Eagle Scout is the highest rank for Boy Scouts. But after a Boy Scout becomes an Eagle Scout he can continue to earn recognition for his achievements by earning Eagle Palms.

You wear a combination of palms for the number of merit badges you earned beyond the rank of Eagle. The Bronze Palm represents five merit badges, the Gold Palm 10, and the Silver Palm 15. To represent 20 merit badges, wear a Bronze Palm and a Silver Palm.

I encourage all Eagle Scouts to stay active with their troops and continue to develop their leadership skills.

Eagle Palm Requirements

1. Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 3 months after becoming an Eagle Scout or after the award of last Palm.
2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
3. Make a satisfactory effort to develop and demonstrate leadership ability.
4. Earn five additional merit badges beyond those required for Eagle or last Palm.
5. Take part in a Scoutmaster conference
6. Complete your board of review.

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Purchasing information: The Eagle Court of Honor Book

From the publisher:

The Eagle Court of Honor Book is the complete guide to Scouting’s greatest moment. It covers every aspect of staging an Eagle Scout court of honor: from physical arrangements to promotion to the ceremony itself. Included are three complete ceremonies, nine planning checklists, 15 pages of charges, poems, and quotations, inexpensive props you can make, and support job descriptions. A must for any Boy Scout leader’s library.

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Purchasing information: The Scoutmaster’s Other Handbook

From the publisher:

With his first book Mark Ray revolutionized the Eagle Scout court of honor, showing tens of thousands of readers how to make Scouting’s greatest moment truly great. Now, he turns his attention to an even bigger task: building great Boy Scout troops.

In this unique and highly personal book, Ray offers hundreds of proven ideas for building strong, successful, sustainable troops that truly achieve the promise of Scouting. Beginning with Scouting’s aims and methods, the book moves quickly through every aspect of the program, from troop meetings and outings to fundraising and administration.

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Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America. Unlike the other ranks in Boy Scouts, the title of Eagle Scout is held for life. “Once an Eagle, always an Eagle.”

Are you an Eagle Scout or do you know somebody who is? Add your thoughts about what the rank of Eagle means to you in the “Leave a Reply” section at the bottom of this post.

Eagle Scout Rank Requirements

1.  Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 6 months as a Life Scout.
2.  Demonstrate that you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life. List the names of individuals who know you personally and would be willing to provide a recommendation on your behalf, including parents/guardians, religious, educational, and employer references.
3. Earn a total of 21 merit badges (10 more than you already have), including the following:
1. First Aid
2. Citizenship in the Community
3. Citizenship in the Nation
4. Citizenship in the World
5. Communications
6. Personal Fitness
7. Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving
8. Environmental Science
9. Personal Management
10. Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling
11. Camping
12. Family Life
• You must choose only one merit badge listed in items g and j. If you have earned more than one of the badges listed in items g and j, choose one and list the remaining badges to make your total of 21.
4. While a Life Scout, serve actively 6 months  in one or more of the following positions of responsibility:
   • Boy Scout Troop: Patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, senior patrol leader, troop guide, Order of the Arrow troop representative, den chief, scribe, librarian, historian, quartermaster, junior assistant Scoutmaster, chaplain aide, instructor, Webmaster, or Leave No Trace Trainer.
   • Varsity Scout team:  Captain, cocaptain, program manager, squad leader, team secretary, Order of the Arrow team representative, librarian, quartermaster, chaplain aide, instructor, den chief, Webmaster, or Leave No Trace Trainer.
   • Venturing crew / Sea Scout ship: President, vice president, secretary, treasurer, boatswain, boatswain’s mate, yeoman, purser, storekeeper, Webmaster, or Leave No Trace Trainer.
5. While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. (The project must benefit an organization other than Boy Scouting.) A project proposal must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your unit leader and unit committee, and the council or district before you start. You must use the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook, BSA publication No. 512-927, in meeting this requirement. (To learn more about the Eagle Scout service project, see the Guide to Advancement, topics 9.0.2.0 through 9.0.2.15.)
6. Take part in a Scoutmaster conference
7. Successfully complete an Eagle Scout board of review.

Notes
AGE REQUIREMENT ELIGIBILITY. Merit badges, badges of rank, and Eagle Palms may be earned by a registered Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, or Venturer. He may earn these awards until his 18th birthday. Any Venturer who achieved the First Class rank as a Boy Scout in a troop or Varsity Scout in a team may continue working for the Star, Life, and Eagle Scout ranks and Eagle Palms while registered as a Venturer up to his 18th birthday. Scouts and Venturers who have completed all requirements prior to their 18th birthday may be reviewed within three months after that date with no explanation. Boards of review conducted between three and six months after the candidate’s 18th birthday must be preapproved by the local council. A statement by an adult explaining the reason for the delay must be attached to the Eagle Scout Rank Application when it is submitted to the Eagle Scout Service. The national Advancement Team must be contacted for procedures to follow if a board of review is to be conducted more than six months after a candidate’s 18th birthday.

If you have a permanent physical or mental disability, you may become an Eagle Scout by qualifying for as many required merit badges as you can and qualifying for alternative merit badges for the rest. If you seek to become an Eagle Scout under this procedure, you must submit a special application to your local council service center. Your application must be approved by your council advancement committee before you can work on alternative merit badges.

A Scout or Venturer with a disability may work toward rank advancement after he is 18 years of age if he meets the guidelines outlined in the Guide to Advancement.

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Life is the fifth rank a Boy Scout can earn. It is earned after Star. A Scout working on the rank of Life continues to develop leadership, participates in service projects, and earns merit badges. He must also share his skills by using the EDGE method to teach another Scout.

Life Rank Requirements

1. Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 6 months as a Star Scout.
2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
3.  Earn 5 more merit badges (so that you have 11 in all), including any 3 more from the required list for Eagle.
1. ___________________________________(required for Eagle)
2. ___________________________________(required for Eagle)
3. ___________________________________(required for Eagle)
4. ____________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________
4. While a Star Scout, take part in service projects totaling at least 6 hours of work. These projects must be approved by your Scoutmaster.
5. While a Star Scout, serve actively for six months in one or more of the troop positions of responsibility listed in requirement 5 for Star Scout (or carry out a Scoutmaster-assigned leadership project to help the troop).
6. While a Star Scout, use the EDGE method to teach a younger Scout the skills from ONE of the following six choices, so that he is prepared to pass those requirements to his unit leader’s satisfaction.
1. Second Class – 7a and 7c (first aid)
2. Second Class – 1a (outdoor skills)
3. Second Class – 3c, 3d, 3e, and 3f (cooking/camping)
4. First Class – 8a, 8b, 8c, and 8d (first aid)
5. First Class – 1, 7a, and 7b (outdoor skills)
6. First Class – 4a, 4b, and 4d (cooking/camping)
7. Take part in a Scoutmaster conference
8. Complete your board of review.

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The Venturing Silver Award is available to all young men and women who are Venturers. Earning the Venturing Silver Award helps the Scout develop knowledge and leadership skills. In particular, Scouts who achieve the Silver Award must learn about emergency preparedness (including standard first aid, CPR, and Safe Swim Defense), must demonstrate leadership, must participate in an Ethics in Action program, earn at least one Bronze Award, and earn the Gold Award.

The requirements must be completed before the Scouts 21st birthday, although the review may take place afterwards.

Venturing Silver Award Requirements

1. Earn One Venturing Bronze Award:
1. Arts and Hobbies Bronze Award
2. Outdoor Bronze Award
3. Religious and Community Life Bronze Award
4. Sea Scouting Bronze Award
5. Sports Bronze Award
2. Earn the Venturing Gold Award.
3. Emergency Preparedness
1. Become certified in Standard First Aid or equivalent course. If you choose the American Red Cross Standard First Aid version of the course, the curriculum includes how to recognize an emergency and overcome the reluctance to react; how to recognize and care for breathing and cardiac emergencies in adults (training to care for infants and children is optional); and how to identify and care for life-threatening bleeding, sudden illness, and injury. The course is approximately 6½ hours. Your Standard First Aid certification will expire three years from the date of issue. Your CPR certification will expire one year from the date of issue.  If you hold an unexpired certification in this or a higher course, you can receive credit for this requirement. However, you must be currently certified at the time of your Silver Award crew review. You are encouraged to get certified as soon as possible and stay certified. For this requirement, you are not required to seek a higher certification, but you are encouraged to get certifications in higher-level course such as Wilderness First Aid or Emergency Response. You will be even more prepared. Note: If you need help finding an American Red Cross instructor in your area, call your local Red Cross chapter. For literature, call toll-free 1-800-667-2968).
2. Become certified in CPR. You can take a stand-alone CPR course or take it as part of another course such as Standard First Aid. Please remember that CPR certification lasts for only one year, at which time you will need a refresher course. Like Standard First Aid,. it is good to always be current in your CPR certification. You most likely will get an opportunity to use your skill in saving a life.
3. Complete the BSA Safe Swim Defense training course. In this course, you will learn how each of the eight points of the Safe Swim program affects safe crew swimming activities. You will learn that qualified supervision and discipline are the two most important points, upon which the other points rely. You will also learn how to set up a safe swim area. Any BSA aquatics resource person, your crew Advisors, or other council-authorized individual can provide the training course for you. Use Safe Swim Defense, No. 34370, and Safe Swim Defense Training Outline, No. 19-417.
4. Either lead or participate in a group swim using BSA Safe Swim Defense. Swimming can be a great way for you and your crew members to stay fit and to just have fun. To ensure that you and your friends will continue to do just that, always insist you use Safe Swim Defense.
4. Leadership
1. Successfully complete the Venturing Leadership Skills Course.
2. Successfully serve for at least six months in an elected or appointed crew, district, or council leadership position. Since leadership is a form of service to others, don’t be afraid to ask your followers, those you serve, how you are doing. If you don’t have an occasional assessment of your progress, you might not improve. Learn to value the opinion of others. Service as a den Chief qualifies for this requirement. This must be in addition to the leadership requirement in the Venturing Gold Award.
5. Ethics in Action
1. Participate in at least two Ethical Controversies Activities from chapter 9 of the Venturing Leader Manual. These activities are scenarios that will put you and those who do the activities with you into challenging, problem-solving situations. In a constructive way, these activities will help you develop the following personal skills:
1. Promoting productive conflict resolution
2. Polite disagreement
3. Listening to new ideas
4. Understanding other people’s perspectives
5. Working toward a solution that the group involved will support and implement
2. Either organize and lead, or help to organize and lead, an Ethics Forum for your crew, another crew, school class, or other youth group. An Ethics Forum is simply another, more formal, way of gathering information about ethics. You will invite two or more adults to form a panel for your crew or group to ask questions about ethics in their personal or professional lives. You can even invite adults related to your crew’s specialty; if you are in a sports crew, you could invite a sports doctor, a coach, and a professional athlete. You can even invite guests such as family members and friends to join you. You can even use the information gathered from the Ethics Forum to develop your own Ethical Controversies activities.
6. Silver Award Review
1. After completing all requirements, the candidate should prepare evidence of completion of work. It should be submitted to the crew Advisor along with the completed and personally signed Silver Award Progress Record and Application. The crew president, in conjunction with the crew Advisor, should then appoint a review committee of four to six people including Venturers and adults. The review committee should review the candidate’s written documentation and interview the candidate to determine whether the candidate complete all work and grew as a result of the pursuit of the Silver Award. The application is then approved by the crew Advisor and crew committee chairman and submitted to your council service center.

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First Class Rank Requirements for Boy Scouts

1. Demonstrate how to find directions during the day and at night without using a compass.
2. Using a map and compass, complete an orienteering course that covers at least one mile and requires measuring the height and/or width of designated items (tree, tower, canyon, ditch, etc.)
3. Since joining, have participated in ten separate troop/patrol activities (other than troop/patrol meetings), three of which included camping overnight. Demonstrate the principles of Leave No Trace on these outings.
4. 1. Help plan a patrol menu for one campout that includes at least one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner and that requires cooking at least two of the meals. Tell how the menu includes the foods from the food pyramid and meets nutritional needs.
   2. Using the menu planned in requirement 4a, make a list showing the cost and food amounts needed to feed three or more boys and secure the ingredients.
   3. Tell which pans, utensils, and other gear will be needed to cook and serve these meals.
   4. Explain the procedures to follow in the safe handling and storage of fresh meats, dairy products, eggs, vegetables, and other perishable food products. Tell how to properly dispose of camp garbage, cans, plastic containers, and other rubbish.
   5. On one campout, serve as your patrol’s cook. Supervise your assistant(s) in using a stove or building a cooking fire. Prepare the breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned in requirement 4a. Lead your patrol in saying grace at the meals and supervise cleanup.
5. Visit and discuss with a selected individual approved by your leader (elected official, judge, attorney, civil servant, principal, teacher) your constitutional rights and obligations as a U.S. citizen.
6. Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of native plants found in your community.
7. 1. Discuss when you should and should not use lashings. Then demonstrate tying the timber hitch and clove hitch and their use in square, shear, and diagonal lashings by joining two or more poles or staves together.
   2. Use lashing to make a useful camp gadget.
8. 1. Demonstrate tying the bowline knot and describe several ways it can be used.
   2. Demonstrate bandages for a sprained ankle. and for injuries on the head, the upper arm, and the collarbone.
   3. Show how to transport by yourself, and with one other person, a person:
      • from a smoke-filled room
      • with a sprained ankle, for at least 25 yards.
   4. Tell the five most common signals of a heart attack. Explain the steps (procedures) in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
9. 1. Tell what precautions must be taken for a safe trip afloat.
   2. Successfully complete the BSA swimmer test.
   3. With a helper and a practice victim, show a line rescue both as tender and rescuer. (The practice victim should be approximately 30 feet from shore in deep water.)
10. Tell someone who is eligible to join Boy Scouts, or an inactive Boy Scout, about your troop’s activities. Invite him to a troop outing, activity, service project or meeting. Tell him how to join, or encourage the inactive Boy Scout to become active.
11. Describe the three things you should avoid doing related to use of the Internet. Describe a cyberbully and how you should respond to one.
12. Demonstrate scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life. Discuss four specific examples (different from those used for Tenderfoot requirement 13 and Second Class requirement 11) of how you have lived the points of the Scout Law in your daily life.
13. Participate in a Scoutmaster conference.
14. Complete your board of review.

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A reader recently wrote to me with this question about recognizing Eagle palms:

My son is about to get his 17th Palm before he turns 18. Is there some type of ceremony to recognized this similar to the Eagle COH?

First of all, I would like to congratulate your son on his achievements. Eagle Scouts who earn palms should be recognized at their regular troop Courts of Honor.

When our troop has a Scout who nearing his 18th birthday, we also give him the option of being honored for his “career accomplishments” at the last troop Court of Honor which will occur before his birthday. He can have some of the highlights of his Scouting experience listed in the program, can make a display of his memorabilia, etc. We get some input from the Scout about what he would like to do and advise him of how to put it together. It only takes a few minutes of the program time and helps the younger Scouts see all of the adventure that awaits them. This sort of presentation also reinforces the idea that Scouts are encouraged to remain active members of the troop after they become Eagle Scouts.

Note, that this is always the choice of the Scout. Some Scouts want this sort of presentation, while others prefer to quietly age out. We always present this option to them, but in the end it is their decision.

Perhaps your son could request something similar at an upcoming Court of Honor. He might even start a new troop tradition.

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BSA provides den meeting plans for den leaders on the Scouting.org website. The eighth Webelos den meeting plan focuses on the Artist Activity badge. It also completes the requirements for Citizen and the Webelos badge, which were started in previous meetings.

If you don’t already have the BSA den meeting plans, download BSA Webelos Den Meeting Plan 8 to follow along with this article.

If you have been following the BSA den meeting plan series in order, at this point your Webelos should be finishing up the requirements for the Webelos badge and should be starting to work on some electives. However, chances are that some of your Webelos have missed some of the meetings or have not done the required work at home. So these Cub Scouts will need to catch up with the rest of the den in order to earn their Webelos badge. Go through your records and figure out what each Scout needs to do. Give him a list and follow up with his parents so he can earn his badge.

BSA Webelos Den Meeting 8 – Artist

Preparation and Before the Meeting

As suggested, review the requirements for Webelos and figure out what your Scouts still need to do. You can spend some time during the meeting playing catch up while the Webelos who have already completed the badge work on Artist. You might need to arrange for some additional adults to help you with this. Or ask your Boy Scout troop if they have some older Scouts who would be willing to work with a Webelos to help him catch up.

Gathering

Since you will be working on Artist, try putting out some markers, crayons, watercolors, and paper to let your Webelos get creative while they are waiting for everyone to arrive.

Opening

If anyone still needs to do an opening flag ceremony for his Webelos badge let him lead it.

Business

Keep business short. This is a good time to hand out lists of what Cub Scouts still need to do to finish the Webelos badge.

Activities

You might have two different groups here. Some who are finishing up Webelos badge or Citizen activity badge and some who are working on artist. For help with Webelos or Citizen just follow the links. Since these have already been covered before, I am going to focus on Artist.

Try to get a “guest artist” to come in and speak with them. This will make it easier to fulfill the requirement. With one of my dens we couldn’t arrange this, so the Webelos just talked to their art teacher at school. She was very willing to help them with this.

We did the color mixing with paint, but I love the idea of using frosting. Bring some graham crackers for them to spread it on and they can have a snack – albeit an unhealthy one.

Clay is fun, but messy. We didn’t have a lot of time when we did this badge and ZM’s den had all done some clay sculpting at school the month before, so we just counted that.

ZM’s den loved doing the constructions. I gave them a big box of “raw materials” and they came up with some very creative projects. At the end of the meeting, they each showed off what they had made, explained what it was, and told how they made it. One of them made an amazing looking bird with an egg carton, toothpick, a yogurt container, and some feathers.

Closing and After the Meeting

Say the Scout Law or Scout Oath. Your Webelos need to memorize this to earn the Arrow of Light and repitition will help.

After the meeting, have all of the Webelos help you clean up. And remind the parents about who will be helping you at the next meeting.

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The Venturing Gold Award was developed to recognize the significant accomplishment in a young woman’s or man’s life as the Scout has proven outstanding performance in a broad spectrum of activities. Completing the Venturing Gold Award requirements will challenge and motivate Venturers over an extended period.

This award offers challenging and stimulating opportunities for Venturers to develop and achieve personal goals in the areas of leadership, character development, and personal fitness.

The Venturing Gold Award is available to all young men and women who are youth members in the Venturing program offered by the Boy Scouts of America.

Venturing Gold Award Requirements

1. The candidate must have at least 12 months’ tenure as an active, registered Venturer before final qualification.
2. Earn at least one Bronze Award
3. The candidate must have been an active member of the Venturing crew, and served in a leadership role within the past 12 months as follows:
1. For leadership roles within the crew, a candidate might be
1. A crew officer
2. A team leaders’ council member or committee member
3. An activities chairman for one of the crew’s two-day activities or superactivity
2. For leadership roles outside the crew, a candidate might be:
1. An elected youth officer of a church or school organization.
2. A den chief
4. The candidate must have participated in a district, council, area, region, or national Venturing event.
5. The candidate must, in consultation with the crew Advisor or a member of the crew committee, set and accomplish one personal growth goal related to each of the following areas: citizenship, leadership, service to others, community/family, outdoor experience, and total fitness (six personal growth goals). For personal growth, a candidate might:
1. Complete a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) course or an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course.
2. Plan and carry out a personal exercise program over a four-month period, i.e., jogging, running, swimming, weight reduction, or physical conditioning.
3. Practice for, and attain, the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
4. Complete a reading program of the scriptures, classic literature, historical series, etc.
5. Serve for six months as a reading counselor for a child with reading problems.
6. Visit a nursing home, on a regular basis, over a four-month period, to help write letters or to read to patients or provide personalized services.
6. The candidate must plan, prepare for, and lead to completion two or more crew activity projects that relate to at least two of the following areas: citizenship, leadership, service to others, community/family, outdoor experience, and total fitness. Suggested crew activity projects are listed separately below. (At least two crew activity projects). For crew/ship activities, the action should involve at least five Venturers, and it should require a minimum of four to six months from inception to completion; the project should be approved and the goals of the project set by the crew Advisor and/or a member of the crew committee and the Venturer candidate. Both parties should certify the completion of the project(s). Activities should be arranged to fit into normal crew programming. Qualifying crew/ship activities include, but are not limited to the following:
1. Plan and, with the help of at least four other Venturers, carry out a conservation project that is approved by an agency of the federal, state, or local government, such as the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, state division of parks and recreation, city or county parks department, etc.
2. Plan and chair a committee that stages a major social activity involving crew members and their parents, or crew members and their entire families.
3. Plan and carry out a series of crew activities over a four- to six-month period, related to an interest of crew members. Professional or volunteer consultants could be asked to present information regarding their specialty, profession, or occupation.
4. Help organize a new Venturing crew, or revitalize an inactive crew; coordinate activity with BSA local council staff members.
5. Organize a recruitment drive to add members to your own crew or to other crews in the district/council. The drive should last at least one month, and the recruitment plan should include specific activities oriented toward recruiting new members, goals, methods of publicity, etc.
7. The candidate must be able to recite the Venturing Oath.
8. The candidate must submit three letters of recommendation to the crew Advisor that confirm he or she lives in accordance with the principles of the Venturing Oath. The letters should come from adults outside the crew, such as school or religious leaders, employers, or community leaders.
9. After completing all other requirements, the candidate should prepare evidence of completion of the work and submit it to the crew Advisor. The crew president, in conjunction with the crew Advisor, should then appoint a review committee of four to six people including Venturers and adults. The committee should review the candidate’s written presentation and interview the candidate to determine whether that person grew as a result of the pursuit of the Gold Award.
10. Finally, the candidate must have qualified for the Gold Award before his or her 21st birthday.

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Second Class is the second rank a Boy Scout can earn. He earns it after Tenderfoot. The  Second Class rank requirements for Boy Scouts continue to teach the youth to the skills he needs to advance in Boy Scouting.

The Second Class requirements may be worked on simultaneously with the requirements for Tenderfoot and First Class; these ranks must still be earned in sequence though.

More helps for working on the Second Class Boy Scout rank.

Second Class Rank Requirements

1. Demonstrate how a compass works and how to orient a map. Explain what map symbols mean.
2. Using a compass and a map together, take a 5-mile hike (or 10 miles by bike) approved by your adult leader and your parent or guardian.*
2. Discuss the principles of “Leave No Trace”
1. Since joining, have participated in five separate troop/patrol activities (other than troop/patrol meetings), two of which included camping overnight.
2. On one of these campouts, select your patrol site and sleep in a tent that you pitched. Explain what factors you should consider when choosing a patrol site and where to pitch a tent.
3. Demonstrate proper care, sharpening, and use of the knife, saw, and ax, and describe when they should be used.
4. Use the tools listed in requirement 3c to prepare tinder, kindling, and fuel for a cooking fire.
5. Discuss when it is appropriate to use a cooking fire and a lightweight stove. Discuss the safety procedures for using both.
6. In an approved place and at an approved time, demonstrate how to build a fire and set up a lightweight stove. Note: Lighting the fire is not required.
7. On one campout, plan and cook one hot breakfast or lunch, selecting foods from the food pyramid. Explain the importance of good nutrition. Tell how to transport, store, and prepare the foods you selected.
4. Participate in a flag ceremony for your school, religious institution, chartered organization, community, or troop activity. Explain to your leader what respect is due the flag of the United States.
5. Participate in approved (minimum of one hour) service project(s).
6. Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of wild animals (birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, mollusks) found in your community.
1. Show what to do for “hurry” cases of stopped breathing, serious bleeding, and ingested poisoning.
2. Prepare a personal first aid kit to take with you on a hike.
3.  Demonstrate first aid for the following:
1. Object in the eye
2. Bite of a suspected rabid animal
3. Puncture wounds from a splinter, nail, and fishhook
4. Serious burns (partial thickness, or second degree)
5. Heat exhaustion
6. Shock
7. Heatstroke, dehydration, hypothermia, and hyperventilation
1.  Tell what precautions must be taken for a safe swim.
2. Demonstrate your ability to jump feetfirst into water over your head in depth, level off and swim 25 feet on the surface, stop, turn sharply, resume swimming, then return to your starting place.
3. Demonstrate water rescue methods by reaching with your arm or leg, by reaching with a suitable object, and by throwing lines and objects. Explain why swimming rescues should not be attempted when a reaching or throwing rescue is possible, and explain why and how a rescue swimmer should avoid contact with the victim.
1. Participate in a school, community, or troop program on the dangers of using drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, and other practices that could be harmful to your health. Discuss your participation in the program with your family, and explain the dangers of substance addictions.
2.  Explain the three R’s of personal safety and protection.
10. Earn an amount of money agreed upon by you and your parent, then save at least 50 percent of that money.
11. Demonstrate scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life. Discuss four specific examples (different from those used for Tenderfoot requirement 13) of how you have lived the points of the Scout Law in your daily life.
12. Participate in a Scoutmaster conference.
13. Complete your board of review.

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Today (Feb 24, 2012) is the first day Boy Scouts can start earning the new Welding merit badge. Encourage your Scouts to look into this badge.

Opportunities in the welding field are endless, and Scouts earning their Welding merit badge can not only explore the fundamentals of welding, but also learn about the different career paths within the industry.

Welding Merit Badge Requirements

1. Do the following:
1. Explain to your counselor the hazards you are most likely to encounter while welding, and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, or lessen these hazards.
2. Show that you know first aid for, and the prevention of, injuries or illnesses that could occur while welding, including electrical shock, eye injuries, burns, fume inhalation, dizziness, skin irritation, and exposure to hazardous chemicals, including filler metals and welding gases.
2. Do the following:
1. With your counselor, discuss general safety precautions and Material Safety Data Sheets related to welding. Explain the importance of the MSDS.
2. Describe the appropriate safety gear and clothing that must be worn when welding. Then, present yourself properly dressed for welding—in protective equipment, clothing, and footwear.
3. Explain and demonstrate the proper care and storage of welding equipment, tools, and protective clothing and footwear.
3. Explain the terms welding, electrode, slag, and oxidation. Describe the welding process, how heat is generated, what kind of filler metal is added (if any), and what protects the molten metal from the atmosphere.
4. Name the different mechanical and thermal cutting methods. Choose one method and describe how to use the process. Discuss one advantage and one limitation of this process.
5. Do the following:
1. Select two welding processes, and make a list of the different components of the equipment required for each process. Discuss one advantage and one limitation for each process.
2. Choose one welding process. Set up the process you have chosen, including gas regulators, work clamps, cables, filler materials, and equipment settings. Have your counselor inspect and approve the area for the welding process you have chosen.
6. After successfully completing requirements 1 through 5, use the equipment you prepared for the welding process in 5b to do the following:
1. Using a metal scribe or soapstone, sketch your initial onto a metal plate, and weld a bead on the plate following the pattern of your initial.
2. Cover a small plate (approximately 3″ x 3″ x ¼”) with weld beads side by side.
3. Tack two plates together in a square groove butt joint.
4. Weld the two plates together from 6c on both sides.
5. Tack two plates together in a T joint, have your counselor inspect it, then weld a T joint with fillet weld on both sides.
6. Tack two plates together in a lap joint, have your counselor inspect it, then weld a lap joint with fillet weld on both sides.
7. Do the following:
1. Find out about three career opportunities in the welding industry. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why the profession might interest you.
2. Discuss the role of the American Welding Society in the welding profession.

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BSA provides den meeting plans for Cub Scout den leaders on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the seventh Webelos plan.

This plan completes many of the requirements for the Citizen Activity Badge. The other requirements for this badge were covered in BSA Webelos Meeting Plan 5 and BSA Webelos Meeting Plan 6.  For additional ideas, check out these alternate methods of covering Citizen:

• Webelos Citizen Activity Badge Den Meeting Plan Part 1
• Webelos Citizen Activity Badge Den Meeting Plan Part 2

You can also find ideas related to this badge on my Webelos Citizen Activity Badge page.

If you don’t already have the BSA den meeting plans, download BSA Webelos Den Meeting Plan 7 to follow along with this article.

If you are using the BSA plans, remember that these plans are meant to be done in order, so do the previous plans first.

BSA Webelos Den Meeting Plan 7 – Citizen

Preparation and Before the Meeting

The prep work for this meeting involves gathering your materials beforehand. Having everything well organized before the start of the meeting will ensure that the meeting runs quickly, without a lot of  ”dead time” between activities.

Gathering

The Constitution Word Search Puzzle makes a nice gathering activity for this meeting if you haven’t used it already. My Webelos Badge Scramble Puzzle or Webelos Activity Badges Matching Quiz are also good alternatives.

Opening

Remember to keep letting your Webelos rotate leading a flag ceremony so each Webelos gets to do one for Webelos requirement 6. See Simple Indoor Flag Ceremony if you are indoors or Raising and Lowering the US Flag if you have access to a flag pole.

Business

“Keep announcements short and sweet, short and sweet, short and sweet. Keep announcements short and sweet, cause they’re boring”. (Part of the Announcements song.  Sing it to the tune of London Bridge. I’ll have to post more of the song soon.)

Activities

You are working on requirements 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9. The suggestion to make this into a game is a good one. You can do it Jeopardy style, or for a different approach, check out my Citizenship Football Game.

Closing

With Webelos, I like to keep going over the Scout Law with them. You can incorporate that into your closing ceremony.

After the Meeting

Another meeting complete! Look ahead to the next meeting and recruit whatever help you need now.

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The Venturing Outdoor Bronze Award can be earned by Venturers who are working to earn the Ranger award. To earn this Bronze award, Venturers must complete four of the Ranger core requirements and two Ranger electives.

I am not listing the core requirements and elective requirements here. Instead, I’ll go through those in future posts. See your Ranger handbook for the details. This should give you an idea of what is involved in earning this award.

Venturing Outdoor Bronze Award Requirements

Do four of the following Ranger core requirements:

• Standard First Aid
• Wilderness Survival
• Communications
• Leave No Trace
• Cooking
• Land Navigation
• Emergency Preparedness
• Conservation

Do two of the following Ranger elective requirements:

• Backpacking
• Cave Exploring
• Cycling/Mountain Biking
• Ecology
• Equestrian
• First Aid
• Fishing
• Hunting
• Lifesaver
• Mountaineering
• Outdoor Living History
• Physical Fitness
• Plants and Wildlife
• Project COPE
• Scuba Certification
• Shooting Sports
• Watercraft
• Winter Sports

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BSA provides den meeting plans for den leaders on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the seventh Wolf plan. If you don’t already have the BSA den meeting plans, download BSA Wolf Den Meeting Plan 7 to follow along with this article.

Theses BSA meeting plans are designed to be done in order, so do the previous ones before this one. This plan covers Wolf Achievement 7 – Your Living World and Wolf Elective 17 – Tie It Right. It also covers a few other bits and pieces.

This seems like a lot to cover in one meeting. If you can do it, great! If it looks too jam packed, you might just want to do the Achievement and save the elective for a later date.

BSA Wolf Den Meeting Plan 7: Your Living World and Tie It Right

Preparation and Before the Meeting

Most of the prep work for this meeting involves gathering the materials. Just use the list in the meeting plan.

Gathering Activity

I created theYour Living World – Printable Match Puzzle and Key specifically for this achievement. Or check my puzzles page for other ideas.

Opening

If you need help with the flag ceremony check out a simple indoor flag ceremony or raising and lowering the US flag.

Business

Keep it short and sweet.

Activities

I always did the Character Connections first, before they got wound up. So I would start with Requirement 7a: Complete the Character Connection for Respect. For the same reasons, it might be best to do the other discussion points (7b,7c,7e,7f) before the clean up activity. But you know your group, so follow your instincts and do it the way you think would work best.

Next do the cleanup project for Achievement 7d :With an adult, pick up litter in your neighborhood. Wear gloves to protect your hands against germs and cuts from sharp objects. When my guys were Wolves the really enjoyed this part, so we took our time with it.  For ideas on making it into a game, check out Clean Up Treasure Hunt.

Next you are going to finish up the craft you started at the last meeting. This will help them complete Wolf Elective 9b/c: Make a gift or toy like one of these and give it to someone.

Finally, you are going to do some knot tying for Elective 17. As I said in the introduction, if you don’t get to this, don’t sweat it. Electives aren’t required for them to get their Wolf badge. The more electives they do, the more  arrow points they get after they get their badge. The knots are pretty easy. If you have a Den Chief, this is a perfect opportunity for him to lead an activity.

Closing

This Native American Prayer  would make a nice closing for this conservation themed meeting.

After the Meeting

There might be some mess from the picture frame craft, so they should help clean that up. And they can carry the bags of trash to the bins for you.

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Janice recently wrote to me with this message:

I need your help! I’ve been assigned to help put together our Arrow of Light ceremony / banquet. I’m at a loss as to what to do for centerpieces. We’ll have over 10 tables and we don’t want to make it look too “blue and gold.” Any ideas that you may have could really help me out a lot!

Sometimes simple centerpieces are the best. For an Arrow of Light themed centerpiece, why not go with arrows and light? One of the nicest AOL centerpieces I saw were some pillar candles with some arrowheads scattered around. The Scouts took the arrowheads home as party favors. You could use something like these or find something less expensive locally:

Set Of 50 Indian Arrowheads – Agate

You could also attach the arrowheads to the pillar candles. Either way, Webelos will appreciate the more “grown up” look of these centerpieces.

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BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the sixth Webelos plan. If you don’t already have the BSA den meeting plans, download BSA Webelos Den Meeting Plan 6 to follow along with this article.

The BSA meeting plans are designed to be done in order. This plan continues work on the Citizen activity badge and covers Webelos badge requirement 3, Webelos badge requirement 4, and Webelos badge requirement 7 .

The BSA den meeting plans are designed to be completed in order, so look at the previous ones first. You should also check my Citizen activity badge page for more ideas to use with this den meeting plan along with alternate den meeting plans for completing the requirements.

BSA Webelos Den Meeting Plan 6: Citizen and Webelos Badge

Before the Meeting and Gathering

Most of the preparation for this meeting involves arranging the field trip to visit a community leader at his or her place of work.  This might be a mayor, alderman, city council member, etc. If this is not feasible, pick one of the other Citizen activity badge requirements instead. See the list of helps on the left side of this page or visit my Citizen activity badge page for different ways to complete the requirements.

The Constitution Word Search Puzzle makes a nice gathering activity for this meeting if you haven’t done it already and could easily be done on a field trip. They could also work on their poster for the Citizenship belt loop (Citizen activity badge requirement 8).

Opening

You need to continue working on flag ceremonies so every Webelos gets to do one for Webelos requirement 6. See Simple Indoor Flag Ceremony if you are indoors or Raising and Lowering the US Flag if you have access to a flag pole.

Business

Keep it short and sweet.

Activities

If you are on a field trip, the main event is the visit with the community leader. Cover the other requirements if you can, but sometimes this is difficult if you are away from your regular meeting place. You might have to save the Webelos badge requirements for another meeting if your time on the field trip doesn’t allow you to do these.

Closing

This is a good time to practice the Scout Oath and Law. It takes a lot of repetition for the Webelos to really learn these.

After the Meeting

Another meeting complete! It would be nice to have the den send a thank you note to the community leader you visited. And it’s always time to start getting ready for the next meeting.

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The Venturing Sea Scout Bronze award is aimed at Crews who are focused on sailing. I know of one such crew in our area who go sailing at a local lake. I think this would be difficult to earn without support and mentoring from a unit focused on sailing. I’ll present the requirements here so you can get an idea of what is involved, but if you really want to earn this I encourage you to find a unit which can support you.

Requirements for the Sea Scout Bronze Award are the same as for the Ordinary rank for Sea Scouts.

Venturing Sea Scout Bronze Award Requirements

Ideals

1. Give an explanation of the Sea Scout emblem and tell how and why is is used. Prove that you have a general understanding of the customs and courtesies of the sea.
2. Give a brief history of the U.S. flag and show when to fly it and how to hoist, lower, fold, display, and salute it.

Active Membership

3. Attend at least 75 percent of your ship’s meetings and special activities for six months.
4. Complete quarterdeck training, either as a petty officer or as a prospective petty officer, as provided and required by your ship and council.
5.  Recruit a new member for your ship and follow through until the new member is registered and formally admitted. (This requirement may be waived by the ship committee if additional membership is not possible at the time the Sea Scout applies.)

Special Skills

6. Boats: Know the identifying features and special advantages of 10 of the following types of boats: canoe, catamaran, dinghy, dory, kayak, motor cruiser, motor lifeboat, motor sailer, motor whaleboat, pram, pulling whaleboat, punt, runabout, self-bailing surfboat, skiff, trimaran. Name the principal parts of the type of craft commonly used by your ship.
1. Know the proper display of boat flags and courtesy on small boats.
2. Demonstrate your ability to handle a rowboat.
7. Marlinspike Seamanship: Using line appropriate to the craft you normally use, tie the following knots and explain the use of each: overhand knot, stevedore’s knot, bowline on a bight, timber hitch, rolling hitch, marline hitch, midshipman’s hitch, and double bowline (French bowline).
1. Name the various materials used for rope, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and the characteristics of laid and braided rope. Understand the meaning of lay, thread, strand, and hawser.
2. Demonstrate the ability to secure a line to pilings, bitts and rings, and to coil, flake, and flemish a line. Know how rope is sized and measured. Demonstrate how to cut and heat-seal a synthetic line.
8. Ground Tackle: Describe five types of anchors. Describe how each type holds the bottom, the kind of bottom in which it holds best, and any other advantages or disadvantages.
1. Name the parts of a stock anchor and stockless anchor.
2. Demonstrate the ability to weigh and set anchor.
9. Piloting: Explain the degree system of compass direction. Explain variation and deviation, and show how corrections are applied to correcting and uncorrecting compass headings assigned by your consultant.
1. Name relative bearings expressed in both degrees and points. Be able to report objects in view and wind directions with respect to the boat, and know the duties of a lookout.
2. Name three kinds of devices used aboard ship for measuring speed and/or distance traveled and, if possible, demonstrate their use.
3. Make a dead reckoning table of compass and distances (minimum three legs) between two points, plot these on a chart, and determine the final position.
4. Note: It is best if this requirement can be met while under way. If this is not possible, it may be simulated, but the courses and charts used must be those in the normal cruising area of the ship.
10.  Communications: Name the three principal methods of visual signaling and explain the advantages and limitations of each method.
1. Name the three principal types of radiotelephone equipment in marine use and demonstrate your knowledge of correct radiotelephone procedures.
11.  Time: Understand Universal Coordinated Time (Greenwich mean time) and zone time, and demonstrate the ability to convert from one to the other for your local area. Name the seven watches and bell time. Understand the 24-hour system of telling time.
12.  Swimming: Meet the requirements for the Swimming merit badge.
13.  Cruising: Take part in the planning and make a two-day (including overnight) cruise in an approved craft under leadership. Submit a satisfactory log of the cruise.
1. Name the wheel or helm orders specified in the current Pilot Rules manual. While on the cruise, perform the duties of a helmsman.
2. Note: For each day of the cruise, fill out a cruise log.
14.  Safety: Know the man overboard, fire, abandon ship, and all other drills used by your ship.
1. List the equipment that should be contained in an abandon ship bag, and list the duties to be performed before abandoning ship.
2. List safety equipment required by law for your ship’s main vessel. Discuss BSA Safety Afloat with a ship’s officer.
15.  Galley: While on a cruise or at a camp, prepare or take charge of a breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including boiled, fried, and uncooked dishes. Demonstrate your ability to properly use the galley equipment or personal cooking gear generally used aboard your craft. Demonstrate appropriate sanitation techniques for food preparation and meal cleanup.
1. Submit a menu, list of provisions, and estimated costs before meeting the above requirement.
2. Explain the use of charcoal, pressurized alcohol, propane, and compressed natural gas stoves, including safety precautions for each.
16.  Sailing: Name the principal parts of the masts, booms, spars, standing and running rigging, and sails of a gaff- or Marconi-rigged sloop, schooner, and ketch or yawl.
1. Describe the identifying characteristics of a sloop, ketch, yawl, cutter, and schooner.
17.  Work: As a Seaman Apprentice log at least 16 hours of work on ship equipment, projects, or activities other than regular ship meetings, parties, dances, or fun events.
1. Note: Arrange this work through the ship’s officers.
18.  Electives: Do any three of the following. (Note: Many ships place emphasis on differing skills because of the nature of their programs. Check with ship’s petty officers before selecting electives to ensure that they will be consistent with the ship’s program.)
1. Drill: Demonstrate your ability to execute commands in close-order drill.
2. Signaling: Send and receive semaphore messages using proper procedures at a rate of at least 30 letters a minute.
3. Compass: Box the compass to 32 points and demonstrate your ability to compute the degree heading for each point. Describe the relationship between the 32 points and the relative bearing system using points.
4. Yacht Racing: Describe the procedures used in yacht racing, and the signals used by the race committee to start a race, and serve as a crew member in a race sailed under current International Sailing Federation Rules. (Note: Secure the help of your ship’s officers to obtain a copy of the current version of the ISAF racing rules from the U.S. Sailing Association and secure a berth on your nearest qualified yacht club race, or sail in your local council or regional sailing races.)
5. Sailing: In a cat-rigged or similar small boat, demonstrate the ability to sail singlehandedly a triangular course (leeward, windward, and reaching marks). Demonstrate beating, reaching, and running. A qualified instructor must observe this.
6. Ornamental Ropework: Demonstrate your ability to make a three-strand turk’s head and a three-stand monkey’s fist. Using either ornamental knot, make up a heaving line. (Note: Most ornamental ropework is far too complicated to describe and illustrate effectively within a manual of this type. Secure the help of a consultant and read the literature the consultant recommends.)
7. Engines: Perform routine maintenance on your ship’s propulsion system, including filter, spark plug, oil changes, and other appropriate proper fueling procedures. Refer to operation manuals or ship officers for correct procedures.

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BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the second Wolf plan. If you don’t already have the BSA den meeting plans, download BSA Wolf Den Meeting Plan 6 to follow along with this article.

This plan completes Wolf Achievement 4 – Know Your Home and Community, which was started in the previous meeting plan. It also includes some electives - Let’s Have a Party and Sing-Along.

BSA Wolf Den Meeting Plan 6: Know Your Home and Community, Make a Gift, and Sing-Along

Preparation and Before the Meeting

This meeting requires some materials, so have them ready in advance. The plan mentions permission slips, but I think this might be a typo.

Gathering Activity

My Cycling Safety Crossword Puzzle would make a good gathering activity for this meeting if you haven’t already used it with this group. Or check my puzzles page for other ideas.

Opening

If you need help with the flag ceremony check out a simple indoor flag ceremony or raising and lowering the US flag.

Business

I always recommend you keep this short and to the point.

Activities

They will be making an emergency phone number list (follow the link for a template) for Achievement 4a:

Make a list of phone numbers you need in case of an emergency. Put a copy of this list by each phone or in a central place in your home. Update it often

If they don’t have all of the numbers they want to put on it, they can add more when they get home.

Role playing works great for Achievement 4b:

Tell what to do if someone comes to the door and wants to come in

They might want to ham it up. Tell them if they will do it seriously the first time, then they can do an over the top version.

For Achievement 4c, you can also include some phone etiquette:

Tell what to do if someone calls on the phone

For Achievement 4d, you can also ask them to see how many things they will come up with:

When you and your family leave home, remember to . . . (Turn off lights, close/lock windows, turn off water, take care of pets, have the key, lock all doors).

Remember those pictures you took at the first Wolf meeting? You are finally going to get to use them for Wolf elective 9b:

Make a gift or toy like one of these and give it to someone.

The painting might be a little messy, but that’s what makes it fun. So cover your work surface. Sometimes I would do stuff like this outside on a drop-cloth if the weather permitted.

Finally, you will sing a song for Wolf Elective 11a

Learn and sing the first and last verses of ‘America.’

Actually, I would do this as the closing ceremony for this meeting. It would be a nice way to wrap it all up.

Closing

See my comment above about singing the song here.

After the Meeting

There might be some mess from the craft. Make sure they help you clean it up. They need to learn to be responsible early on in their Scouting career.

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In previous articles,  I posted the requirements for the Venturing Sports Bronze Award and the Venturing Arts and Hobbies Bronze Award.  This month, I am posting the requirements for the Venturing Religious Life  Bronze award.

The Religious Life Bronze award works well for Crews who are organized as church youth groups as ours is. While none of our members have earned this recognition yet, I do present it to them as an option from time to time.

Venturing Religious Life Bronze Award Requirements

Do nine of the following:

1. Religious Emblem
1. Earn your denomination’s Venturing-age religious award. (See pages 76-77 of this book; pages 8-103 of Relationships Resources No. 4-400; or the Duty to God brochure No. 5-879.)
2. Cultural Diversity
1. Learn about cultural diversity.
2. Make a presentation or tabletop display using the information you learned in (a) above. OR
3. Invite someone from a different cultural background from yours and the majority of your crew’s members to give a presentation on a subject of his or her choosing. Introduce your guest.
4. Participate in a discussion about cultural diversity with your crew, Sunday school class, or other group.
3. Service Project
1. Plan and lead a service project such as helping to build a Habitat for Humanity house, participating in a community cleanup project, or taking on a fix-up project for a nursing home or nursery.
4. Religious Service
1. Serve as a volunteer in your church or synagogue or other nonprofit organization for at least three months.
2. Keep a personal journal of your experiences each time you worked as a volunteer.
3. After you have served as a volunteer for at least three months, share your experiences and how you feel about your service with others.
5. Religious Retreat
1. Go on a religious retreat or religious trek lasting at least two days.
6. Religious/Ethical Play
1. Produce or be a cast member in some type of entertainment production with a religious or ethical theme, such as a play, a puppet show, or concert for a group such as a children’s group, retirement home, homeless shelter, or Cub Scout or Boy Scout group.
7. Youth Group Leadership
1. Serve as president, leader, or officer of your Sunday school class or youth group.
8. First Aid Course
1. Complete a Standard First Aid course or higher course or its equivalent.
9. Ethical Controversies
1. Participate in at least two Ethical Controversies activities as a participant.
2. Be a facilitator for at least two Ethical Controversies activities for your crew, another crew, your school class, a Boy Scout troop, or another group.
3. Lead or be a staff member putting on an Ethics Forum for your crew, your church or synagogue, or your school class.
10. Teacher Assistant
1. Serve as a Sunday school teacher or assistant for a children’s Sunday school class for at least three months, or as a volunteer for a church/synagogue children’s activity such as vacation Bible school. (This must be different than requirement 4 above.)
11. Religious Interview
1. Meet with your church or synagogue minister/rabbi/leader to find out what he or she does, what they had to do to become your leader, and what they think is the most important element of their job.

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