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National Summertime Pack Award clarification


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Im going to thread jack a little. My question is which rank pin do you award the boys? Per BSA you rank up in their computers come June 1st right? So at family camping my Wolfs Ranked up to Bears. So they completed thr majority of the summertime award as Bears. Yet my son was awarded the Red Wolf pin tonight. This makes no sense to me. Arent they color coded now so that they can wear the pin the matches their slides? My son earned this award as bear, shouldnt he get the bear one? Some will argue that this means that since most Tigers dont join till september they will never earn the Tiger one. I say oh well....They are technicaly able to joine June 1st. We had one boy that did join june 1st and he was awarded the Tiger one. So what, he is going to earn the same one next year? It makes no sence.

 

 

To make maters worse these two sites seem to agree with the way my pack handled it tonight, although it seems no official word can me found on the scouting.org webpage.

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/award/award-1584.asp

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/National_Summertime_Award

 

I dont agree with those two links at all. When the pins are made color matched with the slides why would my son wear the green/blue slide as a bear and be awarded the Red Wolf pin. Someone make that logical to me.

Careful with the "ranked up" terms. On June 1 you move up to a new den and are on a new trail, you have not earned a new rank. You get the rank when you complete all the requirements for the rank.

 

I am starting to get the feeling that when the BSA is not clear about something, they are just being flexible. Pick a system and stick to it.

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^^^ They are Bear scouts though no? Bear is their "rank" They just havent eaned their bear badge yet right? I personaly hate when the BSA is unclear about so many things.

Once you've done the paperwork for the pins, you may see why your pack chose to award based on the previous den instead of the new den. With your method, your concern about a Tiger earning the same pin twice is less likely to happen than a Webelos earning the same pin twice. You can wear all the summertime pins you're awarded on your uniform all at the same time, so if a color of a pin doesn't match your slide, it really means nothing because it won't match his slide the following year anyway. Just be happy you have active leaders who care enough to run a summertime program and follow-through with recognizing the boys who remained active during the summer. It's just a pin, for gosh sakes.
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If you do it as listed (Tiger Pin after Tiger year), it seems weird since the boys are getting the "wrong" color. If you do it your way, hardly any boys will earn the Tiger pin, and a few may earn the Webelos pin twice. I've heard packs doing it both ways. Its not really a big deal, is it?

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^^^ They are Bear scouts though no? Bear is their "rank" They just havent eaned their bear badge yet right? I personaly hate when the BSA is unclear about so many things.

In your example I would say no their "rank" is not Bear. In order to purchase a Bear badge you must turn in a "rank advancement" form.
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We have spring Tiger recruits who earned the Summertime activity pin this last summer. I don't see how I can do anything but award pins based on rank as of June 1, nothing else makes sense in this context. I know that it means the Webs will earn the same pin twice, but most of them won't care nearly as much as the new Tigers if they don't get a pin or the current Wolf scouts if they get a Tiger pin.

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We have spring Tiger recruits who earned the Summertime activity pin this last summer. I don't see how I can do anything but award pins based on rank as of June 1, nothing else makes sense in this context. I know that it means the Webs will earn the same pin twice, but most of them won't care nearly as much as the new Tigers if they don't get a pin or the current Wolf scouts if they get a Tiger pin.
Sounds like you've come up with something that works for your pack while others do it differently because it works better for their pack. Maybe this no direction from BSA is a good thing.
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We have spring Tiger recruits who earned the Summertime activity pin this last summer. I don't see how I can do anything but award pins based on rank as of June 1, nothing else makes sense in this context. I know that it means the Webs will earn the same pin twice, but most of them won't care nearly as much as the new Tigers if they don't get a pin or the current Wolf scouts if they get a Tiger pin.
I don't agree, I'd rather see BSA clarify and amend the Summertime Activity Award to be more consistent with the rest of the program.
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We have spring Tiger recruits who earned the Summertime activity pin this last summer. I don't see how I can do anything but award pins based on rank as of June 1, nothing else makes sense in this context. I know that it means the Webs will earn the same pin twice, but most of them won't care nearly as much as the new Tigers if they don't get a pin or the current Wolf scouts if they get a Tiger pin.
We litigated this a few weeks ago with a hung jury.

 

http://www.scouter.com/forum/cub-scouts/390928-help-for-new-cubmaster

 

Qwazse forbid anyone from contacting National for clarification so the debate goes on. I see splinter groups forming over this :)

 

Sasha if you contact National qwazse may reach through the Internet and punch you in the nose. Don't worry I am sure there are some FA MBCs on here to help you out.

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We have spring Tiger recruits who earned the Summertime activity pin this last summer. I don't see how I can do anything but award pins based on rank as of June 1, nothing else makes sense in this context. I know that it means the Webs will earn the same pin twice, but most of them won't care nearly as much as the new Tigers if they don't get a pin or the current Wolf scouts if they get a Tiger pin.
KDD, I don't really care. I'll do what I think is right and everyone else can do what they think is right and scouting marches on.
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We have spring Tiger recruits who earned the Summertime activity pin this last summer. I don't see how I can do anything but award pins based on rank as of June 1, nothing else makes sense in this context. I know that it means the Webs will earn the same pin twice, but most of them won't care nearly as much as the new Tigers if they don't get a pin or the current Wolf scouts if they get a Tiger pin.
KDD the scouter word dicer......a shame you don't spend this much time on your program

 

here is what Q said

 

"Oh, for the love of Akela ....

 

Don't anybody dare call national and ask them for a rule!

 

Like BD said, it's a pin that gets swept off the floor at a pack meeting if it's not stashed in a box in the kid's sock drawer! The JTE metrics make no mention of pins. It doesn't even mention summertime activities.

 

Give the Webelos Tiger Pins and the Wolfs Webelos pins and see how it changes the color of the ribbon on the pack flag or the knot on their uniform 10 years from now ... IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER.

 

What matters is that the kids have active summers and feel proud about it."

 

 

I love how cub parents jump thru hoops to buy a pin that has zero meaning.

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Im going to thread jack a little. My question is which rank pin do you award the boys? Per BSA you rank up in their computers come June 1st right? So at family camping my Wolfs Ranked up to Bears. So they completed thr majority of the summertime award as Bears. Yet my son was awarded the Red Wolf pin tonight. This makes no sense to me. Arent they color coded now so that they can wear the pin the matches their slides? My son earned this award as bear, shouldnt he get the bear one? Some will argue that this means that since most Tigers dont join till september they will never earn the Tiger one. I say oh well....They are technicaly able to joine June 1st. We had one boy that did join june 1st and he was awarded the Tiger one. So what, he is going to earn the same one next year? It makes no sence.

 

 

To make maters worse these two sites seem to agree with the way my pack handled it tonight, although it seems no official word can me found on the scouting.org webpage.

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/award/award-1584.asp

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/National_Summertime_Award

 

I dont agree with those two links at all. When the pins are made color matched with the slides why would my son wear the green/blue slide as a bear and be awarded the Red Wolf pin. Someone make that logical to me.

You are correct. It is unclear. I think most packs do it the way your pack does it. It has the advantage of giving most of the boys the opportunity to earn all four pins. I do it the way you describe as your preference because the first time I awarded these pins, I really did have a brand new tiger cub that came to all our summertime events. This way, he will have the opportunity to earn the Webelos pin twice.

 

You are also correct when you say that Cub Scouts "rank up" on June 1. Cub Scouts do not "earn" their rank. It is confusing because they do earn a "badge of rank," but their rank is assigned to them by their grade in school (or age). They are wolf scouts all year even if they never earn their wolf badge.

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We have spring Tiger recruits who earned the Summertime activity pin this last summer. I don't see how I can do anything but award pins based on rank as of June 1, nothing else makes sense in this context. I know that it means the Webs will earn the same pin twice, but most of them won't care nearly as much as the new Tigers if they don't get a pin or the current Wolf scouts if they get a Tiger pin.
I think it depends, do you sign up new Tiger Cubs in the Spring? If so, then you want to award the Summertime Pin then. If, you're like the rest of us, don't really get Tigers in the Spring, then you do it on the prior year so boys that are active in the program can do each year. The boys don't care, they get a pin, it's exciting, who cares if they get two Tigers, two Webelos, or never complete a set... but parents whose boy might be "deprived" the Tiger one will care.

 

Our solution, I'm doing it on the prior year, since we don't get new Tigers... we tried a summer program last year, people didn't show up. I have one or two Tigers that may sign up in the Spring, with older siblings in Scouts. If they earn it, I'll let them earn two Tiger pins. The policy was arbitrary, we'd never done the award before, and my son finished Tiger and is having fun picking them all up.

 

Neither "makes sense." As of June 1st, they are onto the next program year. However, that would also mean that Tigers couldn't earn the Outdoor Activity Badge in our district, and boys at camp wouldn't necessarily earn it without us tracking the program all year... much easier to hit the objectives on the year, and award it to everyone that goes to camp.

 

It's not really a huge deal... do whichever pins help you run a program that gets the boys excited to participate more.

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