To
All Scouts and Their Parents,
***
It is the Scouts responsibility to take the initiative to advance, not his
parents or the Troop leaders.
1)
Rank advancement is on an individual basis, not as a group. They
are no longer Cub Scouts so no one is going to hold their hand and walk them
through. If a Scout wants to advance, he must check his book regularly
(especially after a campout) to see if there are any achievements that can be
signed off by one of the trained leaders. Although, the ranks have to be
earned in order, the achievements don't have to be signed off in
order. For example; if they earned the Swimming Merit Badge at
camp, they probably completed achievements in both 2nd and 1st class.
There are also first aid achievements in all of the ranks from Tenderfoot
through 1st class. So the Scouts should check all the future ranks to see
if they have done any of the achievements and have them signed off when they
are completed.
2)
Once all of the achievements for a rank have been completed and signed
off, the Scout must take their book to Scoutmaster and request a Scoutmaster
conference.
3)
Once the Scout has had his Scoutmaster conference and Scoutmaster has
signed off on the remainder of the rank's requirements (Scout Spirit and Scoutmaster
Conference), the Scout must present his book to me (Advancement Chair) and
politely request a Board of Review. I
will then schedule the Board of Review as soon as possible and I will let the Scout
know when it is. Please be patient,
sometimes it takes me a week or so to coordinate enough adults for a night of
Board of Reviews. Be assured that as
long as the Scout requests the Board of Review by the deadline of 3 weeks
before a Court of Honor, he will have his Board of Review in time to
receive his advancement at the Court of Honor.
Board of Reviews are almost always held upstairs in the church's Library,
and we try to conduct them during the Tuesday Troop meeting.
4)
The Scout should come to his Board of Review in full class A uniform
(including Scout shirt with all appropriate patches sewn on, official Scout
pants, belt, neckerchief, slide, hat, and socks). He should also bring
with him his book (unless I already have it) and his notebook with all of his Scout
cards in baseball card sleeves.
MERIT BADGES
1) Merit Badges can and should be earned as a group. This group can be as small as 2 Scouts, but should not be larger than 6.
2) If a Scout wishes to earn a merit badge, he should come to me to request the list of Merit Badge Counselors. There are 2 lists; one has all the merit badges offered by adult members of Troop 52 and the other has all the merit badges offered by all the adults in our district. He must then go to Scoutmaster and request a blue card and discuss with him the merit badge that he wishes to take. Some of the merit badges have prerequisites (for example; a Scout must be 1st class before he can take First Aid) and Scoutmaster or myself can inform the Scout of these. The Scout should then contact the MB counselor and set up a meeting with him and the group of Scouts. When the Scout has completed the MB, he gives the signed blue card to me.
3)
All merit badges and rank advancements will be presented at the next
Court of Honor. We have three per year and they are usually in late
Sept., Jan. and June.