Category Archives: Sea Scouting

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How many Sea Scouts earn the Quartermaster award each year?

10 May 2013

42 Comments

Quartermaster_AwardThink the Eagle Scout Award is rare? Check out the Sea Scouting Quartermaster Award.

First earned around 1930, the Quartermaster Award is Sea Scouting’s highest honor.

Just how rare is it? Keeping in mind that roughly 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earn the Eagle Scout Award, would you believe that just 0.5 percent of all Sea Scouts earn the Quartermaster Award each year?

That means the Quartermaster Award is 10 times rarer than its Boy Scouting counterpart.

quartermaster-award-knotLet’s look at it another way. Last year, just 33 of the 6,670 registered Sea Scouts earned the award.

Compare that to the record-setting number of new Eagle Scouts in 2012 —  57,976 out of roughly a million Boy Scouts.

Quartermaster Award recipients, like Eagle Scouts, receive an automatic pay grade increase if they join the military.

So what does it take to earn the award? To earn Quartermaster, Sea Scouts must:  Continue reading »

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Where to find scholarship money for Eagle Scouts

5 February 2013

16 Comments

NESAEmblem_SpotEagle Scouts are “Prepared. For Life.” But are they prepared for the high cost of college?

College tuition was weighting on the mind of Scouter Pam K. from Westlake, Ohio, when she sent me this note last week:

Hello Bryan,

I am helping my Eagle Scout (Ricky) prepare for college in the Fall of 2013 and wondering if you can blog about scholarship opportunities?

Thank you,

Pam

Of course, a Scout should apply for scholarships himself. But it’s typically Mom or Dad who signs the check for college, so you can appreciate Pam’s eagerness to find some sources of extra cash to help lighten Ricky’s load.

Do you empathize with Pam’s plight? Here are a few ideas:  Continue reading »

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Youth Protection: It really does begin with YOU

6 December 2012

12 Comments

youth-protectionYou might not enjoy reading this.

But it could be the most important thing you’ll read today.

As stated in The Boy Scout Handbook, “Child abuse is a serious problem in our society, and unfortunately, it can occur anywhere, even in Scouting.  Youth safety is Scouting’s No. 1 concern.”

Child abusers are out there. They come in all shapes and sizes.

That’s not meant as a tabloid-style scare tactic. It’s just the truth.

The good news is that you’re not alone in your efforts to help identify, report, and, thus, prevent offenders from harming your kids.

The BSA has the tools and information you need. That’s why even though you only take the training once every two years, Youth Protection is a 24-7, 365-day-a-year operation. That’s as true for Scouters and Scout parents as it is for all of us who work for the Boy Scouts of America.

As a youth organization, the BSA isn’t alone in its efforts to help prevent abuse. Did you know that the Boy Scouts of America hosted the first-of-its-kind National Youth Protection Symposium in early November? I did, and I wanted to know more about what took place at this event.

So this week, I sat down with Michael Johnson, the BSA’s Youth Protection director, to talk about the symposium, discuss current and emerging threats to children, and learn what parents and Scouters can do to make the movement safe. Continue reading »

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Sea Scouts rewarded for STEM research, with more than just a payday

30 October 2012

3 Comments

Members of Ship 41 show off O’Tumbler.

Today’s Scouts will go on to careers where they solve some of the world’s biggest problems.

But apparently the boys and girls in Sea Scout Ship 41 aren’t waiting till they’re grownups to make a difference.

The Scouts of the ship Intrepid out of Bay Village, Ohio, researched harmful algae blooms in nearby Lake Erie. With no easy solution available, they invented their own, developing O’Tumbler, “a vertical wind turbine that circulates oxygen-rich water to help stimulate the growth of plankton and provide a food-rich habitat for fish.”

For their efforts, the Sea Scouts were named the national winners of Interlux’s 2012 Waterfront Challenge, a title that comes with a $20,000 prize. Skipper Richard Gash says the ship will use the money to educate the Lake Erie community and demonstrate ways to help protect the world’s 10th-largest lake.

“This has been a super opportunity for our Sea Scouts to study, brainstorm and develop practical solutions to real-life environmental problems,” Skipper Richard Gash said in a statement. “We look forward to using the Interlux award to further educate our community to help protect our great natural resource, Lake Erie.”  Continue reading »

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What are your unit’s annual dues?

27 September 2012

56 Comments

So, let’s hear it: What does your pack, troop, team, crew, ship, or post charge for annual dues/fees? Don’t include “a la carte” items, such as uniforms or campout fees, if they aren’t part of that one-time dues payment.

Leave a comment if you need to explain what’s included in your unit’s dues. Thanks for sharing!

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Unit charter fee changes: How what’s new will affect you

10 September 2012

31 Comments

Let’s talk money.

Two big changes coming up next year will impact every registered Scout unit:

  1. What is now known as the “unit charter fee” will change its name to the more-descriptive “unit liability insurance fee.”
  2. The cost of this fee will increase from $20 a year to $40 a year. This fee is per unit, not per individual.

Every Scout unit — packs, troops, teams, crews, ships, and posts — must pay the fee each year, and every penny of this fee goes into the general liability insurance program, providing coverage for claims alleging negligent actions that result in either personal injury or property damage.

Note that the annual registration fee for individuals isn’t changing — it remains $15.

Find answers to your important questions after the jump…  Continue reading »

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ScoutFleet to celebrate Sea Scouting’s 100th anniversary

20 July 2012

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Hoist the main sail!

Starting today, 28 vessels and 230 Sea Scouts arrive in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for Centennial ScoutFleet 2012. 

The event, which celebrates this year’s 100th anniversary of Sea Scouts, will put the program on full display with events including an exciting ScoutFleet Regatta starting at 9 a.m. Saturday. The regatta—visible to those on land in the harbor area—will feature uniformed Sea Scouts sailing boats of all variety and lengths, including the flagship boat of the Chesapeake Sea Scout Flotilla, a 46-foot Morgan Ketch sailboat, Der PeLiKan.

After the regatta, an exchange of cannon salutes from the Der PeLiKan and USS Constellation—the Navy’s last wooden warship—will echo throughout the harbor as the Scouts undergo a review of ships. A parade of ships will follow. Then, the group will celebrate Sea Scouting with a gala birthday party—the highlight of which will be a cake with 100 candles! Keith Christopher, national Sea Scout director, will also speak to the crowd.

This visible display of Sea Scouting in such a prominent and busy harbor honors 100 years of tradition in a program that keeps older Scouts active by teaching how to “cruise large boats, operate large diesel engines, and make lifelong friends,” says Joshua Gilliland, national Sea Scout Centennial chairman.

Learn more about ScoutFleet and find a Sea Scout ship near you by visiting newseascout.org. Plus, you can find a recap of this event, including photos of the regatta, in the November-December issue of Scouting.

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Scouts gather to shape the BSA’s future (while adults sit back and watch)

19 July 2011

27 Comments

Nobody complained about the Randy Travis song strumming out of the speakers.

Sure, the 24 Scouts, Venturers, and Sea Scouts in the room would have preferred listening to, well, anything else. But they didn’t speak up.

That was exactly Sara Parker-Lacobee’s point.

Parker-Lacobee, training designer for the BSA, played some of the aging country star’s music to test the young men and women.

“I purposely played Randy Travis,” she said. “You have to speak up and tell us we’re not being relevant.”

After that, Parker-Lacobee didn’t have to tell the Scouts to be vocal. They were ready to take over Scouting’s playlist.

Continue reading »

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Meet Eva Hogan, your 2011-2012 National Sea Scout Boatswain

16 May 2011

4 Comments

Eva Hogan enjoyed her time in the Girl Scouts, but it didn’t offer enough of one activity she craved: sailing.

So one Monday evening in 2006, she checked out a Sea Scout meeting with a local ship.

Here’s how she remembers it: “I went to my first ship meeting that night, and they said, ‘We’re going sailing this weekend. Do you wanna come?’ I said, ‘Um, yes!’” Continue reading »