Mission Statement

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
 

Vision Statement

The Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. In the future, Scouting will continue to;

• Offer young people responsible fun and adventure;
• Instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical character as expressed in the Scout Oath and Law;
• Train young people in citizenship, service, and leadership;
• Serve America's communities and families with its quality, values-based program.

Scouts BSA

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was incorporated to provide a program for community organizations that offer effective character, citizenship, and personal fitness training for youth. Specifically, the BSA endeavors to develop American citizens who are physically, mentally, and emotionally fit; have a high degree of self-reliance as evidenced in such qualities as initiative, courage, and resourcefulness; have personal values based on religious concepts; have the desire and skills to help others; understand the principles of the American social, economic, and governmental systems; are knowledgeable about and take pride in their American heritage and understand our nation's role in the world; have a keen respect for the basic rights of all people; and are prepared to participate in and give leadership to American society.

Scouts BSA, one of three membership divisions of the BSA (the others are Cub Scouting and Venturing BSA), is available to youth who have earned the Arrow of Light Award or have completed the fifth grade, or who are 11 through 17 years old, and subscribe to the Scout Oath and Law. The program achieves the BSA's objectives of developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness qualities among youth by focusing on a vigorous program of outdoor activities.
 

AIMS AND METHODS OF THE SCOUTING PROGRAM

The Scouts, BSA program has three specific objectives, commonly referred to as the "Aims of Scouting." They are character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness. The methods by which the aims are achieved are listed below in random order to emphasize the equal importance of each.

Ideals

The ideals of Scouting are spelled out in the Scout Oath, the Scout Law, the Scout motto, and the Scout slogan. The Scout measures themselves against these ideals and continually tries to improve. The goals are high, and, as they reach for them, they have some control over what and who they become.

Patrols

The patrol method gives Scouts an experience of in group living and participating citizenship. It places responsibility on young shoulders and teaches them how to accept it. The patrol method allows Scouts to interact in small groups where they can easily relate to each other. These small groups determine troop activities through their elected representatives.

Outdoor Programs

Scouting is designed to take place outdoors. It is in the outdoor setting that Scouts share responsibilities and learn to live with one another. It is here that the skills and activities practiced at troop meetings come alive with purpose. Being close to nature helps Scouts gain an appreciation for G-d's handiwork and humankind's place in it. The outdoors is the laboratory for Scouts to learn ecology and practice conservation of nature's resources.

We ask you to get as involved as you can in your youth’s scouting experience. Behind every successful Scout is an interested and participating parent. Troop 270 has a Google Group email list in which you can stay informed. We encourage all parents (and Scouts) to join the email list which can be found by going to the website's home page and clicking on the "Sign up for Troop 270's Mailing List" button on the left menu. The email listserv is the Troop's way of actively informing our membership of upcoming events, general Scouting and outdoor information.

The website is also one of our marketing tools to interface us with the public. Among the pages, you will find that it contains much of the information Scouts need for a complete Scouting experience in Troop 270. The website contains advancement information, the Troop event calendar, forms and many other useful items. Be sure to check the calendar for upcoming events frequently. Please note that, for safety reasons, the public website will not contain the Scout’s full names or contact information.

Parent's Responsibilities

• Read "A Parent's Guide" located in the front of the Scouts BSA Handbook.
• Scouting is family based. Our Troop is very active and requires a lot of adult help. The adult support is organized through the Troop Committee. All parents are invited and encouraged to attend these meetings, even if you are not on the committee, join the committee and lend a hand with the many support activities (i.e.: transportation needs, fundraising activities).
• Attend other meetings as required (i.e.: Courts of Honor, information for summer camp, special activities, etc.)
• Sign up on Scoutbook and follow your Scout's progress.

The purpose of the Family Handbook is to familiarize scouts and their parents with Policies and Procedures of Scouts BSA Troop 270.  For the most part, you can learn about Scouting, camping, and general policies and procedures from the Scout Handbook and other literature available from Boy Scouts of America, however, like all organizations, there are certain policies and procedures that have come into being over the years to facilitate specific needs of our Troop and these must be written down somewhere to make all participants aware of them.

We think that we run a fun and exciting program. If a program is not fun, it will fail. As you will learn, however, there is much more than fun involved in scouting!  It takes a lot of work by the leaders, the Troop Committee, and all the dedicated parents, to supervise this program.