Every couple months, the national advancement team at the Boy Scouts of America puts out an update for council and district advancement chairs and committee members. The current issue has a few items of interest: Continue reading “Advancement updates”
More Q&A: Committee approval of advancement, smartphones at camp
The mailbag brought a couple more questions to the Bobwhite’s attention in the last few weeks. I’ll take a stab at answering your conundrums this week.
First, a question from an experienced den leader – and thank you for your service, as you are the front-line deliverer of Scouting to our Cub Scouts! – about a committee chair’s role in advancement: Continue reading “More Q&A: Committee approval of advancement, smartphones at camp”
Group instruction of merit badges
You find them in just about every council. They can take place once or several times a year. Sometimes they’re run by the council; much of the time they tie in with a local college, museum or company. They’re attended by dozens or hundreds of Scouts.
I’m referring to events known by various names: Merit Badge College, University, Clinic, Badge-a-Palooza, Badge-O-Ree or just Merit Badge Day.
These are events, typically on a weekend and often lasting anywhere from a few hours to a couple days. They offer instruction in anywhere from a handful to dozens of merit badges, conducted by a field of experts and merit badge counselors.
They can be very efficient ways for a Scout to earn one or more merit badges in a short period of time. Continue reading “Group instruction of merit badges”
Guide to Advancement updated for 2019
As the Scouts BSA program continues to roll along, our published materials are getting caught up with the changes. After the Guide to Safe Scouting updates released earlier, there is a new Guide to Advancement for 2019.
Typically updated every two years, the current edition mainly edits content to reflect the addition of female youth members in the traditional programs, but there are a few other updates. The Guide can be found online at the Guide to Advancement section of the Boy Scouts of America website.
Here are the major changes in the latest version: Continue reading “Guide to Advancement updated for 2019”
New Eagle project workbook available

As we move into 2019, there are some advancement changes in the offing. Significant is the issuance of a new Eagle Scout leadership service project workbook, now available from the national forms library or your local council.
The new form must be used for all Eagle projects started after January 1, 2019, but projects started using the old form can continue to use that form for the time being. The BSA will most likely sunset the old form, probably in a few months.
One change is the file format that the new workbook uses. Continue reading “New Eagle project workbook available”