Helping Your Scouts Help Houston | Mark Ray

Scouts all over the country naturally want to do something to help. As adult leaders, we have the opportunity to both help hurricane victims and teach our Scouts the right and wrong ways to be of service.This week, the United Methodist Church reposted a great article on what to do–and what not to do–to help after a natural disaster. I encourage you to read it and share it with your patrol leaders’ council, but the bottom line is simple: don’t go without an invitation (and training) and don’t send supplies that haven’t been requested.

Source: Helping Your Scouts Help Houston

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Resources to Help You Prove the Value of Scouting | Scoutingwire

Scouting is more than meetings and camping. It is the best value-based outdoors, experiential educational method for youth leadership learning and for being prepared for life decision-making (@ScoutmasterJose). ‪#‎bepreparedforlife‬.

Resources to Help You Prove the Value of Scouting

Check out this one-page Does Scouting Work? infographic for a quick look at how Scouting builds positive character. This infographic pinpoints the four key take-aways from the study and its statistical findings. (Ref: Resources to Help You Prove the Value of Scouting)

BSA-Tufts-Infographic

Making Scouting Accessible for Families. A Survey.

Making Scouting Accessible for Families

As an organization dedicated to serving youth, we’ve always aimed to bring Scouting to as many youth and families as possible.  Now, as life get busier and busier, we hear from families and Scouting leaders that there is also a need to help make Scouting more accessible.

For many families, accessibility means finding a way to serve the entire family – including the girls whose brothers and cousins we have sought to serve for years.

As an organization, we have conducted some research on this topic and have started elevating this conversation so we can determine the best path forward, including a recent focus on the topic at the 2017 National Annual Meeting, when Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh outlined what we know so far.

To move the conversation forward, it is important that we hear feedback from you and those that bring Scouting to life in communities.  Please watch the video below and then request a survey. Thank you in advance for your input!

via Making Scouting Accessible for Families | Greater Los Angeles Area Council

The Outdoor Adventure Planning Guide | BSA TAP

Outdoor adventure is a key element of youth development in the Boy Scouts of America programs. Just as young people grow, learn and mature in a continuing progression of experience so, too, do the camping and outdoor programs of the BSA. The BSA offers a continuum of experiences based on the age, interest and ability level of youth and BSA offers recognition awards for all levels of Scouting outdoor Adventures.

Source: BSA TAP | The Outdoor Adventure Planning Guide

Keeping the Balance in a Technology Era | Scouting Wire : Scouting Wire

While we innovate to bring the benefit of Scouting to life through technology, through new merit badges or even new programs, like STEM Scouts, outdoor activities are still one of my favorite aspects of Scouting. I hope all Scouts get to experience the personal growth that comes with spending time experiencing adventures – big and small – in the outdoors.

Source: Keeping the Balance in a Technology Era – Scouting Wire : Scouting Wire

Scouts pay respects in wreath-laying ceremony at Tomb of the Unknowns — Bryan on Scouting

The Eagle Scout badge is extremely rare, but the U.S. Army has a badge that’s even rarer. It’s the badge worn by members of the Honor Guard who keep 24-hour watch over the Tomb of Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Fewer than 700 men and women have worn the badge since the round-the-clock patrol began in 1937. The Honor Guard…

via Scouts pay respects in wreath-laying ceremony at Tomb of the Unknowns — Bryan on Scouting

Notice anything special on the crest of the new USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier? | Bryan on Scouting

Update, Sept. 7: Just to clarify, though the fleur-de-lis was in use before Scouting began, the Navy has said this use of the fleur-de-lis is indeed a reference to Ford’s Scouting career.

As the only Eagle Scout ever to become U.S. president (so far), Gerald Ford stands among the most successful men ever to emerge from the Boy Scouts of America. That legacy continues with the USS Gerald R. Ford, a $13.5 billion, 1,106-foot aircraft carrier set to join the U.S. Navy’s fleet in 2016. Last month, the ship’s crew released the Gerald Ford‘s official crest. It features 38 stars, representing Ford’s tenure as our 38th president. The colors include blue and maize, honoring his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Michigan. But it’s the fluer-de-lis at the top of the compass that really caught my eye. The fleur-de-lis, of course, shows off Ford’s achievements as a Boy Scout, and its northern position on the compass says a lot about how much Ford’s life direction was positively shaped by his time in Scouting. Here’s the crest: Special thanks to Marc Leonetti, Scoutmaster of Troop 544 in Suffolk, Va., for the tip!

Source: Notice anything special on the crest of the new USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier? – Bryan on Scouting