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STEP 1 - Subscribe
Select your HomeScouting Adventure Club subscription. Choose a monthly payment option or subscribe for a year to save! NOTE: Your payment will begin in September for the HomeScouting Adventure club in exactly how many days the "free trial" states is left.
ZoomOut to see how you can improve the planet. Grab a trash bag and take part in the International Scout's Trash the Trash Day!
Each week there are three components to completing the weekly challenge - Know, Show, and Go. To complete this week's challenge, do the following:
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KNOW: Explore the content below to learn about the importance of reducing your waste and the history of Scouts Trash the Trash Day.
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SHOW: Plan your outing! Gather garbage bags, gloves, determine other items you need, and who's participating with you. Discuss your plan with your family, den, patrol, or unit.
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GO: Grab your garbage bag and fill it up! Be sure to grab your specific tracking worksheet before you go to record what you complete.
As soon as you're ready, scroll down to get started.
Connected Challenges
Continue this week's challenge by completing additional activities. These activities are optional and just for fun but are connected to this week's theme.
Connected Advancements
You're earning more than just the Spring BreakOut award this week! Click here to grab this week's tracking worksheet and see this week's list of connected advancements
Connected
Trainings
Calling all adult leaders and parents! Not only can you earn the Spring BreakOut Award with your Scout, you can find connected trainings for you to complete along the way.
THE BIG PICTURE
Sustainability. It’s a big word with many aspects. But when you break it down, it goes hand in hand with being a good Scout. Sustainability means the ability to endure. Conserving the land, forests, air, water, wildlife, and limited resources we all share is everyone’s responsibility. Reducing what we consume and recycling, repurposing, restoring, and repairing what we own all are parts of being thrifty, a key point of the Scout Law. Sustainability requires living within our world’s ability to regenerate the things we need to live. As good Scouts, we try to leave things better than we found them. We should try to do what we can to ensure generations to come will also have what they need.
THE BIG PICTURE
Healthy ecosystems (environments full of living things) provide goods and services to humans and are vital to all forms of life, from the tiniest organisms to the tallest trees, and from bugs to whales.
We human beings can lighten our imprint on planet Earth by managing the way we consume resources. Conserving the land where we walk, the forests that surround us, the air we breathe, the water all living things need to survive, and the other resources Earth provides is important to sustaining life itself—not just for your lifetime, but for future generations.
Sustainability begins with you. Can you bike or walk to school or work instead of drive? Or can you take public transportation?
On a worldwide level, sustainability may involve urban planning that reorganizes living situations into eco-villages and eco-cities, where green building and green technologies, renewable energy sources, and sustainable agriculture become the new normal. Sustainability begins with rethinking your individual lifestyle and becoming aware of how you can conserve natural resources. Moving toward a more sustainable lifestyle will challenge the attention, ingenuity, and know-how of your generation—the youth of America.
We all have a stake in preserving life. We all share in the responsibility to make our planet a desirable place, now and in the future. Human actions have lasting social, environmental, and economic effects on the place we all call home: Earth. Sustainability is a journey, not a destination. It is a call to action. What can a single Scout do? A family? One community? It’s time to find out! This is a journey that begins with you.
This week your challenge will be to explore your household waste and grab a trash bag while you participate in the International Scouts Trash the Trash Day!
HOW MUCH DO WE WASTE?
PLASTIC WASTE AND THE TRASH VORTEX
Plastic bags are also among the top two items of trash found in our oceans, where they choke, strangle, and starve wildlife. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted that plastic bags can also cover living corals in coral reefs, which can lead to the death of the reef. Many large coastal cities use barges to transport their garbage offshore and dump it into the ocean. This has caused an island of plastic to form off California’s west coast that is twice the size of Texas and made up of 7 billion pounds of plastic garbage. It is known as a trash vortex because the prevailing ocean currents keep it swirling around slowly in a circle. The dead zone is choked with dead fish, marine mammals, and birds that have gotten snagged in the mess. Zooplankton are small floating animals that drift with the currents. Along with phytoplankton (tiny plants), zooplankton make up the food supply upon which almost all oceanic organisms depend to survive. Plastic pieces now outweigh surface zooplankton in the central North Pacific Ocean by a factor of 6 to 1, according to researchers.
Reports of microscopic bits of plastic washing ashore to become part of a beach are starting to spring up where stunningly beautiful and abundant natural environments once stood.
When plastic enters water sources, it stays there. According to the Research Triangle Institute, “every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere.” The plastics you use today will still be polluting our environment when your grandchildren are born. Keep these things in mind every time you use a plastic bag, drink from a polystyrene cup, or buy anything wrapped or contained in plastic. Instead, substitute reusable shopping bags, bottles, and containers, and do your part by spreading the word to end wasteful consumption of plastics.
WATER WASTE
In the United States, people are fortunate to have easy access to some of the safest treated water in the world. For most of us, that means simply turning on the tap. How much water do we use? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average American family of four uses 400 gallons of water per day at home. Indoor usage accounts for 70 percent of this whopping amount, with 30 percent used outdoors. That’s 146,000 gallons per year—for one family!
Less than 1 percent of all the water on Earth can be used by humans. The
rest is salt water from the ocean or water permanently frozen and not
available for drinking, bathing, or watering plants. As the world’s
population grows, more people are using this limited resource. It’s
important that we all use water wisely. Wisdom starts with understanding
and becoming aware of how you use water and how much water you waste.
Take note of places inside and outside your home where you use water. This might include the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, and outdoor faucets. Look carefully at all the ways you and your family use water every day.
WATER SAVING TIPS
It might surprise you where you use the most water each day. Flushing a toilet claims nearly 24 percent of family water use each day. The clothes washer uses nearly 17 percent, with the shower taking up almost 20
percent. The faucet is around 19 percent, and leaks take up almost 12 percent. Do you
wash your dishes in a dishwasher? Is your dishwasher energy efficient? If it is, you may use
about four gallons of water to wash a load of dishes. If it is an older model that isn’t rated
for energy efficiency, you might be using about six gallons of water for every load. If you
wash your dishes by hand and run the water the entire time to rinse them, you can use up
to 16 gallons of water for one load. Don’t let the water run. Instead, fill one sink with soapy
water and the other with rinse water.
Here are more water-saving tips for your home:
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Run your dishwasher and wash your laundry only when you have a full load. You can
save up to 1,000 gallons of water a month just doing these two things. -
Use the garbage disposal sparingly, if at all. Compost your raw vegetable food waste instead, and save gallons every time.
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When brushing your teeth, simply turning off the tap while you brush can save up to eight gallons of water per day per person. That adds up to 200 gallons a month.
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Don’t leave the water running when you wash your hands. Wet your hands, shut off the water, lather your hands, then turn the faucet back on to rinse.
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A bath uses about 70 gallons of water, and a shower takes about 25 gallons. To save water, take a shower and time yourself. Keep it under 5 minutes. For greater savings, wet down, then turn off the water. Wash your body and your hair, then turn on the water just to rinse.
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A small leak in a toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day. That’s like flushing your toilet 50 times for no reason.
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Try this experiment with your parent’s help: Test for leaks in your toilet by placing a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color shows up in the bowl without flushing, you could have a leak.
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Did you know?
A fully loaded dishwasher usually is always the most efficient way to wash dishes. This is particularly true if your dishwasher has an Energy Star rating and if you use the “light” cycle, which should work just fine for day-to-day loads that are not heavily soiled.
TIPS TO REDUCE FOOD WASTE
Here are some ways you can reduce food waste, help to protect the environment, and save money:
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Sit down with the member of your house-hold who does the grocery shopping. Plan family meals for one week, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks. Pay attention to portion sizes. How much of each item on your list do you need? Check to see which ingredients you already have.
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Make a shopping list that includes only what your household doesn’t have. Never go to a grocery store when you are hungry, or you will be tempted to buy things you don’t need. Take your shopping list with you and stick to it.
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Check the refrigerator temperature. Food needs to be stored between 33.8 degrees and 41 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1 to 5 degrees Celsius) to keep it fresh for the longest time. Also check to see that the seals around your refrigerator and freezer doors are tight.
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When you buy new food from the supermarket, pull all of the older items in your pantry and refrigerator to the front. Put new food toward the back, and you’ll have less chance of finding something moldy and green in the back of your food storage areas. By rotating your food in this way, you will also have a better idea of what you have on hand.
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Try not to throw away fresh food. Freeze over-ripe fruit to make into smoothies or fruit pies later on. Put wilting vegetables in soup. Pack leftovers for school lunches, or add other ingredients to make another family meal.
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Serve small portions of food. People may want second servings when they’ve cleaned their plates, but starting with small portions helps cut down on food getting scraped into a garbage can. Leftovers should be cooled, promptly stored in the fridge, and used another day of the week.
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If you buy loose fruits and vegetables instead of those that come prepackaged, you can buy precisely the amount you need. The same goes for buying meats and cheeses from the deli section of your grocery. Buy just what you can eat before it goes bad.
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If your family buys in bulk, meats and vegetables (and meals prepared ahead of time for those nights when there’s too much going on to cook) can be frozen in portions that are sized right for a single meal for your household.
Some food waste will happen, no matter what you do. If you set up a compost bin, in a few months you’ll have valuable compost for plants. A kitchen composter called a bokashi bin works for cooked food waste, even fish and meat. You feed it your scraps, sprinkle over a layer of special microbes, and leave it to ferment. Houseplants and gardens love this broken-down enriched substance. One way to make a change and have a positive impact on ecological overshoot is to reduce waste. Does your family tend to throw out a lot of leftovers or uneaten food, such as fresh fruits and vegetables? If so, plan better and buy less. Purchase only what your family will consume.
TRASH THE TRASH DAY
Scouts Trash the Trash Day is an international Messengers of Peace project for Scouts
around the world, where each Scout is challenged to bring a friend or family member along
and pick up at least one Kilo (2.2 pounds) of trash each on the first Saturday in May.
The idea for Scouts Trash the Trash Day came from the scouts of Troop 1206 in Helena,
Montana after realizing that there are several days throughout the year that Scouts get
together and do the same thing on the same day. Days like Jamboree on the Air and
Internet, Jamboree on the Trail, Trees for the World, World Neckerchief Day, but there was
not a day for Scouts to all get together and clean up their communities. Thus Scouts Trash the Trash Day was started. Scouts are asked to bring a non-scout with them on this day of service in order to double the impact of their trash cleaning effort.
Scouts Trash the Trash Day is about more than just cleaning our planet, it is a day to show the world what Scouting is about, educate individuals about Scouting and recruit new boys, girls and adults into the Scouting movement.
For this week's challenge, grab a trash bag and take part in the International Scout's Trash the Trash Day!
While collecting, download Trash Bingo or the Trash Scavenger Hunt below!
LEAD A SUSTAINABILTY MEETING
Have a family meeting to talk about what you and your family have learned about becoming sustainable citizens. Discuss the behavioral changes and life choices that your family can make to live more sustainably. Scouting has taught you values that you use in your everyday life. How can living by the Scout Oath and Scout Law in your daily life help promote sustainability and good stewardship?
Doing Your Part: Minimizing Your Global Footprint
You might ask yourself what role you play in sustainability, what you can do to help sustain Earth. Completing this week's challenge is the first big step in educating yourself and increasing your awareness about the topic. Continue the trend by making your family, friends, and classmates more aware.
There are lots of steps you can take toward net zero waste, from how you wash dishes or brush your teeth, to how you can be a smart shopper. Turn that water off. Buy only what you need or will consume. Help reduce what goes in our landfills and make purchases based on minimal packaging. Practice the three R’s of green living—recycle, reuse, reduce. Take a genuine interest in practicing what you have learned and changing your lifestyle and habits at home, school, work, your place of worship, and in your community. You—and your family—can make a pledge to be sustainability citizens. Who knows, you might take it a step further and pursue a career in the growing field of sustainability.
REDUCE YOUR FAMILY'S WASTE
Come up with a family plan to reduce your waste. Come up with at least two ways you can reduce your:
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Water Use
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Food Waste
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"Stuff"
Throughout this week's challenge here are tips for sustainable living. Here are more actions you can take.
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Choose green power. Talk with your family about switching to renewable energy.
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Generate your own power. Can your home generate its own renewable energy? Talk with your family about the possibility of installing solar panels, a solar water heater, or a wind turbine.
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Use less energy. Power down appliances and electronic devices when not in use.
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Get an energy audit. An audit can help your family figure out how much energy your home uses and identify ways to reduce your energy use.
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Look for the label. Energy-efficient appliances and electronics typically use about 10 to 50 percent less energy than regular models. Look for products that display the Energy Star label. Also look for products that display the Sustainable Forestry Initiative label. Wood and paper products from certified forests ensure forest sustainability.
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Be energy wise at school. Schools can partner with the EPA’s Energy Star program to reduce their energy use.
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Travel greenly. Walk, bike, and hike when you can be safe doing so.
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Watch your water use. Don’t squander this precious resource.
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Reduce waste. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Make compost. Upcycle useless items into things of value.
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Plant a tree. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and provide shade.
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Buy locally grown food. The farther your food travels, the more greenhouse gases are produced in getting it from the farm to your plate.
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Spread the word. Teach others what you have learned.
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Join with others. Find environmental or other public-interest groups that focus on sustainability issues in your community or region, and lend your time and support to their efforts.
PLANT A PLANT
Be helpful to nature by planting a tree, shrub, or other plant outdoors. Learn more about the needs and growth of the item you have planted.
We all need a place to live. A monkey might live high up in the tree branches of a tropical jungle. The animals in your backyard jungle need shelter, too. We can help them by taking care of the trees and plants around us. Sometimes trees die, or get blown over, or must be removed. Then, the animals that lived there have to find new homes.
No plant or tree lives forever. Some die of old age, some get damaged by fire or lightning,
and some are cut down to be used for lumber or other purposes. You can help replace
lost plants or trees by planting new ones. If you’re lucky, you may someday walk beneath
the branches of a tree you planted!
A local nursery or garden center can help you select a plant or tree that will grow well in
your area. (You wouldn’t have much luck growing a palm tree in Minnesota or a Douglas
fir in Florida.) It helps to know how much sun the plant or tree will get and what type of
soil it will be planted in. Be sure to plant trees in places where they have plenty of room
to grow both up and out.
Here are some planting tips:
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Carry seedlings in a bucket or box. Keep the roots damp.
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Place trees at least 6 feet apart. Place plants at least 6 inches apart (but follow the instructions that come with each plant).
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Dig a hole just deep enough to hold the roots. Loosen the sides and bottom of the hole so that tiny roots can push into the soil. The roots should not be stuffed into the hole.
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A seedling should be planted so that its old ground line is about one-quarter inch below the new ground level. (The ground line is the dark mark on the trunk.) Plants should be planted at the same ground level.
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A seedling or other plant should be planted with its trunk straight up. Fill the hole with soil so it is even with the ground. The soil should not be sunken in or mounded up above the ground.
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Press the soil down firmly around the roots to prevent air pockets. If you don’t, the tree or plant may die because the air pockets dry out the roots, preventing water and nutrients from reaching them.
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A newly planted seedling needs lots of water, so soak the soil around the seedling with water, and then soak it again if it is planted in the ground. If you’re planting in a pot, make sure the pot is large enough to allow the plant or tree to grow (at least double the size of the container the plant arrived in). Be sure there are holes in the bottom of the pot to allow excess water to drain and a saucer underneath to catch the water. Place a layer of pebbles in the bottom of the pot to prevent the soil from draining.
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Closely follow the instructions for watering given on any tag or label that comes with the plant or tree. Each type of plant has different watering needs. Be sure to provide water and food as required on a regular basis.
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Cover the ground around the base of a seedling with several inches of mulch—composted leaves, wood chips, grass cuttings, straw, or sawdust. This holds in moisture and helps make the soil richer for the new tree. The mulch should be flat or slope down from the trunk to the ground. Don’t make it look like a volcano.
Your plant or tree can help the environment in several ways. Flowering plants provide food for bees and hummingbirds. Fruit and nut trees provide food for wildlife (and people!). Shade trees help keep buildings cooler. Evergreen trees offer shelter from winter winds. All trees provide habitat for wildlife and purify the air by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.
Plant your tree in celebration of Arbor Day! Arbor Day is a secular day of observance in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. Today, many countries observe such a holiday. Though usually observed in the spring, the date varies, depending on climate and suitable planting season.
Below you will find details on connected advancements for this week's challenge.
If there is a Trail Waypoint next to the advancement, that means you fully earn this adventure along The Trail! Here you will find connected worksheets, tracking tools, and full details on how to complete the adventure.
TRAIL WAYPOINTS
FOR CUB SCOUTS
LIONS - Current Kindergarteners (as of April 2021)
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Ready, Set, Grow! (Elective Adventure) - Select a seed and plant it!
TIGERS - Current 1st Graders (as of April 2021)
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My Tiger Jungle (Required Adventure) - Discover nature in your backyard and be helpful to nature by planting a plant.
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Team Tiger (Required Adventure) - Be helpful to your den and family, then do a service project to help our country or your community.
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Earning Your Stripes (Elective Adventure) - Show your den loyalty and work on a service project for your pack's meeting place.
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Good Knights (Elective Adventure) - Use recycled materials to build a castle and then participate in a service project.
WOLVES - Current 2nd Graders (as of April 2021)
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Council Fire, Duty to Country (Required Adventure) - Participate in a community service project with your den, family, or pack!
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Grow Something (Elective Adventure) - Learn about growing zones and plant a seed and care for it for at least 30 days.
BEARS - Current 3rd Graders (as of April 2021)
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Fur, Feathers, and Ferns (Required Adventure) - Learn about extinct animals and human impact. Then plant a garden and learn about composting.
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Paws for Action (Required Adventure) - Do a service project for your community with your family, den, or pack!
WEBELOS & ARROW OF LIGHTS - Current 4th & 5th Graders (as of April 2021)
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Building A Better World (Required Adventure) - Build a better world by learning about energy conservation in your community and throughout the world.
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Into the Woods (Elective Adventure) - Identify trees and plants in your area and then plant one plant or tree.
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Project Family (Elective Adventure) - Plan an event with your family. You'll learn more about others and you'll have a chance to do a service project with your family.
FOR SCOUTS BSA & VENTURING
While you'll need to work with your troop leadership to fully complete the rank requirements below, you can practice while completing this week's challenge!
SCOUT RANK
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Work on the Exploration Merit Badge along The Trail!
TENDERFOOT RANK
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Participate in a total of one hour of service in one or more service projects approved by your Scoutmaster. Explain how your service to others relates to the Scout slogan and Scout motto.
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Work on the Exploration Merit Badge along The Trail!
SECOND CLASS RANK
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Participate in two hours of service through one or more service projects approved by your Scoutmaster. Tell how your service to others relates to the Scout Oath.
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Work on the Exploration Merit Badge along The Trail!
FIRST CLASS RANK
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Participate in three hours of service through one or more service projects approved by your Scoutmaster. The project(s) must not be the same service project(s) used for Tenderfoot requirement 7b and Second Class requirement 8e. Explain how your service to others relates to the Scout Law.
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Work on the Exploration Merit Badge along The Trail!
STAR AND LIFE RANKS
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LIFE SCOUTS: While a Star Scout, participate in six hours of service through one or more service projects approved by your Scoutmaster. At least three hours of this service must be conservation-related.
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Work on the Exploration Merit Badge along The Trail!
FOR PARENTS AND ADULT LEADERS
FOR CUB SCOUT LEADERS
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Cubmaster or Assistant Cubmaster – The leader of the pack meeting is the Cubmaster. In addition to serving as the master of ceremonies, the Cubmaster provides support to Den Leaders.
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Den Leader or Assistant Den Leader – An adult, usually a parent, serves as a Den Leader. They carry out the activities related to adventures as they are presented in the Cub Scout’s handbook and the Den Leader Guide
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Pack Committee Chair – The top volunteer in the pack is the Pack Committee Chair. They are responsible for ensuring enough qualified adult volunteers are in place to provide the program. They lead the pack committee meetings.
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Pack Committee Members – Made up of parents, leaders, and other caring adults the pack committee works to support den leaders and the cubmaster. It sets pack policies and handles administrative functions, allowing the Den Leaders to focus on working directly with the Scouts.
FOR SCOUTS BSA LEADERS
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Scoutmaster – The Scoutmaster is the adult responsible for working directly with the Scouts providing direction, coaching, and support.
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Assistant Scoutmaster – An assistant Scoutmaster is an adult leader over the age of 18 who helps the Scoutmaster deliver the promise of Scouting. Each assistant Scoutmaster is assigned specific program duties. They can serve the troop by guiding a particular patrol to which they’ve been assigned.
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Troop Committee Chair – The troop committee chair supervises the troop committee and unit leaders, and organizes the committee to see that all committee responsibilities are delegated, coordinated and completed.
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Troop Committee Members – The troop committee is a cross between a board of directors and a parent support group. It sets troop policies and handles administrative functions, allowing the Scoutmaster and assistant Scoutmasters to focus on working directly with the Scouts.
FOR ALL UNITS
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Chartered Organization Representative – This person appoints the Pack or Troop Committee Chair and approves all adult leaders. They provide resources from the chartered organization.
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New Member Coordinator – Sustaining strong membership in a unit depends partly on reaching new audiences to invite them to join the unit and partly on engaging new members and their families so that they feel welcomed and want to stay. The role of the New Member Coordinator is to ensure that both keys to success take place.
DISTRICT AND COUNCIL LEADERSHIP
All districts and councils are responsible for carrying out four standard functions:
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Membership: The membership function strives for growth through the organization of new Scouting units, through
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new members and adult volunteers joining existing units, and through the retention of current members.
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Fund Development: The fund development function sees that the district provides its share of funds to the total council operating budget.
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Program: The program function concentrates on helping Scouting units with camp promotion, special activities including community service, training adult volunteers, and youth advancement and recognition.
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Unit service: The unit service function provides direct coaching and consultation for unit volunteers to help ensure the success of every Scouting unit.
The membership, fund development, and program functions are carried out by members of the district committee or the council committee. The unit service function is carried out by the commissioner staff. The Scouting movement cannot achieve its purpose without first organizing units and enrolling members. The district cannot support its units without the funds to do it. Unit programs are supported by the district through its program functions and unit service. All four functions are equally important and necessary. If one suffers from lack of attention, all the work of the district suffers.
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Log in to my.scouting.org
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Click on BSA Learn Center to access a full list of trainings, pick your program area
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Take the training
Not in a position in Scouting? Explore our comprehensive list of positions above and take a training on a position you might be interested in. All units need positions from Scoutmaster to New Member Coordinator.
FIND SUPPLEMENTAL TRAINING AT LEADSCOUTING.ORG
Join more than 1,000 other adult volunteers from around the world at www.LEADScouting.org for Baden Powell Institute throughout the spring! BPI is a premiere training event providing courses that spark innovation, imagination, and inspiration. You’ll have immediate access to the entire course catalog of 30+ classes on an interactive virtual campus and receive a package in the mail! We’ve designed this program to meet your needs with all classes digitally delivered and on demand – tune in on your time, and get the training you need.