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Cub Scouting is for boys in kindergarten through fifth grade or up to age 11, and the membership of the Order of the Arrow is largely made up of Boy Scouts, all of whom are First Class or higher. It would seem that they have little in common.
The first article in this series gave a general overview of the Order of the Arrow – what it is, how it started and how it’s organized. Last time we discussed possible objections by troop leaders and outlined the election process.
In the last article, I gave a general overview of the Order of the Arrow – what it is, how it started and how it's organized. This time, we'll cover overcoming some of the typical objections that troops might have and how youth members are chosen. Troop objections to the OA Although its tradition is
The Order of the Arrow is at once a prominent institution in Scouting and a mysterious one. The OA is nearly as old as Scouting itself, yet it is misunderstood by some and unknown to others. While this is partly by design, there's much about the OA that every Scouter should be familiar with. In
A reader writes: Our Scoutmaster wants to make changes to the troop uniform policy, but when I said I should have been in on the discussion he told me that uniforming wasn't something that was at the committee chair level, since it deals directly with the Scouts. I said that changes of that nature need
If you follow Scouting Magazine on social media, you might have heard about some updates to the Cub Scout Adventure program that were announced last week. (Look in the comments for links to the updates that you can print and paste into the Scouts' books. Thanks Tom!) The BSA Advancement Team found that, after the
A friend sent me the link to an article on the website of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) titled 10 Skills Our Kids Will Never Learn. It's a rundown on skills that those of the Baby Boomer generation have come to take for granted but which today's youth view as useless or otherwise
A troop committee chair writes: Our Scoutmaster wants to change our campout schedule so that instead of having monthly campouts, the troop would camp every other month, and do a service project in the months when there isn't a campout. This doesn't seem right to me – shouldn't the Scouts be camping every month? To
Meetings are one of the constant truths about serving Scouting as an adult volunteer. We enjoy serving the Scouts and helping them succeed, but it seems like we are constantly being called to meetings for one reason or another. Just last week I attended three meetings and there are a couple more this week. The
Most troops have a library of merit badge pamphlets and other information for the Scouts to use in going about their activities. It's maintained by a troop librarian – a youth position of responsibility – and is primarily run by and for the Scouts. There's another library that every troop should have – one for
If you're a regular reader of Ask Andy, the Net Commissioner, you might have seen this week's column and you may have been nodding your head as you read along. (If you haven't seen it, please go read it now.) TLDR: There was only one question – a lengthy one – from an enlightened assistant
In this election season, we're all immersed and bombarded with campaign activity. We see signs everywhere, hear and see ads on radio and television, get lots of mail, and the phone sometimes won't stop ringing. Often, Scouts participate as well. After all, what Duty to Country is more important than selecting those who lead and
It's rechartering time for just about everybody, and with it comes our annual self-evaluation, the Journey to Excellence. With us since 2011. this program allows units to assess how they are doing compared to how high-performing units operate. It's a set of eleven guidelines (nine for Venturing crews) along with a means to evaluate each
If you are a civics aficionado, this is a very interesting time. We are in the midst of one of the most notable and volatile presidential campaigns in our country's history. Much is being said on both sides of the debate, and it's hard to imagine that anyone could not have formed an opinion by
This is America. Go back to Mexico!" "Build That Wall!" These words are all too familiar today. You might expect to hear them at a rally for the current Republican presidential candidate. The outrageousness is reported by the news media for all to see and hear. But, in this case, it wasn't at a Donald
It's fall and our newest recruits are joining us. Not just the boys, but the adults as well, stepping into Scouting leadership for the first time, moving to new positions within their units or making the transition from program to program. Any time we start something new, it helps to learn a bit about it
Drop in on any conversation between commissioners and you're likely to hear something like this: So I was at Pack 123's JSN. The CM was hoping for twenty new members but the CC said they only got fifteen. That's good, considering the TAY at that school. There were a couple adult apps so the COR
It's not likely that many, if any, readers of this column were around during World War II, but perhaps your parents or grandparents were. If so, then they most likely remember a show on the NBC Radio Network called I Sustain the Wings.
Teaching and developing others, particularly young people, can be a challenge. We try to organize a set of facts in a logical manner and deliver it to the receiving parties coherently, so the transfer of information is correct and goes smoothly. But does it? Sometimes it seems like we can talk and lecture until we're
Have you ever joined something – a club, team or organization – and had to cross a hurdle in order to be a member? Clubs have membership requirements. Most sports teams have tryouts. You have to meet the job requirements as a step in getting hired. Scouting has its membership requirement. For Cub Scouts, it's
The Scout motto – Be Prepared – has been with us since the beginning, when Baden-Powell encouraged his young charges to be ready for whatever life might throw their way. It came from his days as a military leader, training his soldiers to be ready both in battle and in peacetime. When asked the meaning of be
It's that time of year again – popcorn season! And soon, our Scouts will be knocking on doors, standing on street corners and in front of grocery stores offering the tasty treats of popcorn and other goodies as a thank-you gift to our friends and neighbors for their financial support of Scouting in our communities,
As fall recruiting season nears, we're putting together our plans to make sure every boy has an opportunity to join Scouting – scheduling Join Scouting nights, polishing our presentations and getting ready with another year of fun, adventure and enrichment. You can tell that fall is approaching because our competition is getting their act in
Chances are, if you're a Scouter, you enjoy what you're doing. You're helping your son and his friends have fun while they learn things like survival skills, leadership, citizenship and being helpful to others. You're enjoying some of that yourself – as your son learns how to tie knots, you're getting a refresher too. You
While some people seem to be natural leaders, it's generally held that leadership is something that can be learned. The esteemed football coach Vince Lombardi believed that Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that
As a Scouter, you're most likely more familiar with American history and civics than most people. You also probably know which U.S. president: was never elected to national office? was the only one from the state of Michigan? was the only one to attend the University of Michigan? was the only president to grant a
Hi! I'm not trained at all in how a Boy Scout troop is supposed to be run and I haven't been vetted by anyone on having the skills necessary to take your son and his friends camping or hiking…So how'd you like to entrust your first-born to me??? Ask Andy, the NetCommissioner, has some wonderful
In a couple all-too-short months, it'll be fall, and Cub Scout packs will be holding Boy Talks and Join Scouting nights, re-registering boys for another year of fun and accepting new ones into the fold. Fun lies ahead, and we don't want them to miss out on any of it. Boy Scout troops usually accept
You're taking over as advancement coordinator for your troop. Congratulations and thank you – this is an important position with an impact on every youth member. Being advancement coordinator is part recordkeeper, part go-fer, part scheduler and part Mr. or Mrs Know-it-All. You wear many hats and serve many masters. The Scoutmaster and committee will
Even though summer camp rolls around each year at this time, we're never quite prepared for it. We generally do a pretty good job, but there are details we tend to forget from one year to the next. Add to this the changing nature of our troops and a refresher becomes a good idea. So,
Earlier this week I posted an article giving adults some guidance, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, about what they should pack for spending a week at summer camp with their troop. In it, I included a link to a packing list for Scouts that my troop has used for a few years now, and on that list was
June is here, which means troops will be heading off to summer camp starting this month. The annual pilgrimage always involves making sure everyone has what they need in order to have a successful week at camp. There are many lists of what Scouts should bring to summer camp – clothing and personal gear, forms,
It's the unofficial start of summer. For many, it's the first three-day weekend of the summer season. Stores have big sales to mark the occasion. And towns across America have parades and remembrances to mark Memorial Day. As with many holidays, we often forget the reason for the observation. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration
The unit committee is where the business of the pack or troop takes place. While the Scouts are busy doing the things Scouts do, the adults are taking care of things like finance, logistics, equipment and recordkeeping. And just like any other committee, meetings are unavoidable. In fact, we're expected to meet monthly to help
If you're a regular visitor to this site, you are most likely a volunteer Scouter. Someone who gives of their time and effort to help the Scouting program exist for our sons and daughters and the communities in which we live. You're more than aware that as our kids grow, so do we, and we
If you're the parent of a child involved in organized sports, you are undoubtedly aware of how competitive playing a game has become. And it's not the children who are competitive – it's the parents. Sure, many of the kids want to get in there and do well at their sport, but the parents push
Boy Scouts go camping. Everybody knows that, right? Camping is the universal activity that ties the program together. Outsiders are likely to think that camping is the raison d'être of Scouting. It's been with us since the very first camping trip that Lord Baden-Powell took Scouts on back at Brownsea.
Although Scouting is a year-round activity, many troop and pack committees don't hold regular meetings during the summer months. There's either just not enough business to make holding a meeting worthwhile, or there aren't enough committee members around to be able to get anything done. If your unit committee follows this pattern, there are a
Our older son, a second-year medical student, came over and joined us for lunch this weekend. He filled us in on some of what the school is planning for next year's incoming class. For the past year, he has been the volunteer leader of a co-curricular study program called Case-Based Learning, in which second-year students
Once again, there are sordid details of child abuse by a prominent member of society in the headlines. The latest incident involved former Congressman and speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) who is accused of sexually molesting boys when he was a high school wrestling coach prior to his service in elected office.
Aside from Eagle Scout, merit badges are probably the most visible and iconic part of Scouting to those not involved in the program. "Did you get a merit badge for that?" is sometimes asked when someone does an extraordinarily good deed – a social currency akin to earning "brownie points" for anything from volunteering for
If there's one thing that Scouting does thoroughly for its adult volunteers (besides handbooks and publications, that is), it's training. There are all manner of courses for training every volunteer position, from den leader to council chairman. Basic training courses are offered online and in person for unit positions – a first exposure to adult
If you're a regular viewer of the CBS show 60 Minutes, you probably caught the remarkable story last Sunday of a prep school in Newark, New Jersey. St. Benedict's is a private school that enrolls boys from grades seven through twelve from a wide demographic but with a common thread – most come from underprivileged backgrounds
Boy Scout troops don't seem to have the same drought of willing adult helpers as Cub Scout packs do, but they still need a few to serve in roles supporting the Scouts in running their troop, and a few more to help with the support tasks that the Scouts can't do for themselves. Still others
You know the routine. It happens every month. The committee gets together for the monthly committee meeting. The meeting gets off to a late start because the chairman waits for stragglers (not a good idea, and the subject of another article). The treasurer goes into great detail about who has paid for camp and who
Suppose that instead of a usual weekend campout, the Scouts of your troop have decided to go on a weekend hike – maybe to get a taste of what a longer voyage like a Philmont trek might be like. They'll start out by getting dropped off Friday night, hike to their first campsite, set up
They turn them upside down when they get their Bear badge??" My wife incredulously asked me that as she showed me a picture that a friend of hers, a parent of a Cub Scout, had posted on Facebook. His son was dangling from his ankles as the Cubmaster pinned his badge on. It sounds fairly
The troop committee has many responsibilities and functions that facilitate a well-run troop. These include equipment, finance, advancement, training, transportation, helping to provide camping opportunities, and generally supporting the Scoutmaster. We know the Scoutmaster's number-one job: to train and mentor the youth leaders so they can run their troop effectively. But what is a committee
If you have children in school, you have undoubtedly noticed that they are learning more complex subjects than you did as a kid, and are encountering concepts earlier in life. The stuff I learned in college – organic chemistry, calculus and nuclear physics – are being covered in high school, and our middle school students
Every school day, our Scouts get up in the morning, have their breakfast, gather their belongings and head off to school for a day of learning. Important subjects such as history, English, mathematics, science, music and art are taught, with the aim that our young people will acquire a well-rounded set of skills to give
