Saturday, July 24, 2010

Scouting's Forgotten Awards

The Boy Scouts of America seems to have cornered the market on scouting awards for all levels of the scout program and if one looks to other scouting programs in other countries; you will never find more available awards to honor scouts with than within the BSA.
The BSA bestows awards for Day camps, Scout o Rama's, Camp-o-Ree's, Summer camp, and countless other activity participation awards.
There are belt loops and activity pins for sports and academics.
There are knots for leadership, merit badges (over 100 of them), community service awards, etc.
These awards all have their place but what about those awards that have fallen by the wayside?
Rarely seen are Denner and Assistant Denner cords, Den Chief cords, the National Summertime Pack pins or the Cub Scout Outdoor Activity pocket flap patch, National Patrol Awards, or Leave No Trace (including the World Conservation Patch).
Line up 100 cub scouts and you would be hard pressed to find a scout wearing the perfect attendance pin even the service stars (leaders included on the service stars).
On the leadership level, the square knot awards are used to a small degree but few seek to add the Veteran Service award.
It was a big deal to receive the Recruiter patch in Cub Scouts as was receiving perfect attendance for multiple years in the cub program.
Maybe I am old fashioned but I would love to see these awards presented to deserving scouts and what better time to introduce them into your scouting program than during this Centennial year?

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