Scouting

Background

Scouting began in England in 1907 based on Baden-Powell's ideas and book Scouting for Boys. The book and program proved to have universal appeal for boys and quickly spread worldwide. While some aspects of the program vary around the world, the principles of the Scout Promise and Law unite the world brotherhood of Scouting and prepare boys for adulthood in today's world.

From its beginning on Brownsea Island, the Scouting idea spread around the globe until it became what it is now - the largest voluntary youth movement in the world, with a membership totaling more than twenty-five million.

 

Purpose

The purpose of the Boy Scouts of America, incorporated on February 8, 1910, and chartered by Congress in 1916, is to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness.

Programs

• Tiger Cubs, BSA. A school-year program for first-grade (or 7-year-old) boys and their adult partners that stresses simplicity, shared leadership, learning about the community, and family understanding. Each boy/adult team meets for family activities, then once or twice a month all the teams meet for Tiger Cub group activities.
• Cub Scouting. A family- and home-centered program for boys in the second through fifth grade (or 8, 9, and 10 years old). Cub Scouting's emphasis is on quality program at the local level, where the most boys and families are involved.
• Fourth- and fifth-grade (or 10-year-old) boys are called Webelos Scouts (WE'll BE LOyal Scouts) and participate in more advanced activities that begin to prepare them to become Boy Scouts.
• Boy Scouting. A program for boys 11 through 17 designed to achieve the aims of Scouting through a vigorous outdoor program and peer group leadership with the counsel of an adult Scoutmaster. (Boys also may become Boy Scouts if they have earned the Arrow of Light Award or have completed the fifth grade.)
• Varsity Scouting. An active, exciting program for young men 14 through 17 built around five program fields of emphasis: advancement, high adventure, personal development, service, and special programs and events.
• Venture Scouting. Designed for young men and women ages 14 (who have completed the eighth grade) through 20 to gain insight into a variety of programs that offer leadership training, fitness, outdoor, service, and career hands-on experiences. Exploring promotes the conditions necessary for the growth and development of adolescent youth.