Browse by year
56 posts, oldest first.
September 2017 Time to design: 2 hour Time to print: 2 hours (your times may vary Finishing: 3 hour Original designer: DigitalSpace Corporation Try it yourself: Space Shuttle The last slide in the American manned space program (for now). The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft and there were 6 built.
This is bigger than Cougars vs. Tigers. This is Eagle Scout vs. Eagle Scout. When BYU and LSU square off this Saturday in New Orleans, each side will send an Eagle Scout out to take snaps, execute handoffs and hurl passes.
If you live in one of the 32 states with a Bass Pro Shops location, listen up. September is the eighth annual Boy Scouts of America Month at Bass Pro Shops. The retailer of fishing, boating, camping and shooting supplies has a month of activities planned to support Scouting.
You may have already received word from your council, but in case you haven’t heard – be prepared to shell out a few more dollars soon. The National Council has announced that effective December 1, 2017, the registration fee for all members of the Boy Scouts of America, from Cub Scout to adult, will increase to…
________________________________________ Just a heads-up… I’ll be traveling sans computer till September 22nd, so no columns on the 12th or 19th. But when I return I’ll be personally answering every letter and there will definitely be a new column on the 26th!
The BSA Executive Board has approved an exception to the Second Class and First Class swimming requirements, allowing Scouts who live prohibitively far from safe swimming areas to substitute other requirements. In some geographically large or predominately rural councils, Scouts might live many miles from an indoor swimming pool or safe outdoor swimming area.
Resilience is the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, to bounce back from difficult experiences. This can be a particularly tricky character trait to teach because it is natural to want to protect children from emotionally difficult experiences.
Photo by Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News. Used with permission. Corey Eisert-Wlodarczyk will never forget that day in March 2012 when his brother died of a heroin overdose. Corey was just 11 years old when Collin died, and the memory lingers. After the initial shock subsided, Corey began to speak at schools.
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey and the destruction it caused throughout the southern portion of Texas, as well as the storm that is currently in the Atlantic — Hurricane Irma — many of us have been inspired to give to those in need.
Not all Eagle Scouts go on to be Eagles like Donnie Jones, punter of the Philadelphia Eagles. Others find careers as Raiders, Dolphins, Chiefs, Ravens, Broncos, Falcons, Redskins, Texans and Saints. A search of the NFL’s 2017 active rosters — 1,692 players in all — turns up at least 10 Eagle Scouts.
In many communities, the mission to grow Scouting begins at schools. Oftentimes, that’s where young people first learn about Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. The alignment between schools and Scouting is natural. Leadership development is a priority of both educators and Scouting.
Like tying a bowline or hitting a baseball, skills in reading can be improved with practice. Experts at the National Education Association say that the more young people read for fun on their own time, the higher their reading scores.
Along with welcoming new members into our packs and troops and starting the program year, fall is the time when many units collect updated health forms from their youth and adult members. The Boy Scouts of America recommends that each member have on file with his or her unit a completed copy of the General…
Elisa D'Antonio and her son, Ryan, in 2015. Inset: Elisa D'Antonio in 2005. On Sept. 11, 2001, Elisa D’Antonio was at the Pentagon attending an Air Force training course. A little before 9:30 a.m., someone wheeled a TV into the classroom, which was on the building’s south side.
For Christopher Walsh, as for most of today’s Scouts, 9/11 is a history lesson. The 17-year-old Life Scout from Nyack, N.Y., was just 8 months old on that dark day. But Christopher has always felt a particular connection to one of the day’s biggest heroes: Welles Crowther, also from Nyack.
Congratulations to Paul W. Schwartz, who will serve as Scout executive of Potawatomi Area Council in Waukesha, Wisconsin, effective October 1, 2017. Paul began his Scouting career as a district executive at Northern Lights Council in Fargo, North Dakota, where he moved on to become the senior district executive and, later, district director.
This is what cheerful service looks like in the era of smartwatches, self-driving cars and Snapchat. The OA Hackathon, held Oct. 6 to 8 at the Intel offices in Folsom, Calif., will give Arrowmen a hands-on opportunity to reimagine the way the Order of the Arrow uses technology.
As new members join Scouting this fall, many units around the country are ensuring they feel warmly welcomed. What’s the best way to make sure those new members start off on the right foot? Encourage a volunteer to become a New Member Coordinator !
There is no question that first responders are heroes. But have you ever wondered what drives them to devote their careers to saving lives? Being a paramedic, for example, requires hard work and dedication to your community, but Denver paramedic Otis McKay says it’s all worth it, especially when you can inspire others in the…
It’s settled. Fourth-graders are officially the coolest kids in school. They’re the beneficiaries of a federal program that grants free access to national parks, lands and waters. Thanks to the Department of the Interior’s Every Kid in a Park program, started in 2015, fourth-graders and their families can get free entry into these public lands…
September 2017 Time to make: 1 hours Boys Life "Slide of the Month" Sept. 1951, page37 Original design: E.F.S The last of the film can slides from Boys Life (that I know of) is a quick reach when you need a band-aid.
An aerial image, taken after the eye of Hurricane Irma passed nearby, shows the BSA’s Brinton Environmental Center on Summerland Key. All sailing captains who work with BSA’s Sea Base in Florida and in the U.S. Virgin Islands are safe and accounted for after Hurricane Irma passed over the Caribbean and the Florida Keys.
Join us as we congratulate Richard Stockton, who will serve as Scout executive of Westchester-Putnam Council in Hawthorne, New York, effective October 9, 2017. Rich began his Scouting career as a district executive at Cornhusker Council in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was promoted to Exploring executive, program director, field director, and assistant Scout executive.
Jim Potjunas left an indelible mark on Troop 101 and the entire community of Warren, Ohio. Potjunas was just 18 when he helped start the troop 42 years ago. Five years later, he became its Scoutmaster. He led the troop for 37 years, during which time he helped 148 young men become Eagle Scouts.
If you’ve ever transitioned from being a rank-and-file employee to a supervisor or manager, you’ve undoubtedly run into some rough spots as you made the transition. Taking on a managerial role is a big step, because you’re now overseeing the people you used to work alongside.
Scouters, now you can carry more of the tools you need to do your job everywhere Scouting takes you. The myScouting app, the BSA’s official app to help leaders facilitate the Scouting program, has a refreshed look and all-new features.
Left: Brinton Environmental Center, part of the Florida Sea Base. Right: Steve Dohman, the FEMA agent who was the commander at the FEMA staging area set up at Brinton. After Hurricane Irma made landfall on the Florida Keys, the Federal Emergency Management Agency used one of the BSA’s Florida Sea Base facilities as the staging…
BSA’s information delivery group along with many volunteer beta testers are excited to present the new myScouting mobile app, complete with a fresh look and added features. Better yet, you can check it out for yourself today—the app is now officially available for download on iPhone (iOS 9.0 or greater) and Android (4.4 or greater)…
Compete in the Boys' Life Table Tennis Cup http://media.boyslife.org/onlinegames/pingpong/ Compete across the country in the Boys' Life Table Tennis Cup. Compete across the country in the Boys' Life Table Tennis Cup. View On WordPress
Update, Sept. 22: After readers reported some errors, I updated a few of the names/councils below. Please continue to contact me if you spot any errors. Thanks! The Silver Antelope Award recognizes Scouters of exceptional character who have provided distinguished service within one of the BSA’s four regions — Central, Northeast, Southern and Western.
Each time I share an update about how the Florida Sea Base is recovering after Hurricane Irma, the comments pour in. Everyone wants to know how they can help Sea Base get back to doing what it does best: offering once-in-a-lifetime experiences for young people.
To better align the National Council services with the local council needs and to create synergy with our volunteer governance and operating committees, the following tenured, experienced, and mission-oriented leaders have been selected to fill these roles: Patrick Sterrett, ACSE: National Director of Field Service Patrick Sterrett, currently serving as Scout executive of Crossroads of…
Congratulations to Vijay Challa, who will serve as BSA’s Group Director of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer effective September 1, 2017. In this role, he will be responsible for the following areas: IT Strategy, Innovation, Development, Program Management Office, Infrastructure, Data Warehouse and Compliance, along with managing the accounting for these significant services.
“How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!” ( Numbers 24:5 ) As we approach Rosh Hashanah, the Boy Scouts of America wish our fellow Scouts, Scouters and all our friends in the Jewish community a Shanah Tovah – a New Year of happiness, goodness and peace.
Left and middle: Sea Base staff members inspected Big Munson Island on Monday. Right: The storm surge washed a boat ashore Big Munson Island. There were no people inside, and Sea Base staffers reported its location to the Coast Guard.
It makes no sense. The latest research says 95 percent of us disapprove of distracted driving. And yet 71 percent of us still use our phones while behind the wheel. These days, it’s not just texting that’s the problem. Now our phones bleep and buzz every minute with the latest 50-percent-off deal, score update and…
We found him, you guys! Read the happy ending to this story here . The original post follows … Nikki Presley and her husband, Dustin, were walking on the beach in Jacksonville, Fla., less than a week after Hurricane Irma had passed through.
With the new school year underway, I know many families have returned to a whirlwind of carpools, homework and after-school obligations. In the midst of the non-stop action, it can be hard to know what impact the time and energy spent really is having.
When disaster strikes, the Scouting community rallies to help those in need. The summer of 2017 has brought some of the worst weather in recent memory. Thousands of Scouting units have been or will be affected and it is up to us, the Scouting family, to do a good turn and lend a helping hand.
Pat Gegg during his senior year football season with his grandma. Pat Gegg thought he had lost everything when Hurricane Irma took his cottage on Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville, Fla. Especially painful was the loss of a Rubbermaid tub containing a number of irreplaceable Scouting items.
The latest iPhones and Androids are millimeters thick but contain cameras capable of capturing magazine-quality photos. It wouldn’t be possible without Eagle Scout Eric Fossum. In 1992, Fossum developed the little sensor that allowed cameras to be smaller, cheaper and gentler on battery life.
Fall 2017 Time to make: 1 hours Original design: Bill Macfarlane OK, I can't all the credit for this one since Dunkin' Donuts made it so easy for me but in honor of the first day of fall. I was in a Dunkin Donuts and saw a novelty coffee and pumpkin spice lip balm which…
A crew of Scouts went about erecting a FLOATING FLAGPOLE made entirely of Scout staves. They lashed together five staves for the pole and two staves each for the three supporting uprights. The idea was to rely upon the strain of the guylines to keep the uprights straight, without sinking them into the ground.
National Sea Scouts Director Keith Christopher this month received a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators . The award, presented Sept. 11, 2017, in Rapid City, S.D., honors Christopher’s work to promote recreational boating safety within the Boy Scouts of America’s programs and beyond.
I’ll be brief, well, kind of… … join me as I talk about two key ideas for Scouters I hope you find helpful . This podcast condenses into one talk the answers I wrote to several common email questions I had this summer.
It doesn’t happen very often, but on rare occasion a troop’s committee withers away as Scouts leave or age out and their parents, who served on the committee, also depart without being replaced. Sometimes, others just take on the added responsibilities rather than recruiting a replacement, until the burden gets too great and they themselves…
________________________________________ Hi Andy, One of the Cub Scout packs I serve is struggling because of the lack of parent participation. I need some good advice on how to approach parents at upcoming recruitment nights and what to say. Can you help me out here?
Not all Cub Scouts attend Eagle Scout courts of honor, but maybe more should. You may agree with that sentiment when you hear the story of Robert. Robert is a Cub Scout in Tennessee. His Pack 82 meets at the same place as Troop 82 — Harrison United Methodist Church in Harrison, Tenn.
The 2017 school year is in full swing, and students are at peak excitement for learning! This means it’s time to keep the momentum going, and we’ve got just the thing to help your young geniuses stay engaged through the coming semesters.
The verdict is in, and the Law Merit Badge Day in South Carolina is one of the best around. Ninety Boy Scouts have registered to attend this Saturday’s event, presented by the Indian Waters Council. It’ll be held inside the new building of the University of South Carolina School of Law in Columbia.
The outdoor ethics guide, a troop-level position of responsibility for youth that in January 2016 replaced the position of Leave No Trace trainer, now has its very own handbook. The Outdoor Ethics Guide Handbook is available now as a free PDF download .
Members of the Boy Scouts of America living in Puerto Rico — including nearly 11,000 members across 300 Scout units — have been severely impacted by Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 20. The damaged Guajataca Dam, at risk of failing completely, is next to the Guajataka Scout Reservation.
Effective Dec. 1, 2017, the Boy Scouts of America membership fee will be $33 a year for all registered youth and adult members. Scouting remains an incredible value. Where else but in Scouting can young people acquire hands-on leadership skills, become more comfortable in nature, and learn to make ethical and moral decisions throughout their…
Where are some of the brightest young Eagle Scouts attending college? At world-class institutes of learning like BYU, UC Berkeley, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Cornell, Yale and many more across the country — and around the world. (I’m looking at you, Eagle Scout who’s attending Franklin University Switzerland!)
Please join us in congratulating Chris Daughtrey, who will serve as Scout executive of Westark Area Council in Fort Smith, Arkansas, effective November 1, 2017. Chris began his Scouting career as a district executive at Last Frontier Council in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Two days before Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico , Maria Molinelli, Scout executive at the Concilio de Puerto Rico de los Boy Scouts of America, posted a message in Spanish on the council Facebook page. It says a lot that she and other Scout leaders were thinking of others first and themselves last.
