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The National Outdoor Awards, which debuted in 2010 , are how the BSA recognizes Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, Sea Scouts or Venturers who demonstrate knowledge and experience in high-level outdoor activities. Young people can earn badges in one or more of these six areas: Camping, Aquatics, Conservation, Hiking, Riding and Adventure.
A photo published in the April 15, 1914, issue of Scouting magazine shows Scouts roasting marshmallows over a campfire. The Girl Scouts are widely credited with inventing the concept of sandwiching a fire-roasted marshmallow between graham crackers and chocolate and calling it a s’more.
It has become the unofficial sport of Scouting. It’s ga-ga ball, a friendlier form of dodgeball played in an octagonal pit. And it has swept through the Scouting movement. Almost every Scout camp has its own ga-ga pit; you’ll see Scouts and Venturers gathered around these enclosures until the last bit of daylight is gone.
A big part of Cub Scouts involves introducing boys to the fun and adventure of spending time outdoors. And if you’re going to spend time outdoors, you’re going to want the right gear. The Cub Scout Six Essentials, learned as part of the Wolf Rank, is a list of a half-dozen items every Cub Scout…
College isn’t cheap, but for more than 150 worthy Eagle Scouts, it’s about to get a lot more affordable. The National Eagle Scout Association will award nearly $700,000 in scholarships to Eagle Scouts based on their academic performance, Scouting background, college plans and financial need.
Photo by Evan Winter Scouting’s programs and values are best delivered outdoors. It’s been that way since the worldwide youth movement was just a twinkle in Baden-Powell’s eye. But things have changed since Baden-Powell invented the program that became the Boy Scouts of America.
For this October’s Jamboree, you don’t need to travel by plane, train or bus to join the fun. All you really need is a ham radio or a connection to the internet. This Oct. 20 to 22, Scouts from down the street, across the country and around the world will gather for the annual Jamboree-on-the-Air…
It was the kind of once-in-a-lifetime trip you’ll only find in Scouting. Five Venturers from Crew 999 of Plano, Texas, spent a week in the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this summer. The five young women, joined by three female adult leaders, sailed to beautiful beaches where they hiked, swam, snorkeled and toured historic sites.
The U.S. contingent logo for the 2019 World Scout Jamboree. The 2017 National Jamboree has ended, and the countdown to the 2019 World Scout Jamboree has begun. The 24th World Scout Jamboree will be held at the BSA’s new permanent Jamboree home: the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia.
Photo by Tom Copeland Maybe it was the culmination of 10 days spent having the time of their lives and forming lifelong friendships. Maybe it was the inspirational message from an Eagle Scout survivalist who told Scouts and Venturers to do what they love — not just what pays the most money.
You might think little Chess merit badge would get lost amid action-packed Jamboree activities like mountain biking, shotgun shooting and zip lining. But then you climb the hill to the Chess merit badge tent and see the truth. The main tent — plus a second, larger tent beside it — is full.
This is what you call mixing things up. At the 2017 National Jamboree, the Jamboree Food Team puts the power back in Scouts’ and Venturers’ hands, introducing a completely new approach to meal planning. Previous Jamborees used a fixed menu with preselected ingredients that troops picked up before each meal.
Is the Blackhawk Area Council’s 2017 National Jamboree patch set absolutely terrific? Aye, matey. Inspired by the Johnny Depp-led Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the Northern Illinois-based council’s patches have a pun-worthy theme: Pirates of the Carabiner . True to their name, the smaller patches connect to the large center patch using — you guessed it — tiny…
Over the past few days, anyone at the Jamboree who even resembles a staff member is getting asked the same question from Scouts they don’t know. “Do you know anything about the 101st card?” To the first two groups of Scouts that asked me, I simply said, “Sorry, no clue.”
They call themselves the Snapboyz. It’s their mission to cover the 2017 National Jamboree in a uniquely 2017 way: on Snapchat. Like all the members of JamboLink, the Snapboyz keep participants and staffers in the loop using whatever online channels the Scouts and Venturers prefer.
The crowd wasn’t the only thing roaring at tonight’s 2017 National Jamboree opening show. Among the night’s highlights was an epic entrance from BSA Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh, who rode an Eagle Scout-themed motorcycle onto the stage. This wasn’t just any motorcycle.
No, your ears are not deceiving you. That’s really “Uptown Funk,” the chart-topping Bruno Mars pop hit, being performed by an 80-member marching band. Safe to say the 2017 Jamboree Band is not your grandfather’s Jamboree Band. Tristan Grammar, 16, is a trumpet and French horn player from the Black Warrior Council in Alabama.
Mike Surbaugh, BSA Chief Scout Executive, praised Secretary Tillerson’s leadership. Rex Tillerson, secretary of state, Distinguished Eagle Scout and past BSA national president, visited the 2017 National Jamboree on Friday for a statue unveiling in his honor. BSA Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh told a large crowd of Scouts and Scouters that the statue recognizes…
Visits from the president are a Jamboree tradition. Seven of 11 sitting U.S. presidents who were in office at the time of a National Jamboree showed up in person to address giant crowds of Scouts. It’s a tradition that dates back to the very first Jamboree.
You can call it a Jamboree tradition. Since 1937 — the very first National Jamboree ever held — presidents have stopped by to speak to Jamboree participants. The tradition is set to continue in 2017. President Donald J. Trump will visit the 2017 National Jamboree.
Madison Trimble is slowly but confidently making her way around a simple maze of PVC pipes laid out on the ground. Every few steps, her feet or her bright yellow cane bumps against a pipe, and she shifts her direction slightly.
July 20 update : Added Doctor Who, Weber, Motor City (Detroit carmakers), Chicago Bulls, Popeye, Golden State Warriors, Transformers and Wounded Warrior Project. July 21 update : Added Minions, NHL, Evel Knievel, Oklahoma City Thunder, Jack Links, 2K Games and Six Flags.
It could’ve been a diner’s worst nightmare. All Becky Bush of West Virginia wanted to do was enjoy a nice meal at the Golden Corral in Parkersburg, W.Va. Then 350 hungry, Jamboree-bound Boy Scouts and leaders started flooding in, with at least 30 already in line in front of Bush.
Scouts always leave a place better than they found it. Whenever departing a campground, park or hiking trail, Scouts try to erase any trace they were there. This is friendly, courteous and kind to others. And it maintains Scouting’s century-old reputation as responsible users of public lands.
On Wednesday, some 25,000 Jamboree participants will join the 6,000 staffers already onsite at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia. Volunteer staff members, who expended their own money and vacation time to be here, have spent the past weeks, months and years preparing for this quadrennial event.
The 2017 National Jamboree will be the most-shared Jamboree in history. Scouts, Venturers, staffers and visitors will write blog updates, stream live video and post to a number of social networks, including some that were relatively unknown four years ago at the 2013 National Jamboree.
Eagle Scout Jeff Orlowski will travel to the ends of the earth to document the ways our planet is transforming. For his award-winning 2012 documentary Chasing Ice , he visited disappearing glaciers in Greenland, Iceland and Alaska. For his 2017 follow-up, Chasing Coral , Orlowski traveled somewhere completely different: underwater.
In some Order of the Arrow lodges, the practice of keeping detailed records about lodge events is ancient history. A lack of time or interest has left large holes in these lodges’ historical narratives. But all is not lost. A new generation of Arrowmen has realized that studying a lodge’s past can help the OA…
It was supposed to be the largest gathering of Boy Scouts ever. Some 30,000 Boy Scouts from every point of the compass were to gather in Washington for the first-ever National Scout Jamboree, set to begin Aug. 21, 1935. “But the best-laid plans,” President Franklin D.
The best part about whitewater rafting with your Scout troop or Venturing crew: every seat is in the splash zone. The thrill and challenge of whitewater rafting inspired the Whitewater Rafting BSA award. It is the BSA’s eighth and newest aquatics award and will be available later this year for youth and adult members of…
The number of overnight campouts required for a young man to earn the Second Class and First Class ranks will be reduced under new requirements that take effect Aug. 1, 2017. But the total number of camping nights a Boy Scout will experience in the program as he progresses toward the rank of Eagle Scout…
Eagle Palms are bronze, gold and silver awards presented to young men who earn five, 10, 15 or more merit badges beyond the 21 required to become an Eagle Scout. This week, the BSA has announced significant changes to the way Scouts earn Eagle Palms.
Cub Scouts don’t let a little rain ruin the day. They adapt. Same goes for the Greater New York Councils, organizers of the 2017 Pinewood Derby World Championship last month in New York City. Even though morning thunderstorms forced the competition to change locations at the last minute, GNYC put on another successful event.
From left: Ernest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell and Daniel Carter Beard on Jan. 31, 1912 — the day Arthur Eldred (inset) had his board of review at BSA headquarters. When Boys’ Life announced in its May 1912 issue that Arthur R.
Scouts are brave, helpful and kind. All three qualities are symbolized in a single photo that comes to us from Boy Scout summer camp. This is a true story that happened last month at Woodruff Scout Reservation, part of the Atlanta Area Council.
Looking for a way to tell if you’re drinking enough water during this summer’s Scouting adventures? Urine luck. Monitoring the color of your pee is a great way to tell if you’re getting enough fluids. And getting enough fluids is a great way to stave off dehydration.
Some Scout volunteers make the last point of the Scout Law their first priority. The four individuals who received the 2017 National Duty to God Award are perfect examples. The National Duty to God Award , first presented in 2016, recognizes adults who help young people better connect with their faith.
They say becoming an Eagle Scout isn’t the end of a young person’s journey — it’s the beginning. Few go as far to prove that adage as Matthew Warrick. This summer, the 17-year-old from Troop 505 of Austin, Texas, is hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.
A total solar eclipse is a rare event. A total solar eclipse whose path crosses right over the heart of the United States? Even rarer. On Aug. 21, 2017, the solar system serves up a special treat. Aug. 21 is a Monday, but those Scouts and Venturers who are still on summer break should plan…
Click for a closer look. In a sea of matching commencement robes, it’s no wonder graduates try to find a way to stand out so friends and family can find them. Their canvas for expressing individuality: the square graduation cap.
Upgraded suspension, reinforced bumpers, bigger tires, an armor-plated underside, a rear-mounted lift jack, eight headlights and a roof-top tent. If Matt Janchar’s Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon seems like it was custom built for Scouting adventures, that’s because it was. Add a khaki paint scheme and some oversize BSA logos, and you’ve got the BEV.
With our modern fixation on shiny new technology, it’s refreshing to see Scouts get excited about something from the predigital age. That’s exactly what’s happening in Lancaster, Pa., where one Scouter has channeled his passion for Gutenberg-style printing into a volunteer Scouting role.
Dan Moore, a volunteer in the BSA’s Montana Council, has seen his share of first-rate trails for all-terrain vehicles. He even helped build five miles of ATV trails at a Scout camp in Montana. All this experience means that if you want to get Moore’s heart racing these days, your ATV trail better be world…
You’ve sewn on your official Jamboree patch. You’ve finalized your travel plans. You’ve finished packing — or at least your packing list. The next step in prepping for the 2017 National Jamboree takes just seconds but will enhance your Jamboree experience in big ways.
If you had to pick just one point of the Scout Law to describe Isaiah V., it would be “brave.” That same word applies to his mom and dad, too. Isaiah was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at age 3. “At first I thought, ‘what are we going to do?'” says Isaiah’s dad, Rolando.
By now it’s well documented that Eagle Scouts make great astronauts . But does that trend continue today? NASA on Wednesday announced its 2017 astronaut class, 12 men and women from a record 18,000 applicants. The new class includes some of the most qualified, brave, intelligent and patriotic people in the country.
Reprinted from the Fall 2006 issue of Eagletter , the official magazine of the National Eagle Scout Association. Subscribe to the magazine, now known as Eagles’ Call , at this link . (Use promo code EGCBLG17 to save 50 percent on your subscription.)
Francis J. Parater was one of just 96 young men who became an Eagle Scout in 1915. The feat was so rare that Boys’ Life magazine published the names of all new Eagle Scouts in its pages. Nearly a century after Parater’s death, leaders in the Catholic church want to honor Parater’s life with an…
It could be the most epic summer in Scouting history. Ben Pycraft, a 19-year-old Eagle Scout from North Ridgeville, Ohio, will travel solo to all four BSA high-adventure bases this summer. But, true to Scouting values, the trip isn’t all about Ben.
A 13-year-old Star Scout received the BSA’s Honor Medal for his quick thinking when a classmate brought a gun to school. His actions protected his fellow students from harm and kept the school from having to be locked down. The eighth-grader reported the gun to a teacher in a cleverly inconspicuous way you can read…
