Homegrown Troop Awards

[Beavah]

Wow, Beavah. Making your own merit badge, nice. You turnin' into a hippy radical on us in your later years?

 

Yah, da prior thread and packsaddle's comment got me thinkin' that this would be an interestin' thread to share. As close as I can tell, one of the signs of a really fun, fully-fledged Boy Scout Troop is when the boys and adults start makin' up their own awards. Fun stuff, usually, though there's a real charm when it gets beyond the fun stuff and becomes "real" to the lads.

 

That's where Order of the Arrow and other honor societies like Mic-O-Say came from eh? Polar Bear patches and honor medals too. Yah, and Merit Badges often enough. Just regular scouts and scouters makin' stuff up to recognize or honor achievements within their ranks. And for some reason, the ones that mean the most to the boys are often home-grown.

 

So, this is a thread for sharin' your troop's (or pack's, crew's, ship's, or team's) home-grown awards, badges, and recognitions, both humorous and serious. District and Council folks can share home-grown district and council awards, or home-grown awards they've seen in units in their area.

 

Folks who want to object to havin' any awards or badges in addition to da BSA's formally recognized national awards, or want to comment on how such unauthorized googaws cannot be worn on the official uniform are politely asked to start their own spinoff thread to talk about da rest of us heathen.

 

Beavah

 

[Stosh]

Add to that, one of my scouts achieved Student of the Month and recognition for it will be done at flags tomorrow. Success and leadership applied outside of Scouts is just as important as it is within.

 

Stosh

[John-in-KC]

My youth troop had the Snowflake, the Ice Cube, and the Raindrop. They were to be sewn onto our neckerchief.

 

Snowflake: For a Southern Californian, this was difficult to get. You had to camp out whilst God made it snow.

 

Ice Cub: Camping below 32F

 

Raindrop: Camping in a rainstorm.

 

Given the California climate, none of these were easy to get.

[Mike F]

Golden Spoon - awarded to patrol which demonstrates the best cooking skills on each campout. The winner gets to hang the spoon on their patrol flag until it changes hands at end of the next campout.

 

For special achievements, like winning big patrol competitions, they receive a permenent totem (right now, a feather) for their patrol flag.

[frank10]

John,

Here in CT We can get all three in one day.

I had one camp out where we had to send a scout home on Saturday because of the sun and heat and had to send one indoors on Sunday due to exposure to the cold.

[packsaddle]

I guess that since Beavah used my quip to start this, I need to add to it. OK, I know he's not REALLY turning into a hippie radical.

But I used to do this kind of thing whan I was cubmaster. I would create all kinds of awards and ways to recognize things the guys did that were unusual or outstanding. Especially if they had some medical thing, like a tooth knocked out (not duing a scout activity, thank goodness) or a surgery. They enjoyed the limelight any time they got it. We all had a lot of fun. Like I've said so many times, I really miss the cubs.

 

But like I mentioned after that original remark, any unit that has its own awards probably needs to, you know, keep it in the family so-to-speak. It might raise questions if a merit badge that doesn't really exist, for example, shows up on an Eagle application.

[roguedawg]

In my old troop we awarded the "Wooden Knife Award" to one of the scouts. He had the habit of cutting himself with his knife quite often. He even cut himself teaching the younger scouts the toten-chip class. When we was awarded the "Wooden Knife" award he accepted it, but he pulled his hand back and did not say "Thank you". He ended up getting a sliver in his finger in front of the entire troop. It even drew blood. That just made if even funnier. RD

[skeptic]

Over the years I have on occasion made up an award to recognize special things, usually at summer camp. Two funny ones (in my opinion) were given too adults. We went to Cherry Valley on Catalina years ago, before they got rid of the wild pigs. The small groups would come down from the upper canyon and visit each campsite to see what they could find. The first night, it happened they were making a huge racket trying to get at our trash bag which was tied up high. All the scouts were watching from their tents, their flashlights lighting up the camp. An ASM decided he would scare them off, came out barefooted and only in his BVD's, and chucked a rock at them. He hit a yearly in its side. It turned, and stared with little reddish eyes at him (it had short new tusks already). We fully expected it to charge the ASM; but it just went back to jumping at the bag. The next day, the ASM told me he was concerned he had made a major error in judgment, and was not sure what he would have done if it had charged. At the COH later that year, he was presented with the "Champion Pig Chucker Award", much to the delight of the scouts.

 

I have tried to make sure that scouts with special challenges at camp get some sort of recognition, as well as those that have been the leaders in everything. It really makes a difference.

 

There was one troop here in SoCal years ago that had a special troop neckerchief that was a canvas for hike awards. Every hike, they added some small symbol of the hike; and they also had special items for days camped. The older scouts, and leaders had stuff on both sides sometimes. It was really cool.

 

 

[Horizon]

At my troop as a boy we had awards for those who never missed a troop campout over 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 years. Each one was named for a Scout who had achieved it.

 

As Scoutmaster, I am working on a couple of these. One of them will be for the boy who goes 100% Scouting at Summer Camp - never pauses from trying something or getting involved. I just need to finish the design and get 50 patches made. It will be named for one of my Scouts.

[gwd-scouter]

When I was a Cubmaster, I gave out all kinds of made up awards for leaders and scouts. Did it as a Den Leader too. Though it's not an award, the guys in our troop are very proud of the nicknames they earn as a result of some blunder on a campout - usually their first. Some of them are: bear bait, spider man, water boy, the fridge. I imagine that's true in other troops as well.

 

A couple of summers ago our SPL presented my husband with an award at summer camp. The camp inspector had come by and we were not given 100% score because someone's towel and clothing were strewn about on his bunk. Yep, husband guilty as charged. SPL made a big ceremony of presenting husband with a leave no trace award. Guys still talk about that.

 

I really like the idea of troop awards sewn on the neckerchief. Awards for patrols to hang on their flags is something I'd like to get started. So many possibilities.

 

Cool thread Beavah.

[Trevorum]

This is not really unique - I know many troops do this - and it's not really an award.

 

Each year during the first several months after cross-over, we devote a meeting to leatherwork. The fellows are provided leather blanks (or scrap leather) and create/stamp/stain their own troop fob/crest to be worn on the belt. These are pretty creative. Then, during the year, each troop activity earns each scout a bead which is worn on the leather thongs hanging from the fob. These are awarded by an ASL on the Monday following the activity. All the beads are color coded (regular campout is grey, service is blue, etc.) and summer camps and other special activites have their own oversize/special beads. (Summer Camp in bear country - rare in Texas - gets a bear claw).

 

Each year, the scouts punch a new hole for another thong (or make fob 2.0). The fobs become sorta like your troop resume and I've seen the fellows comparing fobs ("What is that one?" "Oh, that was the canoeing trip we took in 06.")

 

Old timers (like me) have so many beads the drag causes us to hike in circles.

[OldGreyEagle]

Back when the Venturing Crew started, there was much consternation expressed by the young ladies on how they couldnt earn merit badges, earn Eagle, be in the Order of the Arrow and the like. The three young ladies we had as charter members were quite a team. One of them is our current DE in the District. (Its so hard when they turn to the darkside don't you know).

 

For the all the talk the boys did of being He-men and outdoors experts, the young ladies were on every outing and were always prepared. The Crew had a Court of Honor and I wanted to recognize what the young ladies had done so I created the Sacagawea award. It was a Sacagawea coin on a leather thong with a couple of wooden beads on either side. It was worn as a necklace, Sacagawea is of course the Native American who served as a guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I told the Crew Sacagawea epitomized the role the young ladies had, showing the men the way. The girls loved it and the boys realized, they could talk all they wanted, but the girls were actually doing the stuff.(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[EagleBeaver]

We tend to recognize at the patrol level and we have a Patrol Spirit award and Coup Beads for patrol flags:

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/activity/patrol_spirit_competition-1383.asp

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/activity/patrol_coup_sticks-1382.asp

 

The scouts also decided to give a Scoutmaster Challenge a try this year:

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/library/scoutmasterchallenge.htm

 

The new SPL wants to do something about the level of cookin on campouts, so I think I'll mention the Golden Spoon to him.

 

Scout On

[Buffalo Skipper]

Bringing back patrol awards and individual competitions is paramount to what I am tring to do with our troop, and I have already done quite a bit.

 

First, we have a "hiking season" in our troop (November-January) where we do back-to-back backpacking trips. At the following Court of Honor, we present the "Bigfoot award" (an old boot screwed to a wooden base), for showing the best enthusiasm and spirit while hiking (ususally to a younger scout).

 

While spending my Christmas break cleaning out the old troop files, I found a package of old "Troop 3 Patrol of the Month" custom ribbons, just the right size for a patrol flag. After some time I found 44 of them (that's almost 4 years worth!) and the purchase receipt dating back to the mid 1980s. The PLC is now selecting a patrol of the month.

 

We are instituting a "Scout of the Year award, with a massive trophy in the scout hut, with a hand carved and painted "boy scout" as the centerpiece. We will have a small plack with each scout's name and year to put on the rather large base. (one of our old scoutmasters is a skilled woodcarver--he did a similar carving of a cub scout for our pack's (den of the month floating trophy).

 

Our campout last month was a cooking theme, and the best cooking patrol of the campout was awarded the "Golden Spatula" (a cheap spatula spray painted with a nice gold paint). It was a real hit with the scouts.

 

We also have a Summer Camp Spirit camper award and a "Fish" award which we award at the early Fall CoH for the top aquatic preformer (swimming and canoing) of the summer.

 

I think that these awards are doing quite a bit to promote patrol unity and encourage individual excellence in the troop. So far, it had been a big success.

[Buffalo Skipper]

Not exactly in the same category, but similar fruit, we now have timed patrol competitions, with the times posted in the Scout Hut for all to see. Right now we have 3 patrol competitions.

Scout Knot Challenge. A relay withthe patrol members tying the following knots: reef (square) knot, bowline, sheet bend, clove hitch, two-half hitches, and taut-line hitch.

Fire Building.Standard build a fire, light it and burn through thetwine. We have standard pegs we use (14" height of the twine). As the scouts improve and master these skills, I intend to introduce a new variant, "fire starting" with either flint and steel (not magnesium) or bow (friction).

Tent Pitching.This is simply a patrol timed event for pitching (including stakes) a troop issued tent. It is the standard tent that all scouts use, so it is one in which they are familiar.

We also have an individual variation of the Scout Knot Challenge for individual scouts. Same knots, best time.

Anyone who can offer any new ideas is welcome to do so. This is becoming a popular challenge for the patrols, and I would like to foster it. My real intent is to make it scout skill related, measurable, and easily repeatable (under the same conditions).