The Congressional Award: An impressive honor Scouts can earn just by being Scouts - Bryan on Scouting article

The Congressional Award was created by the U.S. Congress to promote and recognize initiative, service and achievement in youth ages 13 1/2 to 24. It is non-partisan, voluntary, and non-competitive. Participants set goals with an adult advisor and earn Bronze, Silver and Gold Congressional Award Certificates and Medals. Medals are presented by a U.S. Member of Congress. Each level involves setting goals in four pro-gram areas:

• Voluntary Public Service
• Personal Development 
• Physical Fitness
• Expedition/Exploration

Earning the Award is a fun and interesting way to get more involved in something you already enjoy or something you’d like to try for the first time. You move at your own pace—on your own or with your friends. This is not an award for past accomplishments. Instead, you are honored for setting challenging goals with an advisor and working to achieve those goals. 

The Congressional Award is open to all. There are no minimum grade point average requirements, and accommodations are made for young people with special needs or disabilities who are willing to take the challenge.

The partnership between the Congressional Award and Boy Scouts of America provides opportunities for youth to be nationally recognized for their accomplishments in service, leadership and fitness.

 While a Scout, Varsity Scout or Venturer pursues his/her Scout Advancement or Venturing Awards, many of those same activities can also count toward the Congressional Award. Here are examples of earning the Congressional Award within the BSA program:

Voluntary Public Service 

Providing voluntary public service to the community at large: 

• I will provide service to Boy Scouts of America as a Junior Assistant Scoutmaster, Den Chief, or volunteer Cub Scout Day Camp staff member.
• I will provide service with Boy Scouts of America as I plan, coordinate and implement an Eagle Scout project (Note: project must benefit community at large, not a religious institution, to count hours toward the Congressional Award).
• I will provide service to my community with my BSA troop in activities such as working at a food bank, a community clean-up day, or Habitat for Humanity.

Personal Development 

Developing personal interest, social or employment skills:

• I will complete the merit badges required to earn the rank of Eagle Scout (or Life Scout, Star Scout, Eagle Palms, etc.)
• I will earn the Boy Scout or Venturing Religious Emblem for my faith.
• I will earn a Venturing Award (Bronze, Silver, Gold., Ranger, Quest, TRUST, etc.)

Physical Fitness

Improving quality of life through fitness activities: 

• I will train for and fully participate in a 50-mile hike. Skills I will work to develop are backpacking, rock climbing, hiking and carrying a 40 pound pack for 10 miles a day.
• I will earn the BSA Personal Fitness, Cycling, Swimming, Hiking, etc. merit badges. 

Expedition/Exploration 

Undertaking a wilderness or venture experience: 

• I will embark on an overnight hiking/camping expedition. I will be the leader in planning and preparation of my Boy Scout Troop on this expedition. 
• I will plan, prepare for and lead my Venturing Crew on a 6-night backpacking trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

Certificate Levels

Medal Levels

For more information or to register online, please visit: www.congressionalaward.org

Please note that you may only begin counting hours once you have registered. Hours accumulated prior to registration cannot be counted toward the Award. 

Participants must complete the activities in all four program areas.

The partnership of the Congressional Award & Boys Scouts of America gives you the opportunity to be recognized by Congress for activities you already do!

PROGRAMMING and DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
MERIT BADGES

An ONLINE course will be given on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 6:30PM til 9:00PM where we will cover MOST of the two merit badges requirements. You will need to take notes and be able to discuss what we went over when you complete the requirements that can't be done online together. You will also need to complete the CYBERCHIP requirements for your age group (required for both merit badges), for Programming merit badge you will need to complete requirements 5 a-d and for Digital Technologies merit badge you will need to complete 5 b-c, 6 and 8.

You MUST sign up by Monday for this course and we must have at least TWO people signed up to do the course.  To sign up or to ask questions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

The formation of youth into patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units each under its own responsible leader is the key to a good Troop.

 The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty. An invaluable step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual. This is immediately gained in appointing a Patrol Leader to responsible command of their Patrol. It is up to them to take hold of and to develop the qualities of each boy or girl in their Patrol. It sounds a big order, but in practice it works.

 Then, through emulation and competition between patrols, you produce a Patrol spirit which is eminently satisfactory, since it raises the tone among the youth and develops a higher standard of efficiency all round. Each scout in the Patrol realizes that they are in themselves a responsible unit, and that the honor of their group depends in some degree on their own ability in playing the game.

 - Aids to Scoutmastership by Baden Powell (translated to update some archaic terms)

Patrol Method in Practice – The Adult Role by CLARKE GREEN on JANUARY 4, 2013

Imagine a bus tour of some important city where, seated in the air-conditioned comfort of a motor coach, we listen to the guide explain each landmark in detail so we won’t miss anything. The guide sticks to the script, we sit behind the tinted windows of our bus dutifully turning our heads to the left, then to the right. There’s so much explaining that there’s not much time left for questions and soon the tour is over.

Contrast the bus tour with a hike led by a knowledgeable guide. He takes up the rear letting our group lead and find the trail. When the path branches he’ll tell us which way to go if we can’t figure it out on our own. He doesn’t mind if we stop now and then to admire a flower or take in the view. He’ll happily tell you what you are looking at if you ask.

Our guide will volunteer little information, he’ll drop a hint here and there and he’ll answer questions. We may miss some sights along the way or pass by interesting things, but our group will  probably get more out of what we discovered on the hike and asked about than the things the guide told us about.

Guiding Scouts using the patrol method is more like the hike than the bus tour; a gentle push in the right direction than dragging them along; a suggestion rather than a command, a question asked rather than an answer given. The adult role in the patrol method is more responsive than directive. Each group of Scouts is different so how we play our role is a response to their development, group dynamics and abilities.

There’s a difference between guiding and coercing. If we follow the metaphor our group of hikers has some idea of where they want to go and the guide is responding to rather than determining the interests of the group. We ought to respond to the interests of our Scouts rather than determining what they should be interested in. The field of play is the Scouting program, we guide them within that context, we train them to follow the program.

Our role in Scouting is important but we aren’t in the leadership structure, we aren’t even on the chart.

Scouts form their own patrols, elect their senior patrol leader and patrol leaders, we don’t appoint them. We respond to the choices made by the Scouts and start guiding the leaders they elected.

Recall from the last post that we are not focusing on decorations and indicators, those come later. We think that the content of meetings and camping trips are all-important, but they are actually just decorative. We think that the metrics of attendance, membership, fundraising and advancement are important but they are merely indicators.

There are troops where the patrol method is watered down to an administrative nicety, a way to divide Scouts into more manageable groups and provide leadership positions for Scouts. When we put the patrol method into practice things change dramatically. Since people are usually resistant to dramatic change there are objections. In the next post we’ll answer the most common objections to putting the patrol method into practice.

Patrol Method in Practice – The Character School by CLARKE GREEN on JANUARY 3, 2013

The patrol system is not one method in which Scouting for boys can be carried on. It is the only method.

It is not the slightest use to preach the Scout Law or to give it out as orders to a crowd of boys: each mind requires its special exposition of them and the ambition to carry them out.

- Baden Powell

Two things drive character development; the example of role models and interaction with peers.

Being told how they ought to act or having good conduct modeled for them is only the first step. The real work happens when Scouts develop mutual respect for each other and foster coöperation within a group of equals. This coöperation is where the really radical idea of Scouting, self-government through the patrol method, takes place.

When Scouts, make their own plans, formulate their own rules, keep up their own discipline, elect  their own leadership charged with implementing these plans they have the opportunity to learn through experience what it means to belong to a group and to accept personal responsibility.

Within the troop and patrol  Scouts act on the notion of reciprocity. Cooperation, with all its troubles and triumphs,  enables each Scout to discover more about themselves and integrate the concepts of the oath and law into their own character.

When we have real self-government the Scout Oath and law are no longer just a bunch of concepts preached by adults. They find meaning in the life of the patrol and troop, individual responsibilities become group responsibilities.

Baden-Powell understood  that role models have a limited influence on Scouts, that character really develops through  small group interactions.  That’s why he was so adamant about the patrol system, that “the Scoutmaster has to be neither schoolmaster nor commanding officer, nor pastor, nor instructor” and  ”all that is needed is the capacity to enjoy the out-of-doors, to enter into the boysʼ ambitions, to put himself on the level of the older brother, that is, to see things from the Scoutʼs point of view, and to lead and guide and give enthusiasm in the right direction.”

If we limited character development  to role models a Scout  would become increasingly dependent on them  We want to foster cooperative independence through the patrol method. As BP said:”The patrol is the character school for the individual”.

The central importance of the patrol system prioritizes everything else about Scouting. It’s a little jarring at first! We think that the content of our meetings and camping trips are all-important, but they are actually just decorative. We think that the metrics of attendance, membership, fundraising and advancement are important but they are merely indicators.

Instead of spending our time on decorations and indicators let’s concentrate on the real heart of the matter – the patrol method. If we build the patrol method the program features and metrics will follow.

Transition from Adult to Youth Leadership – The Patrol Leader’s Council by CLARKE GREEN on JULY 13, 2009

A healthy patrol leaders council  (PLC) is the heart of a youth led troop. It should gather often to discuss and plan the troop’s program. The senior patrol leader (SPL) chairs the PLC, the Scribe keeps minutes and the meeting is open to patrol leaders (PL) and any other youth leaders, although the SPL, ASPL and PL's are the only voting members, any youth's opinion should be heard by the PLC.

I’d suggest that the PLC meet before and after every troop meeting for a few minutes and once a month for an hour or so. In lieu of our regular Monday troop meeting the PLC meets on the Monday after our monthly outing. Monthly meetings are a bit more formal than those held weekly, this is were the PLC will do the bulk of its planning, discussion and decision making. It should follow an agenda, maintain minutes and use salient elements of the rules of order. The PLC also meets every night when we are camping.

As a rule the Scoutmaster is the only adult who actively participates in meetings of the PLC, and only at the invitation of the SPL. Other adult leaders may observe but must not speak unless they are spoken to. Scoutmasters and their assistants tend to have all the answers and/or a great deal to say about planning and presenting the Troop’s program. However helpful or informative they may feel they are being their input tends to diminish the process of Scouts finding some important things out for themselves. The role of adult  leadership when the PLC is meeting should be clearly understood and strictly followed.

Weekly meetings are much less formal – ten minutes before the troop meets, ten minutes after. Before meetings the PLC reviews plans and checks to see that all is in readiness, after meetings they discuss that evening’s meeting, address any concerns that arose and review plans for the next week.

A Scoutmaster who listens carefully at these meetings will see many opportunities to interject a bit of coaching and mentoring into the proceedings. He may want to ask some questions that will help focus the efforts of the PLC.  In forming a new troop, or in a PLC that has significantly changed due to leadership elections, or in the case of a troop transitioning to youth leadership the Scoutmaster may have a somewhat more active role in the PLC but it must be a measured and disciplined role.

At the end of each meeting of the PLC the Scoutmaster should have the opportunity to make some brief remarks. When a PLC is running smoothly these remarks should be something along the lines of  ”You seem to have a handle on things, you’re doing a good job, unless you have any questions for me I’m finished.”

This is a self assessment tool to help gauge how well a troop applies the patrol method.  It may be a good idea to have several adults and youth troop members complete the assessment and discuss the results. This is not very scientific but it will at least give you an idea of where you are. Here’s PDF version you can download.

Chose only one option for each pair of statements

150 -200  -  GOOD GOING!
100 – 150  -  KEEP GOING!
100 OR LESS  -  GET GOING!

Patrol Method 

The formation of youth into Patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units each under its own responsible leader is the key to a good Troop.

 The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty. An invaluable step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual. This is immediately gained in appointing a Patrol Leader to responsible command of his Patrol. It is up to they to take hold of and to develop the qualities of each boy or girl in their Patrol. It sounds a big order, but in practice it works.

 Then, through emulation and competition between Patrols, you produce a Patrol spirit which is eminently satisfactory, since it raises the tone among the youth and develops a higher standard of efficiency all round. Each scout in the Patrol realizes that they are in themself a responsible unit and that the honor of their group depends in some degree on their own ability in playing the game.

 - Aids to Scoutmstership by Baden Powell (translated to update some archaic terms)

The best explanation of the Patrol Method ever produced by the BSA. For a more in depth book on implimenting and maintaining the Patrol Method, grab a copy of "Working the Patrol Method: A Scout Leaders Guide to Youth Leadership Training" available at scoutleadership.com or amazon.com

Troop Resources