The Bloggers
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When an orphan in China turns 14, he or she is no longer eligible for international adoption. Caleb Powell was 13 years and 11 months old when he asked God for a family to welcome him into their lives. “I was praying on my bed one night and talking to God,” Caleb said.
Two Eagle Scouts pose with the NESA World Explorers flag in the Galapagos. Earning the Eagle Scout Award opens up a world of possibilities. In the case of the NESA World Explorers Program , that statement can be taken quite literally.
One look at the requirements, and you’ll see why Invention was the least-earned merit badge in the history of the BSA. To earn it, Scouts had to “invent and patent some useful article” and “show a working drawing or model of the same.”
Jordan Parkes was 13 when she first heard about Venturing. Her brother had just crossed over from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts when someone told her about the green-shirt-wearing, adventure-packed program for young men and young women ages 14 (or 13 and finished with eighth grade) to 21.
The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday announced a voluntary recall of Cub Scout neckerchief slides sold between February 2018 and August 2018. The affected products include the yellow Lion, red Wolf, green Bear and blue Webelos slides. The $6 slides were sold at local Scout Shops, authorized BSA distributors and online at scoutshop.org .
In the past few months, the Scouting family has been hit with a one-two punch of natural disasters. In the spirit of doing a Good Turn, many of you have reached out asking how you can help. In July, wildfires in New Mexico damaged 27,000 acres at Philmont Scout Ranch, forcing the ranch to cancel…
By now you’ve heard that everyone must take the updated, online Youth Protection training course in order for their unit to recharter. This includes any registered leaders who took Youth Protection training — online or in person — before Feb. 1, 2018.
More than 600 people, including New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and BSA Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh, helped formally dedicate the National Scouting Museum – Philmont Scout Ranch on Saturday in Cimarron, N.M. In attendance were BSA volunteers and professionals, families from nearby towns, members of the media, and donors whose generosity made the museum possible…
It’s one of the first thing Cub Scouts learn about flag etiquette : Don’t ever let the flag touch the ground. Jack LeBreck, a Cub Scout from Hayden, Idaho, took that responsibility very seriously on an especially windy day last week.
It’s the third day of summer camp, and everything has been going swimmingly. That is, until Patrol Leader Xavier notices a few of the younger Scouts tossing trash into the fire pit. He looks around the campsite and notices their gear has been carelessly strewn around, too.
A steel-and-wood chess set crafted at summer camp by a Scout working on his Metalwork merit badge is now in the World Chess Hall of Fame. The one-of-a-kind creation is the work of Boy Scout Chandler Francis, who crafted the piece this summer at Lake of the Ozarks Scout Reservation in Gravois Mills, Mo., part…
Ever since he was 5 and served as a mock victim in rescue drills, Koren Ernst has been passionate about the fire service. That interest continued into Scouting when Ernst, now 20, joined Troop 1188 and Fire Explorer Post 1.
In this group, young people occupy all the top leadership roles, teach skills to newer members, and give back to their community. They wear uniforms and live by a code. When Eagle Scout Andrew Jarocki discovered these facts about Notre Dame’s Band of the Fighting Irish , his reaction was immediate.
Chuck Eaton (left) and Kevin Conolly, a fellow Storer Scout Reservation staffer and the best man at Chuck's wedding. Chuck Eaton was a 17-year-old camp staffer when he got news no teenager should face. It was the summer of 1987 at T.L.
Note: This is the 24th in an occasional series where I share Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos. See the complete collection here . To fully understand the impact Eagle Scout projects have on communities, you need to see to believe. That’s why I asked to see Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos — the same photos prospective Eagles…
Did you take our May-June Scouting Safety Quiz on aquatic safety? More than 340 people did, and we selected one entrant at random to win a $100 Scout Shop gift card. And that winner is Lisa Hemmingson, Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 60 in Canton, S.D.
He may be famous for his tough-guy TV and movie characters, but Mr. T has a heart of gold. The star of The A-Team and Rocky III was shopping for groceries on Saturday in Sherman Oaks, Calif., when he encountered some Cub Scouts from Pack 311.
On Nov. 11, 1919, 500 Boy Scouts in uniform served as greeters and runners during the first national convention of the American Legion in Minneapolis. On Aug. 26, 2018, 100 Scouts and Scouters in uniform did pretty much the same at the American Legion’s 100th national convention , also in Minneapolis.
Paul Salopek (left) and Christopher Sherman (yellow hat) talk with some residents (and a camel) during their adventure. Photo by Chris Sawyer. Scouts and Venturers who participated in summer 2018 programs at the Summit Bechtel Reserve or Northern Tier, plus young people who had their 2018 Philmont program canceled because of backcountry fires , are invited…
A Law Enforcement Explorer from Georgia is credited with saving the lives of two Target coworkers who were stabbed during a robbery at the store. The young man, 17-year-old Mario Alexander, says he knew exactly what to do because of the first-aid training he received in Exploring , the BSA’s career-development program for young men and…
Nobody recruits Cub Scouts better than other Cub Scouts. It’s in that spirit the BSA released a refreshing new recruiting video featuring boys and girls talking about why they love Cub Scouting so much. “You get to go to parks, you get to ride your bike, you get to pet a bug,” one Tiger Scout…
J.J. Abrams calls The Nebula Secret “a fun, exciting and action-packed ride that kids will love.” But as much as I trust Abrams’ opinion — especially as a Lost superfan — I’m even more interested in hearing what Scouts said about the book.
West Virginia University, which has demonstrated its commitment to Scouting through its partnership with the nearby Summit Bechtel Reserve, will offer two new degree programs to train future leaders of organizations like the BSA. WVU’s bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership , set to debut in Spring 2019, will prepare students for careers leading nonprofit organizations.
Updated Sept. 14 : The Summit Bechtel Reserve and more councils have extended this offer to displaced families. Several Boy Scouts of America camps in Tennessee and Georgia will open their camps to Hurricane Florence evacuees who need a place to stay during the storm.
On a recent campout, Scoutmaster Tim sat down to talk with Second Class Scout Jacob for a Scoutmaster conference. After he scribbled his initials in Jacob’s handbook, the Scoutmaster looked around and realized something: almost all of the campers were below the First Class rank.
The BSA and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary announced a new agreement to make Sea Scouts the official youth program of the Auxiliary, the uniformed volunteer component of the U.S. Coast Guard. The new agreement, which is an enhancement of the longtime friendship between these two organizations, will benefit both parties.
Already planning your calendar for 2019? You aren’t alone. Sandie Graber of Troop 349 in Macomb, Mich., emailed me last week to ask about Scout Sunday 2019. Her seemingly simple question — when is Scout Sunday 2019? — has a somewhat complex answer.
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I definitely judge a restaurant by its website. If I’m looking to try somewhere new, my first step is to find the eatery’s official site. I’ll scroll the menu, browse photos and confirm that it’s open when I want to eat.
Matthew Qualls awoke with a start. Someone was screaming in his neighbor’s backyard. Matthew looked out his window and saw smoke. That’s when adrenaline — and Matthew’s Scout training — kicked in. On Aug. 15, a fire broke out in Matthew’s apartment building.
After Scout volunteer Don Harter retired from the University of Missouri power plant, he planned to spend a lot more time on his bike. What he didn’t anticipate: blogging from a new smart phone. But people wanted to know how his first retirement endeavor was going — a cycling trip that took him 4,300 miles from…
In 2011, Beck Garnett was just a 7-year-old Tiger Scout when he sold $1,800 worth of popcorn — a pack record. A year later, he extended the record with more than $3,000 in sales. Up and up the sales numbers went until 2017, when Beck sold a staggering $51,420 in popcorn.
Note: This is the 23rd in an occasional series where I share Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos. See the complete collection here . To fully understand the impact Eagle Scout projects have on communities, you need to see to believe. That’s why I asked to see Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos — the same photos prospective Eagles…
They prepared a mock victim for transport by helicopter. They toured the human body at a cadaver lab. And they practiced diagnosing patients in state-of-the-art nursing simulation rooms where mannequins blink, talk and, if something goes wrong, lose color in their toes.
Update, Sept. 24 : The response to this announcement has been very positive. To address some of the questions that have been coming in, the BSA has released this list of FAQs . It’s a bit like learning there’s enough Dutch oven peach cobbler for everyone to have seconds.
Didi Gorman says this picture, taken during summer camp, "epitomizes what the Scouting experience is to me." There was a time all our tweets came from birds and building things with friends didn’t just mean Minecraft. As the pace of our technology-filled world quickens, families have fewer opportunities for face-to-face interactions and outdoors experiences.
From left: Heroism Award, Honor Medal, Honor Medal With Crossed Palms. The Boy Scouts of America has reinstated the Heroism Award, filling a gap between the Honor Medal, presented for attempting to save a life with “ considerable risk to self” and the Medal of Merit, which honors Scouting service but does not require a lifesaving…
Every summer and every other winter, Stephen Henley visits his mother’s side of the family in Howick, South Africa. When the time came for the 17-year-old Life Scout to choose an Eagle Scout project, he decided to help out a community he was familiar with, which happened not to be his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Many teenagers have their own room. Luke Thill has his own house. The 14-year-old Life Scout from Dubuque, Iowa, raised $1,500 performing odd jobs for neighbors and used a mix of reclaimed and purchased materials to build his own 89-square-foot tiny house in his parents’ backyard.
When a Scout from North Carolina found, among his grandmother’s possessions, an old Eagle Scout medal and six Eagle Palms, his reaction was instant. “I wish we could return it to its owner,” he told his mom. Hayden Stanley is a First Class Scout in Troop 334 of Raleigh, N.C.
You might think an Olympic kayaking hopeful spends every waking moment on the water, leaving no time for Scouting. You might think that. But then you meet Augustus Cook. The 16-year-old Eagle Scout from Troop 78 in Edmond, Okla., competes against some of the top paddlers in the world.
Note: This is the 22nd in an occasional series where I share Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos. See the complete collection here . To fully understand the impact Eagle Scout projects have on communities, you need to see to believe. That’s why I asked to see Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos — the same photos prospective Eagles…
“To help other people at all times.” Those words in the Scout Oath mean something, and these two Scouts are living them every day. Julio “James” Hernandez and John D. Cobb use hearing aids, but neither young man lets his hearing loss slow him down.
Last December, Mike Landis (right) started experiencing numbness in his face and down his left arm. Concerned, he saw his doctor, who referred him to a specialist in Salem, Va. After an MRI, the specialist urged Landis to have surgery immediately.
Here’s a word problem to ponder: How can one homework assignment count twice? Easy. By getting credit for that work at school and in Scouts. Turns out several merit badge requirements align perfectly with schoolwork. And there’s no BSA rule against going for double credit.
Rodger and Annette Jones tried several tactics to help their son deal with his anxiety, attention deficit disorder and high-functioning autism. It worked for a while, but things took a troubling turn in the fourth grade. That’s when Jasper starting taking standardized tests at school.
Like any active Scout, Logan Garfield has amassed quite a collection of Scouting patches. There are patches he earned for selling popcorn, patches he received for attending camporees and patches he acquired at summer camp. Patches, patches and more patches.
Every third Friday of the month, a group of Scouts — boys and girls — gather to learn skills, like first aid, knot-tying and explosives awareness. Yes, they learn what to do if they come across a bomb. Scouting prepares youth for life, and unfortunately, in war-torn Afghanistan, part of that life includes knowing what to do…
Brianna Brady’s bedroom has pink walls, a flower-print valance and a basket full of Barbies. “And you want to be a Boy Scout?” the host asks. “How come?” “Because you get to do stuff with your family,” the 10-year-old replies.
It started with the Wilderness Survival merit badge, earned at Maumee Scout Reservation in Indiana. Then there was the 2-inch ad in the back of Boys’ Life magazine promising “amazing hidden secrets about rugged wilderness survival” to anyone who sent $1 for postage and handling.
Note: This is the 21st in an occasional series where I share Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos. See the complete collection here . To fully understand the impact Eagle Scout projects have on communities, you need to see to believe. That’s why I asked to see Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos — the same photos prospective Eagles…
