Square Knot for Congressional Award?

[Frank 10]

Hello from a long-time lurker. This is my first time posting. I've found these forums to be very helpful in keeping my troop informed *and* uniformed, so I hope this is the right place to ask this question.

 

 

Does anyone know if the National Office approved a square knot for BSA members who've earned a Congressional Award? I've seen a few posts in the archives in 1998, and again in 2000 that indicated that there was some movement afoot to do this, but no discussion since then.

 

Thanks

--Frank

[scoutldr 732]

What's a "Congressional Award" and does it have anything to do with Scouting?

[OneHour 11]

http://www.congressionalaward.org/congress/

 

http://www.scouter.com/compass/Advancement/Congressional_Award/

 

 

 

 

[packsaddle 753]

scoutldr, This is a little-known award that is outside BSA. However, it is available to scouts and non-scouts alike. I very much like the inclusive nature of the Congressional Award and I am trying to get this started for some youth who are not interested in BSA or GSA. It is a great alternative. Take a serious look at the URLs listed earlier. It is my understanding that Senator Lott is a strong promoter for the Congressional Award in his state and that may explain the discussion. I would be surprised, however, if this was ever recognized by BSA, as they don't offer recognition for 4-H or other similar activities. And it does offer a competitive venue for personal activities and development.

[DDHII 11]

As a 1999 Silver Congressional Award receiptient and current applicant for the 2004 Gold Congressional Award, BSA does not currently have plans for a knot for the award. The award is recognized by BSA, and many award earners are from the BSA program, BSA does not merit the usage of a "square knot" due to the fact that it is not an offical BSA program. For more information, you can contact BSA's relationships division or go to http://congressionalaward.org/congress/.

 

On a side note, this award does not offer a competitive venue due to the fact that it is not a competitive award.

 

I hope this helps...

 

Dale(This message has been edited by DDHII)

[packsaddle 753]

DDHII, Your response was indeed helpful. However, I feel I need to clarify one thing that I wrote. I mentioned the term 'competitive' in the sense that youth may choose to pursue the Congressional Award and the activities associated with it rather than to go into scouting. Such youth make a choice of one program to the exclusion of the other. However passive the mechanism may be, in this sense one program competes with the other for a resource (the youth).(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[DDHII 11]

Packsaddle, you're right when you say that Scouts (or Venturers) may choose to pursue the Congressional Award, however I wouldn't choose the term "competitive." Congress didn't make this award program to compete with the BSA (a Congressionally chartered organization) or any other non-for profit group (4-H, GSUSA, ROTC, etc). This award was started to recognize those youth who have served others, regardless if they have been Boy Scouts or not. In 1999, only 5 of the 17 Gold Award earners were Boy Scouts, one of them was a female ASM. The awards were not meant to be competitive, yet something a youth can achieve by goal setting. The Gold Award takes a minimum of 2 years to achieve. The awards in it's self are not hard to earn, but time consuming. This teaches youth to set a goal and work for it.

 

Another good award program is called the President's Student Services Award http://www.student-service-awards.org/ which the hours of community service can be transferred into the Congressional Award.

 

Dale

[packsaddle 753]

DDHII, thanks for the link. That's very interesting also. My interest in this is on behalf of several kids who could have been scouts (one actually was) but wanted an alternative. They have friends who feel likewise. If this expands in the community it could eventually negatively affect our troop's recruiting. I know creation of the program was not intended to be competitive but, as we say in science and economics, competition is defined by the outcome.