Melgamatic

I am part of a Sea Scout unit so I'm aware of the Quartermaster Project Workbook. Once the Eagle workbook has stabilized maybe I'll ask my BSA contact about that. Thanks.

I am the volunteer author of the new PDF Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook (now 2021c). I was asked by BSA National to convert the old Adobe LiveCycle document to a "pure PDF" form. The BSA's license to Adobe LiveCycle has expired, and LiveCycle is at end of life. As you probably know, if you didn't use the Adobe brand PDF tools the form would not work. This was an issue for Mac users, but there is a rapidly expanding base of Scouts using alternate platforms like ChromeBooks, and the form did not work. In moving to "pure PDF" we do lose some functionality like expanding text boxes and lists, as someone pointed out above. With the new form, it is intended that the Scout will add additional pages for longer text or photos, plans, etc. It is tricky to have a PDF form which works well on all platforms; I find that something works in Adobe Acrobat, does not work in Chrome, works in Apple Preview but not Adobe Acrobat on Macs, etc. Adding digital signatures to a PDF document will also lock its contents, so Scouts and advisors need to be careful about that. Until last Friday, there were NO changes to the content of the form. All the questions were exactly the same (except we corrected the grammar in two questions). In the latest form we changed something on Project Report Page B - the Eagle candidate now has two lines for their hours; one for planning and one for execution. This will help Scouts realize that they need to list their PLANNING hours, which is apparently something like half the candidates failed to do. The only other substantive change was the welcome message from the Chief Scout was removed. Since the content of the workbook is exactly the same as the previous workbook (except for the new hours line), I don't have an opinion (nor would my opinion carry any weight) about when you should start requiring the new workbook. In my Troop or District I certainly wouldn't make any Scout past the proposal stage use the new book. Any web pages which indicate the workbook should be a link to the scouting.org page which will always have the latest version. https://www.scouting.org/programs/scouts-bsa/advancement-and-awards/eagle-scout-workbook/ Finally, starting with last week's version, there is now a change tracking page at the end of the workbook which lists the changes included with each version. As this is a new document a few issues have been found and fixed. Some issues are things we just didn't think of (like the Transatlantic Council needing to put international-format phone numbers in the phone number boxes which were formatted for US phone numbers), others are minor fixes (like a couple page references in some text). I'm happy to address any concerns. I'm not authorized to make any additions or changes to the content of the workbook, but happy to fix any errors you find.

It took me about an hour to highlight the Merit Badge sections (section 7) in both the 2015 and 2017 guides to show what was deleted, added and changed. I'm very happy to report that there were a few wording improvements, a few additional sentences and a few removed sentences, but almost no change, and no material change. The MB process is exactly the same, as is the process for selecting and approving counselors, etc. You are right that reviewing the entire book would be a big task! One of our advancement committee members had hear rumors that there were big changes in the MB process, but happily these rumors appear to be unfounded!

Yup, thats it. I got it from another source at the same time, so I am all set. Thanks very much for the help!

Thank you. I've read those, but I'm looking to do a deep analysis and see the "minor changes" as well as the major ones. I've got an email out to our whole advancement committee, in the hopes that one of them downloaded a 2015 version.

No, when you click on the link it goes to the standard location, which is the new guide now...

The 2017 Guide to Advancement is out, and I've been asked in my capacity as District Merit Badge Dean to prepare an analysis of what changes were made to the Merit Badge process. I've read the new GTA, and I think there are changes. However, I can't find a 2015 GTA to compare. I've always just looked online and not saved a copy, and now every 2015 GTA has disappeared, and scouting.org doesn't appear to have old versions of things archived (which makes sense, because you wouldn't want people searching and finding information in outdated guides). Can anyone lead me to a 2015 GTA? Thanks, Dave

We sell popcorn through the council popcorn system. Our troop has about 50 scouts who do some selling, but most of the sales come through ~10 single-day "show and sell" 6-hour events at convenience stores, etc. About 30 scouts participate in that. Our troop's net profit is around $8000 a year. In addition to paying for troop equipment and events, we charge our scouts less for annual membership that we pay the council (i.e., the troop subsidizes registration fees). We also sell poinsettia's and wreaths, but our profit is much lower. Our scouts pay for their patrols' food at campouts, but the troop pays for camp reservation fees, reimburses drivers if necessary, etc.

The BSA Foundation's statement of the tax status of units indicates that it comes strictly from the chartered org. If your unit is chartered by a for-profit organization (e.g., a bicycle store), your unit is a for-profit organization!

In the past few months we have started a number of Venturing units chartered by businesses. The latest is a culinary arts-focused Venturing unit that is chartered by a local gourmet food and cooking instruction business. I think the most common for-profit chartered units are chartered by businesses like scuba stores and bike stores.

United Way in our area stopped funding Boy Scouts in 2000 after the Dale decision. Before then we got massive amounts of funding from them. In the past 15 years we got almost nothing. So we faced this issue 16 years ago and managed to survive. With the recent changes in membership guidelines, United Way has slowly started to give us funds again.

I have a situation in my unit (for which I am the CC) which makes me uncomfortable. It's not so much the facts, but rather that I think it conflicts with YP training. We have a youth member (17, male and mature) who is "friends" with an unrelated adult leader (35-ish, male, married, no kids). The leader is a key member of our unit, and serves as an adult leader on our weekend overnight events which happen almost every weekend. Without his service the unit would fail. There is always at least one other leader on our weekend activities (often me), and the unit follows various YP and safe scouting guidelines, but this leader is always there whenever needed. However, the youth and the adult end up alone together a lot. The adult leader has hired the youth to help clean out a barn at his farm. They have driven alone together to various events, and the adult has visited the youth at the youth's place of employment to say hello. The youth's family seems to be OK with this. The father is also a sometimes active member of the unit, so he knows the adult leader well, and the adult leader has been sometimes invited to eat with the family, etc. I have no suspicion that anything untoward is happening. But, I keep thinking to myself that this is against Youth Protection Training, which I think tells us that a leader CAN NEVER be alone with a youth. I've mentioned this to the adult leader, and he says "What if it is non scouting related? I spend a lot of time with the family and the youth helps me work around my house." Am I too strict and should not be worrying about this? Or should I be worrying about this? -Melgamatic

A Kindle battery will last several weeks. The e-ink only uses battery when changing the contents of the page (not during normal display), so they last a long time. Both my son and I will be bringing our Kindles on trek at Philmont next year. They are lighter than the paperback book he had, and I didn't bring a book because I didn't want the weight and volume. It was a mistake. Reading for 10 minutes before falling asleep or when the scouts were doing program would have been relaxing. I'm anti-phone on trek (mine was turned off in my pack for the 10 days on trail), but pro-Kindle.

The web page for cubscoutpack308.com isn't coming up...

I have used: http://www.arrowoflightaward.com/ for the past 3 years, and just ordered again for February. They are very nice people, produce an amazingly beautiful award, and then are very fast. I had a mispelled name one year, and they got me a replacement plate for free and quick, even though I probably spelled the name wrong. Nothing against the people you mention, I just have personal experience with these. When we started giving them out 3 years ago, the ceremony changed, people started really looking forward to getting them, etc. They are a highpoint. -Dave