Court of Honor

[Puffin]

I'm a scout planning this year's courts of honor. There seems to be little info out there about enlivening our long and sometimes tedious Cts of Honor. We have a huge troop, and the awards can take a lot of time. Anybody use special sound effects, gags, themes, etc. to make the Ct. of Honor come alive? Any resource books I could get?

Thanks.

[k9gold-scout]

Try www.eaglebook.com

 

Congrats - also try macscouter.com

[james_clegg]

Don't forget things that allow people to stand up about very 40 min.

 

Songs,

or a show and tell what we did since the last COH

 

jc

 

 

[benny]

What we do is usually get thje boys to talk. Either about their awards or campouts, whatever. The parents really appreciate listening to what we did from the mouths of the scouts.

[ScoutParent]

I personally prefer the breakfast Courts of Honor. Seems like everyone is more alert and generally more congenial.

 

[CubsRgr8]

Here's what I'm working on for my troop's next COH. Call the scouts up by patrol. The scouts amble forward, shake hands with the SM, are lined up facing the audience by the SPL, while an ASM reads each boy's name, their POR (if any) and their specific achievements (EXCEPT rank advancement).

 

Got a scout who didn't earn a MB or other cloth recognition this quarter? Why, they are "contributing to their patrol" or another similarly positive statement. Then have the patrol give their patrol yell. A round of applause for the patrol and off to the side they go to receive their recognitions from the CC, while the process starts over with the next patrol.

 

For rank advancements, call the scouts up by rank, Tenderfoot first. The scouts amble forward, shake hands with the SM, the SPL lines them up facing the audience while another ASM is reading each boy's name. The SM does a short spiel about the meaning of the rank, then a round of applause for the scouts and off to the side they go to receive their rank badges and cards from the CC.

 

I know, I know, what about calling the parents forward for the higher ranks? That just takes tooooooo much time in a large troop. Instead, have a place set up afterwards for posed photos, framed by the US and troop flags.

 

The driver behind these ideas is to keep the COH moving along, while making sure each scout is recognized.