Scouting magazine

Knot of the Week: Scouter's Key

When walking along a trail at your favorite national park, brown trail signs mark your progress every few miles. These signs serve as a helpful reminder that you’re on the right track as you move toward your goal.

As a Scouting volunteer, the Scouter’s Key serves a similar purpose. Volunteers who earn the Key have made great progress toward becoming effective and trained leaders.

The green-and-white Key represents awards given to a variety of positions. Scouters who volunteer as a Scoutmaster, commissioner, district committee member, skipper, or Venturing advisor are eligible to receive the award after three years of service.

In addition to the tenure requirement, award applicants must complete:

• Fast Start Training
• This Is Scouting
• Specific training for their position
• Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills

Leaders also must conduct unit leader training at least three times and participate in a supplemental training course at the council or national level.

For details, here’s the link for the Scoutmaster’s Key progress record (link opens PDF). Requirements for other Keys are similar.

Best of luck as you continue down your leadership trail.

Knot of the Week: Adult religious award

No matter which faith you choose, being Reverent is Law in Scouting. Leaders who practice what their religion preaches are eligible to earn the silver-and-purple adult religious emblem pictured above.

Rather than a separate square knot for each of Scouting’s 30-plus religious emblems, this knot represents them all. Leaders may still wear their faith’s religious medal on their uniform if they’d like.

Check out the May-June issue of Scouting magazine for the full story on how to earn an adult religious award. If you’ve read the story, you know that adult religious emblems are much different from the ones for youth.

Youth follow a specific program designed for their age group by a special committee made up of members of their faith. The awards are meant to educate and inspire young adults in the teachings of their religion. After they’ve checked off all requirements, these youngsters can wear a silver knot on a purple background—the inverse of the adult knot.

The adult award is more abstract, in a sense, because there isn’t a checklist. Adult recipients don’t know they’ve been nominated by their peers as recognition for service to their faith and to Scouting.

If you know a worthy Scouter, check with your religious institution for details on the nomination process. You’ll find details on contacting each faith at PRAY’s Web site.

Knot of the Week: Venturing Silver Award

The Venturing program gives young women and men new opportunities they can’t find in other programs. And with those new opportunities comes a new set of awards they can earn.

The highest of these is the Venturing Silver Award, this week’s Knot of the Week.

Is your crew ready to get started? To get the Silver, Venturers must first earn the Bronze and Gold awards.

That’s right. Unlike at the Olympics, it’s silver—not gold—that holds the top place on the podium of Venturing awards.

After earning the Bronze and Gold, these requirements remain:

• Complete a standard first-aid course.
• Get CPR certified.
• Finish the BSA Safe Swim Defense training course, and lead or participate in a group swim using these principles.
• Take the Venturing Leadership Skills Course.
• Serve at least six months in an elected position in the crew, district, or council.
• Participate in at least two ethical controversies and discuss.
• Organize or help organize an Ethics Forum.

After that, your Venturers need certification from the crew advisor, committee chairperson, and council.

Then they’re done. Recipients are considered elite Venturers and can wear the silver-bordered square knot you see above. They’ll also get a matching medal for more-formal occasions.

Check out the application here (link opens PDF), or get more details here.

Knot of the Week: Order of the Arrow Distinguished Service Award

When the number of recipients of a particular square knot is so small that the BSA can publish the list in its entirety, you know you’re dealing with a prestigious award.

Such is the case with the Order of the Arrow Distinguished Service Award, a knot given to men and women who serve the OA beyond the lodge level—on a sectional, regional, or national basis. The award is given every two or three years at the National Order of the Arrow Conference. The 2009 event is taking place this week in Bloomington, Ind. (Check back tomorrow for more details about NOAC.)

The honor roll includes less than 850 people—that’s pretty selective for an award that’s been around since 1940—and you may even recognize some of the names. Two at the top of the chronological list are 1940 honorees E. Urner Goodman and Carroll A. Edson, founders of the Order of the Arrow. And one of 2009’s recipients is Chief Scout Executive Robert J. Mazzuca.

In between the OA’s founders and Mazzuca you’ll also find hundreds of dedicated Scouters who can wear the white and red arrowhead medal and the accompanying white and red square knot with pride.

Usually, we’d give you a link here to the application for the week’s square knot, but there’s no application for this honor. Instead, recipients are nominated after a significant period of service.

Want to browse the list of honorees yourself? Do it here. In the meantime, continue serving the OA and you might one day see your own name on the short list.

Knot of the Week: Asian-American Spirit of Scouting Service Award

Scouting’s diversity helps boys learn what it means to be an American. And the BSA embraces that fact by encouraging the growth of the program in underserved communities.

That commitment became even more noticeable in 2004 with the Asian-American Spirit of Scouting Service Award. The award has a simple purpose: to honor adults who demonstrate steadfast devotion to bringing Scouting opportunities to Asian-American youth.

The award, available to people of any race, is a national award. But each local council submits nominees to the national BSA office. Once approved, worthy Scouters receive the purple, black, and white knot at a meaningful ceremony in their community.

More important than the knot, though, is the act of sharing the BSA’s values with youth who otherwise might not have known about Scouting. 

For the application and more information, click here (PDF).

Knot of the Week: Community Organization Award

When representatives from the vast network of chartered Scouting organizations speak, the BSA listens. Want proof?

Look no further than the Community Organization Award. It began when a group of delegates from several chartered organizations told the BSA how they wanted to recognize adult leaders—with an award similar to the religious knots that represent the various faith-based emblems awarded to Scouters.

The BSA accepted the offer and created the knot you see above. Just like the purple-and-silver religious knot serves as a catchall for every faith-based award, the purple-and-gold community organization knot serves as a one-stop shop for the following prestigious awards:

• Marvin M. Lewis Award, Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks
• Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award
• Veterans of Foreign Wars Scouter’s Achievement Award
• American Legion Scouting Square Knot Award
• U.S. Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Department of Defense
• Herbert G. Horton Alpha Phi Omega Youth Service Award
• Cliff Dochterman Award, International Rotarians Fellowship of Scouting
• Ruritan National Scout Leader Service Award
• Raymond Finley Sea Scout Service Award, U.S. Power Squadron
• George Meany Award, AFL-CIO

Receive one of those awards from the applicable organization, and you’ve earned the right to wear the Community Organization Award knot. Congrats!

For more information, contact your chartered organization.

Knot of the Week: Silver World Award

Sorry to tell you this, but you probably can’t earn this week’s Knot of the Week. That’s because the Silver World Award is only available to Scouters who are not registered members of the BSA.

So why is it this week’s featured knot? Because it represents the BSA’s commitment to Scouting worldwide.

The BSA presents the award, created in 1971, to honor world citizens who serve youth in countries other than the United States. That means that a recipient could be a U.S. citizen, but he or she must be serving another country’s Scouting program.

The award’s requirements also state that recipients must be residents of countries whose Scout associations are members of the World Scout Conference. That group is an alliance of Scout organizations around the world. Its members meet every three years, with the next conference schedule for Brazil in 2011.

You probably won’t see this rare knot often in the United States. But if you do, ask about it—its wearer is sure to have interesting stories to tell.

Chime In: What experience, if any, have you had with international Scouting? How might the BSA increase its cooperation with worldwide Scouting? Let us know in the comment box below.

Knot of the Week: Boyce

You spent the weekend celebrating the nation’s founders. Now, we at Cracker Barrel pay our respects to founders of a different kind.

We’re talking about volunteers who organize Scouting units. And instead of a fireworks-filled holiday, the BSA uses the William D. Boyce New-Unit Organizer Award to honor these Scouting pioneers.

The square knot is presented to Scouters who organize one or more traditional Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, or Venturing units. Each color on the knot represents these three programs. The award debuted in 2005, meaning only volunteers who organized units after March 1, 2005, are eligible.

Also, the requirements state that only one volunteer can be recognized as the organizer of a unit, even though some packs, troops, and crews are a result of a collaborative effort.

Ready to begin? Download this helpful PDF file that gives you step-by-step instructions on starting a Scouting unit. You’ll also learn to:

• Find a chartered organization
  
• Pitch Scouting’s values to youth and adults
  
• Locate resources available to help Scout leaders
  
• Overcome objections from parents (such as “We already tried Scouting, and it didn’t work” or “We can’t afford Scouting”)
  
• Select quality leaders
  

Sure, the square knot will look great on your uniform. But the real reward comes from the knowledge that you’ve created a Scouting foundation that can last for generations.

Chime In: If you’ve organized a unit recently, what tips can you give to other Scouters? If your unit has been around for decades, have you ever met your unit’s organizer?

Knot of the Week: Arrow of Light Award

When you see a fellow Scouter wearing this red, green, and yellow knot, what does it tell you?

For us, it’s a sign that this Scouter was dedicated to the program from a very young age. So dedicated, in fact, that he earned the Arrow of Light Award, the pinnacle of Cub Scouting, before he even turned 12 years old.

And did you know that it’s one of just two items a Scouter may wear on his uniform from his days as a Cub Scout?(The other is the youth religious award knot.) Also, it’s one of just a handful of square knots that have a de facto age requirement—another is the Eagle Scout Award—because you can only earn them as a youth.

Boys who earn the Arrow of Light hone their outdoor skills, get physically fit, and understand and practice the values of Scouting. It signifies they’ve completed all of the requirements for a Scout badge and are permitted to join a Boy Scout troop.

We don’t look at the Arrow of Light as the culmination of a Cub Scout journey. Instead, we see it as the beginning of a Scouting adventure.

Chime In: Do you have the Arrow of Light award? What does it mean to you? What is your favorite Cub Scout memory? Let us know by adding your comment below.

CORRECTION: The article previously stated that the Arrow of Light is the only award from Cub Scouts that can be worn on an adult uniform. Thanks to Jon for pointing out that the religious award fits those criteria as well. 

Knot of the Week: Cub Scout Den Leader Award

Take a break from corralling your den full of energized 7- to 10-year-olds, and listen up. We know you work hard as a den leader, and we want give you a hint on how you can get your just rewards.

Start recording your progress as a volunteer and apply for the Cub Scout Den Leader Award. The blue-and-gold (naturally) square knot is available after you’ve spent one year as a registered Cub Scout den leader.

But, you’ve got to complete these training and performance requirements:

Training:

• Complete “The New Den Leader” Fast Start training, basic course for Cub Scout den leaders, and Youth Protection Training.
  
• Participate in a Cub Scout leader pow wow or University of Scouting, or attend at least four roundtables.
  

Performance (do five of the following 10):

• During at least one program year, have at least 50 percent of your den’s boys earn the rank for their grade or age.
  
• At least once, reregister a minimum of 75 percent of the eligible members of your den during rechartering.
  
• Graduate at least 60 percent of eligible boys in your den into Webelos Scouting.
  
• Have an assistant den leader who meets regularly with your den.
  
• Have a den chief who meets regularly with your den.
  
• Take leadership in planning and conducting a den service project.
  
• Conduct at least three den meetings per month, nine months per year.
  
• Participate with your den in a Cub Scout day or resident camp.
  
• Explore three “character connection” activities with your den in a year.
  
• Hold regular den meeting and activity planning sessions with your assistant den leader.
  

Get the details, and then get started. Click here (link opens PDF) to download a printable, wallet-size progress record. Your pack committee chairman, Cubmaster, and a district representative must approve your progress as you complete the requirements.