The Bloggers
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Michael Costello accomplished a lot in less than 15 years. He never let anything — certainly not a heart condition and other chronic health issues — stand in the way of his goals. Michael died March 11, 2017 — just a week shy of his 15th birthday.
This photo of Jon Bon Jovi (wearing black hat) as a Cub Scout is on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Detroit-area Scouter Jay Bottorff spotted the photo and sent it in to us. Jon Bon Jovi’s boyhood experience with the Pinewood Derby was no Bed of Roses.
It’s time for Show and Tell, where Scouters show their favorite photos based on that week’s Scouting topic and tell the story behind them. Share your photos on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #ScoutingShowandTell Or upload a photo as a comment below.
What makes Matt Moniz the ideal person to be the BSA’s first Adventure Ambassador? Only everything he’s ever done. At age 12, Matt needed just 43 days to climb the highest point in each of the 50 states. Two years later, he earned the Eagle Scout Award (Troop 171, Boulder, Colo.).
Proper gear for climbing includes a quality harness, good rope, the right clothing and shoes — and a climbing helmet. I was surprised to learn the reason we wear helmets when rock climbing goes beyond merely cushioning the cranium in a fall.
More than 900 million products were recalled in the U.S. last year. Many of those products are still in families’ homes. Eagle Scout Chris LoPresti and his team decided to do something about this potentially dangerous problem. They launched Bonnie , a free recall monitoring service that automatically analyzes your purchases and alerts you when a…
Robotics and Scouting is “a perfect combination,” Life Scout Nicholas Shunick says. Nicholas and some of his fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 125 in Gainesville, Fla., will head to Houston next week to compete in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST, for short) Lego League Championship.
After trading their Boy Scout uniform for a police, fire or military uniform, some Eagle Scouts make the ultimate sacrifice. The Line of Duty Fallen Eagle Recognition from the National Eagle Scout Association honors those Eagle Scouts who have died while serving as police officers, firefighters or members of the military.
As Scouts and Scouters, our preferred mode of transportation involves our feet, a paddle or two bicycle wheels. But even the most adventurous Scouting journey begins in a vehicle. When that happens, you, as the driver, are responsible for safely transporting Scouts and Venturers there and back.
A couple of years ago, Eagle Scout Sean Ochsenbein and his wife came across a devastating head-on collision in East Tennessee while driving home from a ski trip. Ochsenbein, an EMT at the time, quickly noticed flames coming from both vehicles and the drivers were still inside.
Jennifer Clutter (back right) and Patty Smith each lead all-girl dens in Pack 3 of the Mecklenburg County Council. When Jennifer Clutter first learned that girls could join Cub Scouting, she immediately rushed to tell her 8-year-old daughter, Kennedy. “The first words she spoke were, ‘So I can earn my Eagle too?’
Did you hear the big news? I’m talking really big. The Boy Scouts of America announced today that it will build the Transcontinental Pinewood Derby Track — a 2,560-mile wooden course that will begin in San Francisco and end in New York.
Photo by Clay Helfrick Those dense crowds, long wait times and expensive ticket prices can take a hike. This summer, choose the ultimate family vacation. Choose Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Philmont Family Adventure , new for 2018, gives families the chance to experience Philmont however they want.
Yesterday, we highlighted Tom Schonberger, an Eagle Scout and National Eagle Scout Association lifetime member, who got caught in unfavorable conditions while mushing in his first Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska earlier this month. Read his story here . He wasn’t the only Eagle on the 1,000-mile trail.
BALOO stands for Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation. It’s the introductory training Cub Scout leaders should complete before taking Cub Scouts on an overnight camping trip. Recent updates to this two-part course make the content more impactful, useful and convenient.
Slogging through ankle-deep, wet snow and facing 96 miles to the next checkpoint, Iditarod sled dog musher Tom Schonberger thought about his team of Siberian huskies. They trained for months ahead of the nearly 1,000-mile trek across the icy Alaskan landscape from Anchorage to Nome, which started March 3.
Typical young people spend their spring break on the beach, the ski hill or the couch. Good thing members of the Order of the Arrow aren’t typical young people. A hundred Scouts and Scouters from 28 different states traveled to Puerto Rico this month to help rebuild Camp Guajataka, the beloved camp owned by the…
Young helped introduce the Bank Street Classic Tales. Published in Boys’ Life four times a year, these tales reminded readers that “all you need is a book and a dream.” J. Warren Young, who helped generations of young people discover the joys of reading in his 32 years as publisher of Boys’ Life magazine, died…
Can a butterfly flapping its wings in Washington, D.C., inspire a tidal wave of conservation across the country? Scouts from the National Capital Area Council seem to think so. Hundreds of D.C.-area Scouts have pledged to help save the monarch by planting milkweed.
It became one of the defining images of a tragic day: Tobias Ellwood, his face mottled with blood, trying to save a policeman who had been stabbed in the March 22, 2017, terror attack in London. Despite his best efforts, Ellwood, an Eagle Scout, was unable to save constable Keith Palmer.
You might have seen the story about a Boy Scout from Utah who has Down syndrome and is working on his Eagle Scout rank. I wanted to clear up some misconceptions about this impressive young man. First, reports that Logan Blythe’s merit badges were revoked and that he was demoted to Cub Scout aren’t true.
Christie Finch wasn’t the biggest fan of the way Pinewood Derby cars were judged in her pack and district. So she invented a better way. The new approach includes the youth, rewards Cub Scouts who work hard to design their cars with a parent or guardian, and builds excitement and fun on race day.
As Michael Wright planned his speech about the benefits of Scouting for Troop 721’s annual banquet last month, he decided to include an Eagle Scout’s perspective. He reached out to his son, Brendin, who is studying geology and geological engineering in college, to share some words from his days with the St.
Leave your good jeans at home. The Summit Bechtel Reserve’s Polaris ATV Trek , a new offering for 2018, puts Scouts and Venturers in control of their own all-terrain vehicle for a gritty week of riding the trails. Participants get hands-on-handlebars training in safe ATV operation before heading out for 60-plus miles of riding.
The BSA has announced bold, wide-ranging updates to its Youth Protection program as part of an ongoing effort to protect young people from child abuse. This starts with an enhanced online Youth Protection training course all volunteers and professionals must complete.
Scouting adventures can happen anywhere. With the new Scouting app for iPhone and Android, you can track those adventures anywhere, too. The Scouting app, developed by the Boy Scouts of America, allows youth members and their parents to view and track advancement within Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting and Venturing.
Ask 12 people this question, and you’ll get a dozen different answers: What does “adventure” mean to you? To find out, the BSA isn’t consulting a dictionary. And it’s not asking a mere 12 people. It wants to hear from as many Scouts, Scouters and prospective Scouting families as possible.
Good news, Scout leaders. You now have the perfect response when someone catches you snoozing at camp (or, um, the office?). Just tell them afternoon naps are recommended by the BSA’s Health and Safety team. And that you ensured adequate adult supervision before letting your eyelids fall.
Via Rusty L. of Troop 380, Arlington, Texas. I could write a lengthy introduction to this blog post about Scouting-themed cake ideas. I could tell you how these 29 mouthwatering photos come from Cub Scout blue and gold banquets, troop anniversaries and Eagle Scout courts of honor.
Photo by Kaitlyn Chaballa It’s one of the most relaxing, affordable and memorable ways to get to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. And thanks to a new federal grant, the Amtrak Southwest Chief will continue transporting Scouts to Philmont for the foreseeable future.
Most of us would be lucky to attend a single World Scout Jamboree. DeWitt Thompson attended four of them. His son, Jon Thompson, recently came across his father’s collection of incredible artifacts from the 1929, 1933 and 1937 World Scout Jamborees.
When the Cub Scouts of Pack 33 level up to the next rank, they pass their neckerchiefs and hats to the Scouts one rank behind them. This takes place in a yearly ceremony that’s equal parts sincere and chaotic. It’s sincere because it builds fellowship from each group as they help promote the den behind…
Before he became the mayor of Albuquerque, N.M., Tim Keller became an Eagle Scout. Keller, now 40, received Scouting’s highest honor on Aug. 10, 1995, as a member of Troop 285 in Albuquerque, part of the Great Southwest Council. The man in charge of New Mexico’s largest city (population: 559,277) took time out of his…
In every pack, troop, post, ship or crew, dedicated adults work behind the scenes to make the Scouts and Venturers look good. The same can be said for every Report to the Nation delegation. Orchestrating and supporting a week of high-profile visits in Washington, D.C., takes patience, flexibility and a pair of really good walking…
At a special Eagles on the Hill gathering in Washington, D.C., more than 100 people — most of them Eagle Scouts — gathered to celebrate Scouting. Among those who assembled in the stately Committee on Ways and Means Hearing Room on Wednesday were Eagle Scout congressmen, Eagle Scout congressional staffers, Eagle Scout students and Eagle Scout business…
Read a lot, find your purpose and be yourself. Those were just a few of the nuggets of wisdom offered by the two top leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives: Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. In back-to-back meetings on Wednesday at the Capitol, each of these high-ranking members of Congress offered…
The two most important people in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives aren’t Republicans or Democrats. They’re Julie Adams and Karen Haas. Adams, the Secretary of the Senate, and Haas, the Clerk of the House, run their respective chambers from behind the scenes.
He entered the room like a general — commandingly but with magnetic charm. Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, Inspector General of the U.S. Army, welcomed the Report to the Nation delegates to his conference room inside the Pentagon on Monday. Before he sat down, he circled the room, shaking each visitor’s hand and asking where they’re from.
In middle school and high school, Andrew Lee got tired of teachers and classmates telling him he “can’t do this and can’t do that.” So he became a Boy Scout. Then an Eagle Scout. “Boy Scouts was the first time someone told me what I can do,” he said.
Suzy Peurach owns a one-eyed cat. Well, technically it belongs to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. But as the collections manager for the museum’s department of mammals, Peurach is responsible for the cat and another 600,000 specimens. The purpose of the cyclops cat, which floats in a jar of ethanol, isn’t to deliver…
NASA optical physicist Ray Ohl seemed pleasantly surprised. His opening question to the Report to the Nation delegates had been this: “Are any of you interested in a science or engineering or technical career?” Immediately, 10 hands shot into the air.
After representing the Boy Scouts of America this week in Washington, D.C., the Report to the Nation delegates will leave with some amazing stories. But as I talked with each delegate today, one fact became clear: They arrived with some amazing stories, too.
Among the Boy Scouts of America’s 137 different merit badges , you’ll find some classics like Bugling, First Aid and Forestry. You’ll also find merit badges like Game Design, Digital Technology and Programming that couldn’t have existed last century. It’s those badges that caught the eye of the clue writers at Jeopardy!
After five years of steady increases, the average age of Eagle Scouts fell in 2017. It’s now at 17.21 years — or 17 years, 2 months and 15 days. That’s the lowest mark since at least 2009, the first year for which detailed Eagle Scout statistics were made available to me.
The world needs more Eagle Scouts, and 2017 delivered in a big way. Exactly 55,494 young men became Eagle Scouts last year. That’s the most in a single year since 2013, and it’s the fourth-biggest Eagle Scout class in history (trailing 2012, 2010 and 2013).
From left: Kevin, Mitchell, Katherine, Noah and Michael. Katherine Quinn, her sisters and her dad wanted to climb Guadalupe Peak, the tallest mountain in Texas. But when Katherine slipped on a loose rock during her descent and fell down hard, she couldn’t move another foot.
A troop in Longview, Texas, has more than $2,100 in unclaimed funds in its name. In Riverside, Calif., there’s a pack that’s owed more than $700. Packs and troops in Punxsutawney, Pa.; Corvallis, Ore.; and Brownsburg, Ind. can collect more than $100 each.
Scouting Alumni and Friends has named Joseph Weingarten of Fishers, Ind., its 2018 National Alumnus of the Year. The award is presented each year to one worthy alumnus who has made significant contributions to our country through his or her career, avocation, community service and service to the BSA’s alumni program.
With his day job and his evening volunteer gig, T’Challa keeps pretty busy. Sound familiar? But what if the King of Wakanda, also known as the Black Panther, found a free weekend or two to serve as a merit badge counselor?
Today’s Wood Badgers can get by without a handkerchief, canvas wash basin or second spoon. But those were considered essential pieces of gear 70 years ago at the very first Wood Badge course in the U.S. It’s been seven decades since July 31, 1948, when 29 men descended on Schiff Scout Reservation in New Jersey…
