Ceremonies

[AnonymousUser]

Anyone got some ideas on rank advancement ceremonies? I was told that the pack will do them all together in April and that traditionally they do a short speech and then award the boy and parent with the new rank. In a quick conversation it was brought up that perhaps we could do something of a bit more significance. Anyone got some ideas that have worked before?

[ScoutNut]

Is this for awarding the current rank award? Or for graduating to their new Cub Scout level?

 

Rank awards should be awarded when they are completed, not held up until everyone is finished.

 

Graduation to the next level should occur at the end of the school year. BSA officially moves up all Cub Scout registrations to their next level as of June 1.

 

That said, many of the following can be used for either type of ceremony. With appropriate tweaks, they can be used for either a single level, or multiple level ceremonies.

 

If you can not find what you want here, simply do an internet search on Cub Scout Ceremonies.

 

http://www.stgerald.org/uploads/DanBourne/ceremonies-for-dens-and-packs.pdf

 

http://my.dmci.net/~dmanchester/pdf/Sample.pdf

 

http://usscouts.org/ceremony.asp

 

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/ceremony_search.asp

 

http://www.macscouter.com/ceremony/

 

 

[AnonymousUser]

Is this for awarding the current rank award? Or for graduating to their new Cub Scout level?

 

Rank awards should be awarded when they are completed, not held up until everyone is finished.

I agree with this point and its the reason I brought it up.

 

We have a leaders meeting soon where it will be discussed. My history always was being awarded current rank as earned, and the ceremony was to move them up.

[ScoutNut]

It is entirely possible to do a special ceremony to present rank awards every month. You simply have to pare down the theatre a bit to fit it into a smaller time slot. Again, the ceremony can be for only one Scout, it can be done per individual den for 1+ Scouts each, or (actually the way I prefer) you can do a combo ceremony for all Scouts, from all dens, who have earned their rank award that month. If you only have one Scout, you can do the rank award ceremony after awarding the den it's regular monthly den stuff. If you have multiple Scouts from different dens/levels, you can do the combo ceremony after all of the regular den awards are finished.

 

We always had graduation as the theme of our last regular Pack meeting of the school year at the end of May. We would do a large ceremony moving each den of Scouts up to their new levels. This always included giving the Scouts their new neckers, slides, and handbooks. The rising 5th grade Webelos, since they did not get a new necker, or handbook, would get a new slide in the AOL theme, and a vittle kit.

 

The boys love fun ceremonies. Just make sure to practice them a bit before you go "live" so you know that they will go smoothly, and can keep the pace up. Practice is especially important if you are doing any of the "magic" ceremonies (glowing, color changing, etc)

[Eagledad]

I had a different theme every month. I typically tried to create ceremonies where everyone participated like to cheers, stomping feet or whatever. One of our families was American Indian, so we got together and made a ceremony using a basic dance of his tribe. We had everyone dancing and the parents talked about that ceremony for months. Where packs go wrong with ceremonies is that boys HATE to listen unless it's a story about with action. They absolutly hate speechs. Barry

[SSScout]

Lots of possibilities. Every month, I favor collecting all the bling for ONE boy, line up ONE Den, and award each boy in that Den, thus: ( CM does all this) "OKAY! We have all the Bears up here , now. Mr. Slovakosky, you're the Den Leader, and you have been busy since last month! Let's see, now.... Jake, you have three arrow points, the chess belt loop, the Frisbee belt loop and the Summer Activity Award. (hand him the envelope and shake his hand) Way to go! Bill, you 've got the Summer Activity Award, the Frisbee Belt Loop, the Map and Compass Belt loop, and two Arrow Points (hand him the envelope, shake his hand) How 'bout that!" >>Do this for all the Bears, then lead everyone in a cheer! Same etc. for all the other Dens. Big cheer for everyone at the end. This is easier and quicker that trying to do each award for each boy seperately.

 

Bigger to-do in April-May:

**Bridging for the Webelos (don't forget you may have two classes of Webs: Those going into a BScout Troop, AND those merely graduating out of Cubs or moving away, or undecided about which Troop. Be sure to include both groups somehow in the recognition. They all deserve it.

** Moving on to the next rank/Den for the rest of the boys.... Make a recognition of this too, with some pomp and circumstance.

KiS MiF

[Menakerd]

We have our Spring Campout in May, and that is where we have the boys move up in rank. We have ceremonies for Tiger to Wolf, Wolf to Bear, and Bear to Webelos, but we don't have anything for the Webelos (moving up to Webelos 2's or Arrow of Light, whichever way you want to view it). I'm looking for something to do with them so they are included, but I have yet to find anything. Any suggestions? Everything I come across is a Webelos to Boy Scout crossover.

[SlowDerbyRacer]

Is this for awarding the current rank award? Or for graduating to their new Cub Scout level?

 

Rank awards should be awarded when they are completed, not held up until everyone is finished.

 

Graduation to the next level should occur at the end of the school year. BSA officially moves up all Cub Scout registrations to their next level as of June 1.

 

That said, many of the following can be used for either type of ceremony. With appropriate tweaks, they can be used for either a single level, or multiple level ceremonies.

 

If you can not find what you want here, simply do an internet search on Cub Scout Ceremonies.

 

 

I agree.  We have a den that is holding up rank awards so everyone can get them together.  It irks me but I haven't made a stink about since I couldn't find a policy stating ranks should be awarded close to when it's achieved.  I did a cursory look through the Advancement Guide and couldn't find anything.

[howarthe]

We do a face painting ceremony for bobcat, tiger, wolf and bear.  We do a neckerchief ceremony for each den at the end of the year.  The Order of the Arrow does our crossover ceremony for us.  We need a new ceremony for the awarding of the Webelos badge and for the Arrow of Light award.  We were using face paint ceremonies, but the boys don't seem to like them anymore by fourth grade, so I came here today to find out what you do that you really like.  I found a page with dozens of ceremonies listed on it, but I don't want to read them all, and try to figure out what might work.  I want my friends at Scouter Forum to tell me what is working well for them.