News Briefs
Edited by John Clark
One-stop jamboree registration
Do you want to attend the 2010
National Scout Jamboree but are unsure how to sign up? For this jamboree, you can only accomplish the registration process online. Here’s how.
The parent or guardian of youth participants must log into their own MyScouting account, not the youth members’ account. (The parent or guardian does not have to be registered with the BSA to create a MyScouting account.)
Proceed to “Event Registrations, Jamboree,” then click the link for the youth-participant application. A box will appear requiring the youth’s three-digit council number, BSA member ID number (this information can be found on the youth’s current membership card), last name, and the e-mail address to be used on the application.
Adult leaders and staff applicants need to log into their MyScouting account, verify that their BSA ID number is entered into their profile section of their MyScouting account, then proceed to “Event Regis-trations, Jamboree,” click the link for the appropriate application, and complete it there.
All correspondence from the National Scout Jamboree department will be via the e-mail address on the applications.
Find tip sheets for the registration process at www.bsajamboree.org.
Go the OA Way
Renew your spirit for Scouting and the Order of the Arrow at the National Order of the Arrow Conference, scheduled Aug. 1-6 at Indiana University in Bloomington.
You can attend if you’re an Arrowman who is a registered member of the BSA, have your council’s approval, and have registered as a member of a council contingent or are a member of the council staff.
The conference allows each council 10 delegates, plus 2 percent of its 2008 charter-year OA membership. The fee, $395 for youth and adult members who pay the total by May 31, includes five nights’ housing, five full days of program and training, 14 meals, program and support materials, insurance, and recognition items during the conference. OA will charge $450 to prospective participants who pay after May 31.
Carey Miller, associate director of the Order of the Arrow, says he anticipates about 7,000 members will attend.
Beginning with a dinner the night of Aug. 1, Arrowmen will attend conference sessions during the day designed to give them a deeper understanding of the Scout Oath, Scout Law, OA Obligation, and what it means to live these words in daily life.
The program also will give participants knowledge, ideas, and skills for improving their lodge and chapter operations, a better understanding of how to carry out the ideas, and cutting-edge information on camping and high-adventure programming.
To reserve youth and adult spaces, each council must complete the online Council Contingent Reservation Form and submit a nonrefundable $100-per-participant reservation deposit (no individual reservations will be accepted). All contingent reservations must be processed through local Scout council offices, accompanied by the transmittal form.
Find more information and registration forms at the OA Web site, www.oa-bsa.org.
“We encourage all adult Arrowmen to establish a special fund in their councils to help youth members attend and share the conference spirit,” Miller says. “Everyone will come away with a renewed spirit, pride, and enthusiasm for Scouting and the Order of the Arrow.”
The Art of Scouting
Some of the iconic Norman Rockwell and Joseph Csatari paintings that will be included on the BSA's Endowment Art Tour. |
Experience first-hand some of the classic paintings that depict the values and virtues of the Scouting program when the BSA’s Endowment Art Tour kicks off its annual travels in October.
The highlights of the 20-piece exhibition, a collaboration between the BSA’s Council Solutions Group and the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Tex., are lavish works by “Mr. Scouting,” the world-renowned artist Norman Rockwell, as well as a set of classic images by Joseph Csatari, a realist painter and illustrator who studied with Rockwell and continues to create paintings each year for the BSA.
Eight original paintings by Rockwell, whose association with the BSA spanned 64 years, will include A Daily Good Turn (1918), the iconic image of a London Scout escorting BSA founder W.D. Boyce through the city’s streets; Our Heritage (1950), which depicts a Boy Scout and a Cub Scout in front of a picture of George Washington; Growth of a Leader (1966), showing Scouting’s stages from Cub Scouts through adult leader; and The Right Way (1955), in which a Star Scout teaches Cub Scouts to build a bird house.
Representing Csatari, whose paintings began appearing in the annual Brown & Bigelow calendar in the 1970s, are six works, including Values That Last a Lifetime (1986), a collage of Scouting images featuring two Boy Scouts and a Cub Scout; You Can Do It (1988), which depicts Cub Scouts exercising at a den meeting; A Good Turn (1993), showing representatives of all levels of Scouting bringing food to a mother and child; and Character Counts (1994), showing Scouts with the American flag and the Statue of Liberty.
In addition, you’ll see more fine art by many well-known figures such as Homer Hill, Don Lupo, L.D. Warren, and Posie Wood, as well as a portrait of Baden-Powell by an unknown artist.
Don’t miss these iconic images during their stays in Kennett Square, Penn. (host Del-Mar-Va Council); Newport, R.I. (host Narragansett Council); Santa Monica, Calif. (host Western Los Angeles County Council); and St. Charles, Ill. (host Central Region).
For more information, including exhibition dates and special, by-invitation events, interested Scouters should contact host councils or regions and councils from each geographic area.
It's OK to Brag
Scouting magazine fills its pages with stories that make you say, “My guys would love to
do that!” Now, you can inspire the same feeling in others.
We’re sure that your unit has some fun-filled adventure planned. Help your pack, troop, crew, or ship appear in a story that a million readers will see.
Tell us about any activity—large or small. Anything involving Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, or Venturers having fun and growing as young adults is fair game.
Mountain-biking at Mount Mitchell? Rafting the Rio Grande? Camping in Colorado? Or maybe you’re just putting a clever spin on an outing closer to home. We want to hear the details: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Our editors will personally review each and every submission. Space is limited, but there are no bad ideas. Submit information about your activity at least four to six months in advance. That will give us plenty of time to check it out. We might even send a writer and photographer to your hometown.
Submitting ideas is easy. Go to www.scoutingmagazine.org and click the “Submit story ideas” link on the right.
Training goes interactive
Out with the old; in with the…: Check out the BSA’s new interactive video presentation that recently replaced its “New Leader Essentials” in the Online Learning Center.
While continuing to address many of the “essentials” that give beginning adult leaders an understanding of the program, the new training, titled, “This Is Scouting,” stresses some important points for leaders to consider as the BSA moves forward into the future.
Although continuing to address organization, goals, history and traditions, and funding, the new course places increased emphasis on the BSA’s mission, vision, and values; its programs for boys of all ages and abilities; its role in the community; its aim to protect youth members; and its legacy. And it stresses the fun boys can have when they join Scouting.
Strategically placed “project checks” throughout the narration pose questions that help gauge the leaders’ grasp of the major points. Leaders can’t advance until they’ve answered them correctly. Find
the video at www.scouting.org/boyscouts/newleadertraining or order a copy from the Supply Group.
Celebrate Scouting families
Explore the tradition of Scouting within your family through the 100th Anniversary Generations Connection program. Celebrating Scouting’s legacy and its positive impact on American families, the program is designed around an enduring symbol—the tree.
“Nearly every youth experiences Scouting with members of their families,” says Bob Mersereau, director of the 100th Anniversary Project. “Scouting provides the opportunity to strengthen ties between family members, create great family memories, and develop a shared family foundation of worthwhile virtues and values.
Download a family tree to complete at www.scouting.org/100years. It’s guaranteed to spur important conversation with relatives about the shared experiences of Scouting: Scouts seeking out grandfathers who might have been Eagle Scouts, uncles and cousins who were Cub Scouts, or mothers or aunts who served as volunteers.
The program also provides encouragement to first-generation Scouts to incorporate important role models into their tree. “All Scouts are invited to pledge, as part of their tree to share Scouting with future generations,” Mersereau says.
The Arbor Day Foundation, in partnership with the BSA, has designated live, BSA 100th Anniversary trees for use in local council community planting ceremonies. And as a tangible reminder of the anniversary celebration and recognition of the benefits of Scouting, they’ll also be available to any individual or community organization.
In addition to the spade or shovel needed to plant the tree, you’ll want to download the free, online electronic toolkit at YourSource (www.scouting.org) to help you plan your local tree-planting events.
For more information, check out the Arbor Day Web site at www.arborday.org. A nominal fee will cover the cost of the trees.
Ready for exchange
Chief Scout Executive Robert J. Mazzuca recently signed a historic agreement between the Boy Scouts of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Boy Scout Association.
The agreement outlines the details for a youth and leader exchange program between the two Scout associations. The BSA has agreed to send Scouts and leaders to Saudi Arabia and accept Scouts and leaders from Saudi Arabia. The exchange program will be administered under the authority of the BSA International Commissioner: Wayne Perry.
“Exchanges such as these offer an incredible opportunity for understanding and goodwill,” Perry explained. Included in the exchange plans will be “home stay” opportunities for young people to stay in the homes of families of the host country.
The BSA hopes to begin the exchanges this summer.