Leaders:
Program Chairman:
- Training Chairman:
- Camp Promotion and Outdoor Chairman:
- Activities and Civic Service Chairman:
- Advancement and Recognition Chairman:
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Program Committee Overview:
The program function concentrates on helping Scouting units with camp
promotion; special activities including community service; training adult volunteers; and
youth advancement and recognition.
- Training:
For the leaders of each type of unit, several levels of training are available: Fast Start
training, basic training, supplemental training, and advanced training. The methods are
flexible enough to include individual or group training, though group training is usually
best.
- Activities and Civic Service:
Service to others is stressed in the Cub Scout Promise, the Scout Promise, the Varsity
Scout Pledge, and the Venturing Oath. It is brought to life through practical service
projects.
Cub Scout packs carry out their service projects in their own neighborhoods. Boy Scouts and
Venturers range farther in their projects, often participating in district and councilwide
service. Occasionally there nationwide service projects. It is essential that all projects
be of a nature that young participants will consider worthwhile. But in addition to their
useful results, projects should be judged in terms of their value in helping young people
discover their relationship and responsibility toward other people.
District and council activities should be designed to enrich unit programs, not replace
them. Most districts and councils poll their unit leaders annually to learn what activities
they would like.
- Camp Promotion and Outdoor:
The movement's outdoor emphasis ranges from the Cub Scout individual family camping, day
camping, and resident camping, to Boy Scout long-term camping in the council camp, to Boy
Scout and Venturing experiences at Philmont and the other national high-adventure
facilities. These activities are carried out in a manner consistent with the methods of
each program phase, and they are tailored to specific grade and age levels.
- Advancement and Recognition:
Just as organizational procedure is a method the movement uses rather than the end, so it is
with the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, and Venturing advancement plans. Advancement
is only one of the methods the movement uses to achieve its ends. It is possible for a boy
to derive some of the benefits of Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Varsity Scouting, or Venturing
without advancing at all, but he would miss some of the significant benefits.
Some parents and youth leaders may put too much stress upon
removing obstacles from the pathways of growing boys. Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting
specialize in placing surmountable hurdles before boys. As they learn to take these hurdles
without breaking stride, boys learn to know themselves and gain some confidence.
The advancement plan gives boys a means of measuring their
own progress. They learn and develop skills against a standard which the system provides.
It is progressive and expects more and more of participants as they grow and gain experience.
The advancement plans also provide a satisfying means of
recognizing boys for their progress. There is a ladder to climb, and recognition at each
step.
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