, September and December. Our December COH involves a big family dinner, held on a Friday evening. It also usually involves a musical slideshow, reviewing the last 12 months. It is a great way to finish out the year.