Casting call: BSA seeks Boy Scouts to star in instructional videos

Scouters know that having Boy Scouts instruct other Boy Scouts beats having adults do all the teaching.

Scouting founder Baden-Powell surely believed this. He once said, “In Scouting, a boy is encouraged to educate himself instead of being instructed.”

With that in mind, the BSA’s production team is looking for troops with skills in camping, hiking, swimming, cycling or lifesaving to star in a series of instructional videos.

The videos will be used in the interactive merit badge pamphlets I told you about last month. But hurry: You need to respond by June 26, 2015.

See a few examples of these videos and learn more about how to get your troop involved in this exciting opportunity — all after the jump.

What are these instructional videos?

Rather than tell, I’ll show. Here are three examples. All of these star actual Scouts — not actors.

What kinds of troops is the production team looking for?

They want troops with skills in at least one of these areas:

  • Camping
  • Hiking
  • Swimming
  • Cycling
  • Lifesaving

It also helps if you have access to some great locations for the videos — a nearby park, for instance.

Is the search tied to a geographic area?

For budget reasons, this search is restricted to the lower 48 United States.

The team will travel to different parts of the country this summer to make sure that all of the U.S. is represented.

So far they have used troops from the Cradle of Liberty Council, Atlanta Area Council, Longhorn Council and Circle Ten Council.

What about Cub Scouts?

Right now the focus is on videos to accompany the upcoming 2016 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook and the interactive digital merit badge pamphlets.

Soon they’ll need Cub Scouts to star in a separate series of videos, and I’ll blog about that when it’s time.

What’s the timetable?

The shoot continues through September, but the production team needs to know of your interest and availability by June 26.

Whom should we contact if interested?

Email Kat Medina at kathleen.medina@scouting.org.

Is there anything else we should know about?

I almost forgot the best part. There’s a special, limited-edition patch for participating troops. Here’s a preliminary (not final) design:

Best-Actor-patch


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.