Changes to OA

On Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the National Order of the Arrow Committee approved some exciting updates to the Order of the Arrow program!

Beginning February 1, 2019, unit elections will be permitted in Scouts BSA, Venturing and Sea Scout units. The new Order of the Arrow membership requirements are as follows:

• Be a registered member of the Boy Scouts of America.

• Have experienced 15 nights of camping while registered with a troop, crew, or ship within the two years immediately prior to the election. The 15 nights must include one, but no more than one, long-term camp consisting of at least five consecutive nights of overnight camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America. Only five nights of the long-term camp may be credited toward the 15-night camping requirement; the balance of the camping (10 nights) must be overnight, weekend, or other short-term camps of, at most, three nights each. Ship nights may be counted as camping for Sea Scouts.

• At the time of their election, youth must be under the age of 21, hold the Scouts BSA First Class rank, the Venturing Discovery Award, or the Sea Scout Ordinary rank or higher, and following approval by the Scoutmaster, Crew Advisor or Sea Scout Skipper, be elected by the youth members of their unit.

• Adults (age 21 or older) who meet the camping requirements may be selected following nomination to and approval by the lodge adult selection committee.

Read more about the election requirements and FAQs at https://oa-bsa.org/about/membership

Ceremony held for Webelos

Webelos from Cub Scout Pack 417 made the transition from Cub Scout to Boy Scout recently in a ceremony held at Hawn State Park.

Jacob Voyles, Aiden Govro, and Benjamin Reeves all completed the requirements for their Arrow of Light award, the highest rank in Cub Scouting, and were presented their rank patches by their Webelos den leader prior to members of Boy Scout Troop 417 welcomed the newest recruits.

Cub Scout Pack 417 has been chartered to First United Methodist Church in Park Hills since the 1940s along with their fellow Boy Scout Troop, which traces its origins back to 1926 as the first scout troop in Flat River.

Cubmaster Preston Jones was unavailable for the ceremony, but Webelos Leader Isaac Stephenson was in attendance along with Tiger Cub Leader Tiffany Gutierrez. Scoutmaster Gene Bannister, Assistant Scoutmasters Scott Comfort, and John Barrington were on hand along with the following Boy Scouts; Bobby Hambrick, Alek Barrington, Clinton Barrington, Noah Towles, Wyatt Pettus, and Tayor Roesch.

Ceremonies were held at dusk on April 28 as part of the Cub Scout Pack's annual April Camp Out, typically held in conjunction with Earth Day. Camping reservations moved the camp out a week, but members of the Pack still encouraged conservation by holding their Raingutter Recycle Regatta at camp out with Cub Scouts making boats out of recycled materials and competing in a race. The remaining dens within the Pack will celebrate their graduation next month in a camp out at S-Bar-F Scout Ranch in Knob Lick.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Boy Scouts or joining a local Pack, Troop, Crew or Team, contact the Greater St. Louis Area Council at 314-335-3346 or search your neighborhood online at BeAScout.org to find a Scouting unit near your hometown.

https://dailyjournalonline.com/news/local/ceremony-held-for-webelos/article_1d7c0122-9925-5e80-be6c-cdc898d594e4.html

BSA Launches Historic ‘Scout Me In’ Campaign

The BSA Launches Historic 'Scout Me In' Campaign Inviting Girls and Boys to Experience Adventures Through a Cub Scout's Point of View

https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/scout-me-in/

Girls Finally Can Join Cub Scouts in 2018

After almost 100 years of being one of very few nations in the world where Cub Scouts does NOT allow Girls into their ranks, the United States Boy Scouts of America movement will FINALLY allow Girls to finally be recognized for their service and participation.  For the entirety of the Cub Scouts of America, sisters have tagged along to den meetings, making projects alongside their brothers, along for Family Camp Outs but Girls were forbidden to earn rank, wear the uniform, to attend the resident camps...to be a FULL member of the Cub Scouts.  

Where Cub Scouts has long been open to both Boys and Girls in Japan, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and parts of the Middle East even, the Boy Scouts of America's Executive Board decided to finally listen to their volunteers after a survey looking at what families want from their Scouting opportunities going into the 21st Century and open membership up to all with the understanding that units will operate separate dens for boys and girls, who knows have friendly competitions to see who can learn the Scout skills first and demonstrate their understanding by having a Scout Skills Competition.  See Who will Build the better Pinewood Derby Car?  Are you Ready?  Can you #ScoutLikeAGirl  -- Starting now, if you contact Pack 3417, Chartered to the Park Hills First United Methodist Church, we will take your application and membership fee and hold you a place to be part of the inaugural group of girls to join our Cub Scouts on August 28th, 2018.  Pack 3417 is the Cub Scout Pack working with Boy Scout Troop 417 at the same Church since 1945 and has been active in the area since 1926.  

For more information follow us on Facebook @CubScoutPack417 or message that page and we will return you message as soon as possible.  

White Elephants Spotted at S-Bar-F Scout Ranch

NEWSFLASH:  (Knob Lick, MO) White Elephants Spotted at S-Bar-F Scout Ranch

White Elephants are coming to the Scout Ranch this weekend for our special December District Round Table event inside the Camp Famous Eagle Dining Hall starting at 2pm on this Saturday, December 9th.  

There will be information on the upcoming Klondike Derby along with a reminder on Recharter & getting your unit signed up for a Friends of Scouting '18 presentation with Marcus Ward.  There will be cookies & punch and other snacks along with a White Elephant Gift Exchange among the adults in attendance.

Think Christmas attire, ugly sweaters, elf ears, Christmas light necklaces and such, so much fun! And Of course, Christmas carols!!!  

There are some items to pass out from Jared & also a brief District Dinner update with a reminder of nomination due dates for our annual awards. Fun and fellowship along with tours after snacks and gift exchange of The Ranch for all interested.  Friends of Scouting volunteer speaker training after Round Table as well.  The fun begins around 2pm at the Dining Hall down at Famous Eagle.  White Elephant Gift Exchange has a $5 limit.  Crafts will be available for any children that come along.  All are invited to bring a snack to share but not a deal breaker if you don't, just join us for fellowship as we celebrate our year and celebrate the holidays.  

2018 -

BSA Expands Programs to Welcome Girls from Cub Scouts to Highest Rank of Eagle Scout

The BSA Expands Programs to Welcome Girls from Cub Scouts to Highest Rank of Eagle Scout

October 11, 201

Research reinforces interest expressed by families and girls nationwide as organization looks to offer programs that meet the needs of today's families

Irving, Texas – October 11, 2017 – Today, the Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors unanimously approved to welcome girls into its iconic Cub Scout program and to deliver a Scouting program for older girls that will enable them to advance and earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout. The historic decision comes after years of receiving requests from families and girls, the organization evaluated the results of numerous research efforts, gaining input from current members and leaders, as well as parents and girls who've never been involved in Scouting – to understand how to offer families an important additional choice in meeting the character development needs of all their children.

"This decision is true to the BSA's mission and core values outlined in the Scout Oath and Law. The values of Scouting – trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind, brave and reverent, for example – are important for both young men and women," said Michael Surbaugh, the BSA's Chief Scout Executive. "We believe it is critical to evolve how our programs meet the needs of families interested in positive and lifelong experiences for their children. We strive to bring what our organization does best – developing character and leadership for young people – to as many families and youth as possible as we help shape the next generation of leaders."

Families today are busier and more diverse than ever. Most are dual-earners and there are more single-parent households than ever before [1], making convenient programs that serve the whole family more appealing. Additionally, many groups currently underserved by Scouting, including the Hispanic and Asian communities, prefer to participate in activities as a family. Recent surveys [2] of parents not involved with Scouting showed high interest in getting their daughters signed up for programs like Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, with 90 percent expressing interest in a program like Cub Scouts and 87 percent expressing interest in a program like Boy Scouts.  Education experts also evaluated the curriculum and content and confirmed relevancy of the program for young women.

"The BSA's record of producing leaders with high character and integrity is amazing" said Randall Stephenson, BSA's national board chairman. "I've seen nothing that develops leadership skills and discipline like this organization.  It is time to make these outstanding leadership development programs available to girls."

Starting in the 2018 program year, families can choose to sign up their sons and daughters for Cub Scouts. Existing packs may choose to establish a new girl pack, establish a pack that consists of girl dens and boy dens or remain an all-boy pack.  Cub Scout dens will be single-gender — all boys or all girls. Using the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts program, the organization will also deliver a program for older girls, which will be announced in 2018 and projected to be available in 2019, that will enable them to earn the Eagle Scout rank. This unique approach allows the organization to maintain the integrity of the single gender model while also meeting the needs of today's families.

This decision expands the programs that the Boy Scouts of America offers for both boys and girls. Although known for its iconic programs for boys, the BSA has offered co-ed programs since 1971 through Exploring and the Venturing program, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2018. The STEM Scout pilot program is also available for both boys and girls.

For more information about the expanded opportunities for family Scouting, please visit the family Scouting page.

About the Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America provides the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be "Prepared. For Life.®" The Scouting organization is composed of nearly 2.3 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 21 and approximately 960,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.scouting.org.

 

[1] PEW Research Center survey conducted Sept. 15 – Oct. 13, 2015 among 1,807 U.S. parents with children younger than 18.

[2] BSA surveys included two external surveys and four internal surveys conducted from April to September 2017. Surveys were conducted online.