Terminology Arrow of Light Scouts

[Basementdweller]

my entire current web I den will be receiving the AOL in a Cross over ceremony in April, followed by an cross over ceremony to the Troop.

 

Day camp followed by resident camp make webelos colors very full

[bbender]

I'm hoping that this year will be the year that we can have a "Camping crossover ceremony", where the Webelos crossing over bring their Backpacks to a Friday night Blue & Gold Banquet, set them up near the "crossover bridge", and once they get their final awards and complete the crossover ceremony, they and the Boy Scouts put on their packs and hike on out to the Troop Campout . . . see ya!

[Basementdweller]

That is a really cool idea. I like it an may borrow it.

[SSScout]

Please record my vote as being NOT in favor of the idea as discribed in the first entry. The award does not name the Scout until he earns it. A third grader may be in Den 3, but he is not a Bear Cub until the rank is awarded.

This sounds more like someone in National trying to justify their position with a "proposal".

 

Thinking back, I like the original Bobcat-Wolf-Bear-Lion-Webelos progression. Stick in a Tiger Cub for the first grader and it still makes sense.

 

'Round here, we call'em Junior and Senior Webelos...

[Mom2ThreeScouts]

Is National going to change the designation of the Arrow of Light from an Award to a Rank? That is the only way calling the second part of Webelos "Arrow of Light Scouts" makes sense. It is the highest award a cub scout can earn and the only cub scout emblem worn on a boy scout uniform. If it gets elevated to rank status, will boys scouts continue to wear a cub scout rank on their boy scout uniform.

[denleader09]

It was announced at our roundtable this summer that second year Webelos would be called "Arrows". And they were continuing to use that terminology at the last roundtable. It is supposed to make us focus more on advancement and the path that each year takes. However, I really don't see my pack using those terms for a while. It is so much easier to say Web 1 and Web 2 than "Webelos" and "Arrows". Old habits die hard.

 

 

[acco40]

If my fuzzy brain doesn't mislead me.

 

When I was a Cub Scout we went from Wolf, Bear, Lion to Webelos to Scout (i.e. Scout and yes, I know I'm missing Bobcat but we never really looked at that as a rank). Webelos - get it? None of this We Be Loyal Scouts ebonics.

 

I don't recall if Webelos was an actual rank or transistion period. Anyone care to refresh my memory?

 

 

[SSScout]

Acco40: It was a rank. And the AoL was an extra, earned rank, not unlike Eagle.

I have a "W" diamond badge in my collection, AND the AoL strip.

 

Back then, the Den was numbered, the rank was earned. We were not "Wolf" Den, we were Den 3, and we earned the "Wolf " badge/rank.

 

The rational for creating the Webelos two year program was to give Cubs a gradual tarnsition to full fledge Boy Scouting. Lion age Cubs were deemed getting bored with Cubby stuff, and in need of more BScout like stuff. Packs created the terms "Web 1, Web 2," or "Jr. & Sr. Webelos". I don't think (cite and correct me here) that there is anything ""official"" about those terms.

 

If the program isn't fun or rewarding for the boys, all the interlocking naming isn't going to help.

[Scoutfish]

SSScout:

" Packs created the terms "Web 1, Web 2," or "Jr. & Sr. Webelos". I don't think (cite and correct me here) that there is anything ""official"" about those terms."

 

WEll, I can't speak for anybopdy else, but we say "webelos I" and "Webelos II" because it's shorter than saying "Webelos 1st year"and "Webelos 2nd year".

 

And after they earn their Arrow of Light, they are still Webelos....who just happened to have earned it.

 

[acco40]

SSSScout - what time frame are you referencing? I'm thinking back to 1966-67 timeframe - back when we had the cool Cub Scout hat throughout the program! In that time frame we were not helping others but were more interested in being square! Look it up.

 

From wikipedia Webelos was also an acronym meaning Wolf, Bear, Lion, Scout. It has since come to mean "WE'll BE LOyal Scouts". The initial rank structure was Wolf, Bear and Lion, with ages of 9, 10 and 11.

 

From scouting.org Cubs advanced from Bobcat (for all new members) to Wolf (age 9), Bear (age 10), and Lion (age 11) and joined a Boy Scout troop at age 12.

 

In 1967, the Webelos to Scout program was initiated and as a consequence the Lion rank bit the dust. So, I'm thinking back when Webelos was not a rank (pre-1967) and just a transition level for those that earned Lion and were working on the AOL (about a three month period I believe). I think those that earned the AOL were called Webelos but it was not a formal rank (neither was Bobcat back then).

 

From http://www.troop97.net/bsahist3.htm History of Webelos. Created in 1941, the original Webelos program consisted simply of a new Webelos rank which boys could earn during their last few months in Cub Scouting. To earn the new rank, Cub Scouts first had to earn Lion, and they had to learn the skills required for the Boy Scout Tenderfoot badge. The Cub Scouts who worked on the Webelos rank were not yet called Webelos, and they remained in a regular Cub Scout den. In 1954, 10-1/2 year olds were organized into special Webelos dens, although they still had to earn Lion to qualify for the Webelos rank. In 1967, Cub Scouting dropped the Lion rank, extended the Webelos program from six months to the last year of Cub Scouting, and created the first 15 Webelos activity badges. In 1977, they added a new Webelos rank (the old Webelos rank was now called the Arrow of Light rank). In 1987, the Webelos program added five more activity badges (for a total of 20), and realigned the requirements of several activity badges to more closely match the requirements for the Boy Scout Tenderfoot rank. In 1988-89, the Webelos program was expanded to cover the last two years of Cub Scouting, though the BSA soon after began encouraging packs to graduate Webelos in February instead of May or June (so they could get started with a Scout troop before summer, and thus be less likely to drop out over the summer).