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19 year old "Adult" Leader


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Junior Assistant Scoutmaster is a boy position. A 19 year old man cannot hold that position any more than he could be a patrol leader. As an adult he can hold any adult position, assuming his application for adult membership has been approved by the chartered organization and the council.

 

As dancinfox says, overnight activities require at least one 21+ year old registered leader.

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Keep him!

 

First item will be to make sure he's up on youth protection training

 

This will be your key leader at camp and on campouts. Let him wander among the scouts and help them. Let him joke around and play games.

 

Around here the strongest troop keep their 18-20something group around. They're usually all eagles and active in honor camping. These leaders are your living examples of what the 4th year scout should be.

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NWScouter,

 

The only position available to an under 21-year-old adult in a troop is Assistant Scoutmaster. In a Cub Pack it is Assistant Den Leader.

 

I dont think this information is right. If it is, its changed in the last 25 years or the Baltimore Area Council made a mistake in 1979 when they allowed me to be a Webelos Leader at age 20.

 

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From the GTSS Two-deep leadership:

Two registered adult leaders, or one registered adult and a parent of a participating Scout, one of whom must be at least 21 years of age or older, are required for all trips or outings. There are a few instances, such as patrol activities, when no adult leadership is required. Coed overnight activities require male and female adult leaders, both of whom must be 21 years of age or older, and one of whom must be a registered member of the BSA.

This can be found at www.scouting.org search for Guide to safe

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That's pretty much the boat i'm in right now. I was registered from 18 to 19 as a troop comittee member, and then from 19 to 20 as an ASM, so I guess it was OK for me to be more than just an ASM.

 

I do have an easier time to associate with the current batch of youth because I was just recently their SPL. Unfortunately there is also a temptation to over step my bounds as an adult sometimes. I catch myself though, and remember how it was being lead by the nose by an adult. Actually, I want to remind the other adults in my troop of that some times, and tell them to back off. It is truely an interesting position to be in. I'm sort of the in between man for the youth and older adults because they are more comfortable around me I think.

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NW, an 18-to-20-year may also be Assistant Cubmaster.

 

http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/leadership.html

 

(This is an unofficial site but I have been consulting it for several years and have never seen them be wrong about anything; some of the information including the qualifications for positions appears to be lifted directly from BSA publications.)

 

The basic pattern for troop and pack adult leader positions is that if the title has "assistant" in front of it, you have to be 18, but if it does not, you have to be 21. (The latter includes committee positions, including (as I just confirmed after not being certain), Pack Trainer.)

 

But as for troops, you are correct, ASM is the only position available until the age of 21.

 

Rooster, I know of a similar situation in the same general time frame. Within a month of each other in 1976 both me and my fellow JASM at the time turned 18, and he decided that since I was becoming an Assistant Scoutmaster, he would join the Troop Committee. Since I assume I would have heard about it later if there was a problem, I have to assume that he went on to serve on the Troop Committee without anyone giving him any trouble. That would seem to verify that either the age requirements have changed, or they were not being enforced. (Keep in mind that since that time the qualifications for most of these positions DID change, to allow women to serve in them, so maybe at the same time they reviewed and changed other aspects as well.)

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Just as a personal observation: Over the past year and a half I have witnessed several 18 and 19 year old "Assistant Scoutmasters" and let's just say that while I am sure some of that age, somewhere, take their responsibilities seriously, I haven't seen one yet. I think back on my own situation and it confirms to me that going from "older boy" to "Assistant Scoutmaster" just because you were born more than 18 years ago, is a pretty big leap. I think the BSA should consider creating some "in-between" position, though I don't know what you would call it... Senior Junior Assistant Scoutmaster? No, that's no good. But maybe there is a good answer somewhere.

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