Young American Award

[PH_2004 10]

I was just wondering if any of ya'll know if there is a square knot associated with the Young American Award. I'm going to be nominating someone and am curious.

 

YIS,

PH_2004

[scoutldr 726]

Not to my knowledge. Which organization presents this award?

[PH_2004 10]

It's a BSA award presented at the council level. Here's the webpage:

 

http://www.scouting.org/awards/youngamerican/index.html

[DDHII 11]

Yes, there is a knot for this. This is the same knot as the Explorer GOLD Award. This knot has a red, white, and blue background with a silver square knot with a silver border.

 

Qualifications:

 

- Have reached the age of 15, but will not be 26 years of age by June 1.

 

- Have achieved exceptional excellence in one or more of the fields of art, athletics, business, community service, education, government, humanities, literature, music, religion, or science.

 

- Have been involved in service in their community, state, or country that adds to the quality of life.

 

- Has maintained an above-average scholastic grade point average. (Provide a copy of current school transcripts with application.)

 

- Must provide with the application at least three letters of recommendation from your troop, post, crew, group, school, employer, civic, or community leaders.

 

Unlimited awards can be given from the council, only five can be awarded from national. Only one nomination from council can be sent to national selection per year. There is a $5,000 scholarship for national awards, however, check with your local council if there are local scholarships award winners.

 

Dale

[PH_2004 10]

Thanks for the information, Dale! Though, I have one more question. Where is the official BSA documentation that the "Explorer knot" is the knot used to represent the Young American Award? I couldn't find anything about it in the Insignia Guide. I did find a couple of webpages confirming what you had said, but I am still left looking for something more official.

 

Sorry if it seems like I am pushing the issue, but I want the person that I am nominating (assuming of course she actually receives the award) to be able to provide official documentation that she is wearing the knot correctly if questioned by someone.

 

YIS,

PH_2004

[NWScouter 9]

First off there is no Explorer Gold award there is a Silver Award in Verturing,. The Venturing Gold has no knot but like Life Scout rank just a waypoint to a higher award. Exploring now is a part of Learning for Life not a part of traditional BSA. There was back in the 50s a Explorers Silver Award or Air Explorers Ace Award and they shares their knot with the Venturing Silver Award. I also can find no reference to a knot for Young American Award.

[fgoodwin 23]

NWS wrote:

 

First off there is no Explorer Gold award there is a Silver Award in Verturing,. The Venturing Gold has no knot but like Life Scout rank just a waypoint to a higher award. Exploring now is a part of Learning for Life not a part of traditional BSA. There was back in the 50s a Explorers Silver Award or Air Explorers Ace Award and they shares their knot with the Venturing Silver Award. I also can find no reference to a knot for Young American Award.

 

I found this at Mike Walton's website:

 

The present Silver Award knot may be worn by previous holders of any Exploring advancement award less the Quartermaster Award and also by holders of a national or local Council Young American Award, a special award designed to recognize achievements in various areas by young adults (whom may or may not be Exploring members).

 

http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle/achadv.htm

 

Fred Goodwin

[PH_2004 10]

Thanks for all of the replies...I appreciate the help! So I guess that if I am looking for something official, then Mike Walton's website is about as official as I'm going to find.

 

PH_2004

[NWScouter 9]

I would take his site with a grain of salt. There has some bad info that has come out of it before. Your best info is from the official BSA site and I have not found any info there on a knot for the Young American Award

[Eamonn 61]

No disrespect to Mike Walton. That site is about as official as this one is.

I have found a lot of the stuff on that site to be just plain wrong. At times there is something that starts off right and then for some reason bits that are totally wrong or hearsay are added.

I don't see any knot for the Young American Award on the BSA National Site. I don't think there is one. However I would give the Relationships Division in the National Office a call and double check.

When you need facts about the BSA go to the BSA.

Sites that deal with Scouting are a great place to find ideas for activities or to discuss things.

Even our own Bob White, who is a wonderful resource would sooner have you look it up for yourself then just give you the answer.

I know that I may be out of order talking for Bob. He is more then capable of talking for himself and will deal with me later if he feels the need.

Eamonn

[DDHII 11]

I spoke to national Learning For Life (they handle the award, not the Relationships Division) and they told me, currently, no knot is available for the Young American Award. However, the past "official" knot that has been associated with the award is the Exploring Achievement Award. This is the same knot I described earlier in my post.

 

This knot is a catch-all knot that several awards are used for this knot. If a Scouter has earned several award that are listed for this knot, only one knot is worn on the uniform.

 

Currently, there are no plans to create a new knot for the Young American Award and this knot is acceptable to wear as long as the Supply Division has them on stock.

 

I didn't post this earlier, this award is availble to Scouts, Venturers, Explorers (and other Learning For Life members), and nonmembers of BSA alike.

 

This is good news for me since I dont have to remove the knot from my uniform. Also, some good news I learned, if a nominee doesnt receive the national award, they may resend an updated application the following year and try again.

 

Im not sure if this is news to any of you, but it certainly is to me. Ill be resubmitting my application for next years selection.

 

YiV,

 

Dale

Young American Award Council 02

[DDHII 11]

One more thing...

 

You can order the knot #05526 from your local council service center.

[Eamonn 61]

Thanks Dale,

I have little dealings with the Learning For Life program and never think to look at what they are up to.

I did visit both the Exploring Pages and the LFL pages and have a question.

Is there still an Exploring uniform?

I know that there are still a lot of old ones around but if someone new wanted to buy one where would he/she get it and what does it look like?

Eamonn

[DDHII 11]

Eamonn,

 

If you're talking about the old Kelly green Exploring uniform, they look just like today's Venturing shirts. If you have one, you can purchase Venturing bars that go above the Exploring bar. Note: This is not the Venture strip on Scouting uniforms. When BSA converted outdoor/noncareer Exploring posts to Venturing in 1998, the old uniform moved over as well... that's why we have green uniforms. At the same time, Sea Scouting was moved into Venturing. For 10 Trails End Popcorn points (or brownie points if you prefer), what's the reason for having red epaulet tabs on Scouts and green on Venturing?

 

If you're talking about the newer uniforms (e.g. police, fire, healthcare, etc), those depend on the post where they are chartered at. There are different uniforms for each career field. For example, many healthcare uses white or navy blue scrubs and police use blue Explorer shirts. Like Venturing, uniforms can vary from post. In general, LFL members do not wear uniforms (unless chartered at a private school, in that case, those belong to the school and not to LFL). Exploring posts determine the uniform(s) and the formalities to wearing them. Traditional police posts wear light blue shirts, navy blue slacks, black basket-weave leather belt, black shoes/boots, and appropriate hair cut (usually, one inch in bulk). Uniforms can be purchased through your council service center, local police/fire/EMS stores such as Galls, and other suppliers for such agencies. Scrubs can usually be purchased at the healthcare facility or other healthcare supply stores. The uniforms (brand, style, color, etc) are determined by the post and agency. Typically, all police are the same if they are in the same agency. The appropriate patches and insignia are also worn on the uniform(s).

 

I hope this helps,

 

Dale

[PeterHopkins 62]

The wearing of the Explorer Award knot for the Young American Award is mentioned in the 1995 but not the 1996 Insignia Guide. The 1996 Insignia Guide also no longer mentioned that the knot can be worn to represent the Explorer Scout Ranger (1950-1951) and Air Scout Ace (1950-1954) awards after these awards first appeared on the list in 1995. So, the fact that the Young American Award was dropped should not mean that it cannot be represented by the knot. Since the Ranger and Ace knots have not been available from the BSA for many years, should Scouters who earned those highest ranks/awards in the Explorer Scout and Air Scout programs not be permitted to wear a knot?

An argument could be made that the Young American Award was included on the 1995 list by mistake. After all, it co-existed with the Explorer Achievement Award from 1981 to 1995, and with the Explorer GOLD Award from 1995 to 1999. Since it has always been nominative, it doesn't fit in with Explorer Silver, Ranger, Ace, Explorer Achievement Award and Explorer GOLD, which were the top awards or ranks in their respective programs during their existence. However, the Young American Award was one of the highest recognitions an Explorer-age youth could get from the time the BSA took over its administration around 1970, until the authorization of the Explorer Achievement Award in 1981, since Exploring had no top award that could be "earned" during that time. Perhaps, that was the logic behind including it in the 1995 Insignia Guide.

Unless Scouting magazine or some other official outlet lets BSA members know that inclusion of the Young American Award in the 1995 Insignia Guide was an error, which has not happened as far as I know, it seems to me that holders of the award are entitled to wear the knot.

HOWEVER, later issues of the Insignia Guide dropped the Explorer award knot. When it reappeared, the description said the knot was only for awards earned prior to August 1998 (the dawn of Venturing). Therefore, someone earning the Young American Award in 2004, when this thread started, should not wear the knot to represent that award.

Although 15 years have passed since anyone commented on this thread, I just stumbled across it and thought it might be worthwhile to answer the question. At the time this thread was started, National was still presenting the Young American Award to five recipients annually. That has ended, but councils may still present the award, and some do. The knot is no longer stocked by National Supply, because it can no longer be earned.

Edited May 30, 2019 by PeterHopkins
add info, clarify