Scouting Articles (most recent first)
Your Scouts can help spread holiday cheer and raise money, either in person or online through Mickman Brothers
For more than four decades, Mickman Brothers, a family-owned business based in Minnesota, has offered a holiday fundraiser for schools, church youth groups and Scouts. It has become a popular way for Scouts to finance their adventures as it has become a highly anticipated tradition in the communities where Scouts have started selling. This year, Scouts…
Read MoreMerit Badge History: In Fingerprinting, the FBI and the BSA found the perfect match
Before DNA databases, before ink-stained fingerprint cards, before stacks of photographs, the best tool police departments had for identifying criminals was an average Joe with a photographic memory. In eighteenth-century Europe, the more advanced police departments hired people with good visual recall to mentally record the faces of criminals and identify the guilty. It’s hard…
Read MoreBSA professional puts career on pause to fight the pandemic in Tennessee
Anthony Spencer administered a COVID-19 vaccination to a patient in June. (Photo by Lt. Col. Darrin Haas) In desperate times, Scouts don’t watch from the sidelines. They step up and serve. And so when COVID-19 began its deadly march through Tennessee in March 2020, Anthony Spencer knew what he had to do. The Eagle Scout…
Read MoreZia Experience makes high adventure more accessible to all Scouts, families
For decades, Scouts with special needs have attended Philmont Scout Ranch, enjoying adventures at the BSA base in New Mexico. However, not every activity has been accessible to every Scout. The BSA is working on changing that via the Zia Experience. Under the Family Adventure Camp program, the Zia Experience provides an adaptive high-adventure course,…
Read MoreScouts win offshore rowing event, earning spot at world championships in Portugal
Joshua (left) and Aidan race during the finals. (Courtesy of USRowing) To paraphrase the popular saying: When the rowing gets tough, the Scouts keep going. In June, two Scouts from Oregon tested their bravery, strength and perseverance in a national beach rowing competition against the nation’s best athletes. With a spot at the world championships…
Read MoreHip-hop artist’s Eagle Scout project brings power to the world
Eagle Scout AY Young, 30, is grabbing the world’s attention — both with his activism (which started with his Eagle project) and with his music. Young dedicated his Eagle project to his activism and currently spends much of his time ensuring that disadvantaged communities have access to electricity. With his music, Young has released two albums…
Read MoreTake note of these 11 key changes in the 2021 Guide to Advancement
In Scouting, it’s said that feedback is a gift. It’s also a critical component of the Guide to Advancement, the BSA’s official trail map to the mechanics of advancement in Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing and Sea Scouts. Feedback from volunteers from across the country was incorporated into the new and improved 2021 Guide to…
Read MoreRemembering Kent Clayburn, devoted advocate for international Scouting
Kent Clayburn, a devoted Scouter whose visionary leadership as the BSA’s international commissioner established valuable connections around the world, died on July 20 after a seven-year battle with cancer. Clayburn, an Eagle Scout, spent more than 50 years in service of Scouting — much of it while representing the Boy Scouts of America on the…
Read MoreUse this new recruitment kit to help spread the word about Scouting
After last year, many families are looking to get out of the house. What better way for them to do that than through Scouting, the worldwide movement that has introduced young people to adventure, character development, and leadership skills for more than a century? You can help families escape the indoors by showing them the…
Read MoreDragonflies Are Incredibly Agile Fliers and Amazing Hunters
[embedded content] Long before dinosaurs appeared on Earth, huge one-pound bugs with wings nearly 2.5 feet wide dominated the skies. A swarm of those dragonflies might have carried off your tent. Dragonflies still look much the same today, but they got quite a bit smaller over the course of 250 to 300 million years. Today,…
Read More