Most of my best memories from summer camp involved the water.
Where else but Camp Cherokee’s epic waterfront could I swim, canoe with my friends, or sit on a massive airbag called “the blob” and get propelled 15 feet into the air?
At camp or not, summer isn’t summer without water activities. But with great fun comes great responsibility, and that’s where you come in.
Want to get your unit’s recruiting up to speed?
Consider hauling your “Join Scouting” message everywhere your pack, troop, team, or crew travels.
Start by taking a page from Canton, Ohio, Troop 4’s playbook, which just wrapped its trailer with a complete visual history of the unit.
Michael Gorfido, assistant Scoutmaster, writes that the trailer has been “completely wrapped with graphics that tell the whole Troop 4 history in picture form and a nifty timeline that features WD Boyce, Baden-Powell, handbooks for each period, and the history of Scouting, including the 100th year celebration. It’s really cool.”
Troop 4 was formed in 1915, making it the oldest continually chartered troop in the Buckeye Council, Gorfido says.
“Our troop has more than 150 Eagles, a storied history of very committed Scoutmasters, has participated in Pipestone every year, Klondike, and goes to Philmont every other year,” Gorfido continues. “I transferred my son there two years ago because of the rich heritage and wanted him to experience that.”
Find some more photos of Troop 4′s mobile masterpiece below. Continue reading
Here’s a new job for Mike Rowe, he of Dirty Jobs fame: Keynote speaker at a gathering of BSA professionals and volunteers.
Rowe traded his usual duds — well, he kept the jeans — for a nicely pressed shirt at this month’s National Annual Meeting in Orlando.
The Eagle Scout and Discovery Channel star who bulldozed his way onto the Scouting scene at the 2010 jamboree earned the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award at the event. Then he gave a 20-minute, off-the-cuff speech that you won’t want to miss.
Check it out: Continue reading
Amateur radio: Fun but not free.
That makes the recent sponsorship agreement between the Boy Scouts of America and Icom America, a world leader in the amateur radio market, such big news.
The deal makes Icom the exclusive amateur radio transceiver and repeater supplier for the 2013 National Scout Jamboree.
And even if you aren’t going to the jamboree, you can still benefit from this sponsorship. Continue reading
This morning, the Boy Scouts of America responded to media reports about its membership policy.
Follow the jump for the full text of the news release:
But that’s a good thing. At least, it is for Scouts who love to mountain bike.
The BSA has approved a mountain biking option for Cycling, a merit badge mainstay since 1911. So for the first time, Scouts who prefer fat tires instead of thin can earn the badge.
The news comes in advance of next summer’s opening of the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia, where mountain biking will play a big role in the high-adventure fun.
Here’s what else I know about the change:
The patch comes in blue for Cub Scouts and green for Boy Scouts, Venturers, Varsity Scouts, and Sea Scouts.
Kids spend more than 7.5 hours a day using some kind of electronic device, according to a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study.
In other words, if they’re awake and not at school, they’re probably online.
Whatever their reason for logging on — school project, merit badge research, socializing, games — safety is never guaranteed.
That’s why the Boy Scouts of America’s new Cyber Chip, announced last week, is a big step in the right direction in the effort to keep kids safe online. And because June is National Internet Safety Month, the timing couldn’t be better.
In developing this new Youth Protection tool, the BSA teamed up with content expert NetSmartz, part of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as training experts for different law enforcement agencies.
The Cyber Chip joins the Totin’ Chip and Whittling Chip as important safety tools your Scouts should earn and carry with them. Bonus: The pocket patch they get, designed to look like a smartphone, is unlike any official BSA patch I’ve ever seen.
Have your Scouts earn their Cyber Chip ASAP. Here’s how:
What does the Boy Scouts of America logo mean to you?
Perhaps it represents childhood campouts you took decades ago. Or maybe it signifies the special bond you now share with your son or daughter. All good answers.
But ask the folks at the Web site Top Nonprofits, and they’ll tell you it provides “an organization with a solid foundation upon which to build their brand.” In fact, they called our logo one of the best nonprofit logos around.
Read on to learn why.
Todos los Scouts se merece un líder entrenado.
In other words, “Every Scout deserves a trained leader.”
The statement is true in any language, and now, Scout leaders who are more comfortable speaking Spanish can take the highest level of adult leader training, Wood Badge, at a first-of-its-kind national Spanish-language Wood Badge course taught at the Philmont Training Center in Cimarron, N.M.
The course, held in conjunction with the Asociación de Scouts de México, takes place July 29 to Aug. 4, 2012. Read on for all the details.
Like rare patches? How about one only 11 men have ever worn?
Today, we learned the identity of the next man to join the impressive fraternity of Chief Scout Executives that started with Scouting legend James E. West. (See the full list below.)
The Chief Scout Executive Selection Committee announced it has chosen Wayne Brock as the next Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America.
On Sept. 1, 2012, he’ll take office and become just the 12th chief in the BSA’s 102 years.
