You can download the PDF of the new "Guide to Advancement 2017" (33088) using this link.

To help you understand the changes, the Introduction includes a section listing "Significant Changes," as well as a section devoted to "Frequently Asked Questions."

As of 26 May 2017, the relevant Web pages on Scouting.org have not been updated, though an update is in the works.  It is unknown when the full-color, hardcopy version will be available in the Scout Shop or on ScoutStuff.org.

The updated "Eagle Scout Rank Application" form (512-728) is identified as the "April 2017 Printing" in the lower right corner on page two (2) of the form.  It should be used by all future Eagle candidates.

You can download the PDF of the new "Eagle Scout Rank Application" form using this link. 

If the previous "Eagle Scout Rank Application" form has already been approved by the council service center, nothing needs to be done.  The application is valid and will be accepted at the Eagle Board of Review.

If, on the other hand, the previous "Eagle Scout Rank Application" form has NOT been approved by the council service center, it is highly recommended that the Eagle candidate fill out and submit the new form.

A "Publicity Resources" section has been added to the "Training" page.

If you'd like to announce an upcoming Scouting event, to report a Scouting milestone in your unit, or to request coverage of a Scouting event, you can contact the media outlets listed in this new section.

To reach the "Publicity Resources" section, open the "Training" page and follow the "Publicity Resources" link.

The Seneca District 2016 Volunteer Recognition Night was held at the April Roundtable.  The following awards were presented:

Cubmaster of the Year:  Candi Urban, Pack 3266.
Den Leader of the Year:  Richard Lowe, Pack 3233.
Den Leader Training Award:  Eric Daniels, Pack 3250.

Scoutmaster of the Year:  Bob Osterland, Troop 558.
Assistant Scoutmaster of the Year:  Keith Pearson, Troop 259, Seneca District Commissioner.
Committee Chair of the Year:  Anitra Roberts, Pack 3233, Troop 252, Crew 2262.

District Award of Merit:  Elwin Robison, Troop 573 and Dan McClory, Troop 257, Seneca District Committee.

Clyde Hazle Unit Award:  Troop 257.

Seneca Appreciation Award:  Brian Davis, Pack 3551, Council Committee.

Candi Urban also received her Wood Badge beads.

Pictures of the festivities can be found here.

Congratulations to the recipients and thanks to everyone who submitted nominations and who helped put on the ceremonies.

As of 1 April 2017, units are no longer required to submit any plans for official Scouting activities to council for review.

This is the only change to the BSA rules, regulations, and policies regarding official Scouting activities.  Everything else remains the same, including requiring permission slips from parents/guardians for youths and annual health and medical records for all participants.

The BSA's official explanation of this change can be found in the "Tour and Activity Plan Terminated FAQ" on Scouting.org.

You can also read about the changes in "BSA's Tour and Activity Plan Eliminated" on the Bryan on Scouting blog on ScoutingMagazine.org.

UPDATE:  The Guide to Safe Scouting has been updated to reflect the elimination of the Tour and Activity plan.  You can download a PDF copy of the latest Guide to Safe Scouting from this page.

If you sat in on the Boy Scout splits at Roundtable this year, you probably heard one of the presentations on "Eagle Scout Hacks."  If not, you might be asking, "What the heck is a hack?"

Hack is a "geek" term for a specific way of achieving an objective or accomplishing a goal.  Back in the day, hacks would have been called suggestions and recommendations.

Each presentation discussed one of four handouts created to address the following aspects of a Scout's advancement to Eagle:  1) "Be Prepared," 2) "Eagle Scout Rank Application," 3) "Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook," and 4) "Eagle Board of Review."

The goal of the first three handouts is to make a Scout think about the best way for him to earn Eagle so that he will fulfill the promise he makes every time he recites the first eight words of the Scout Oath:  "On my honor, I will do my best..."

Another goal of these three handouts is to make Scouters think about the best way for them to assist a Scout's advancement to Eagle.  The goal of the fourth handout is to make Scouters think about the best way to organize and conduct an Eagle Board of Review.

To download PDF copies of all four handouts, open the "Boy Scouts" page using this link, follow the "Eagle Scout" link and scroll down to the "Eagle Scout Hacks" section.

The new 2017 Boy Scout Requirement book is out, and it contains a number of changes to rank requirements and merit badge requirements.  A new merit badge, Exploration, has also been released.

For complete details on all the changes, open the "Boy Scouts" page by using this link.  Follow the "Advancement & Awards" link to learn about the rank changes.  Follow the "Merit Badges" link to learn about merit badge changes and the new Exploration merit badge.

CHANGE HIGHLIGHTS

RANKS

Second Class
     Req. 2d - Sentence structure change.
     Req. 8e - Wording change.

First Class
     Req. 8b - Added requirement to "develop a plan."

REQUIRED MERIT BADGES

Major Updates to Requirements
     Hiking

Minor Updates to Requirements
     Camping, Cooking, Lifesaving

ELECTIVE MERIT BADGES

New Merit Badge
     Exploration

Major Updates to Requirements
     Disabilities Awareness, Pioneering, Radio

Minor Updates to Requirements
     American Business, Athletics, Automotive
     Maintenance, Climbing, Coin Collecting, Dentistry,
     Dog Care, Fire Safety, Fish and Wildlife
     Management, Fishing, Forestry, Game Design,
     Indian Lore, Journalism, Landscape Architecture,
     Leatherwork, Music, Nuclear Science, Plumbing,
     Programming, Pulp and Paper, Rifle Shooting,
     Safety, Salesmanship, Scholarship, Small-Boat
     Sailing, Sports, Traffic Safety, Wood Carving

The current BSA Youth Protection Training videos cover many issues and situations.  Noticeably lacking, however, is instruction on how to apply the principles of two-deep leadership and no one-on-one contact between adults and youths to online and digital communication.

In order to make up for this lack of instruction, the "Online Guidelines" section has been added to the "Training" page of the this Web site.

To learn about the BSA's guidelines for online and digital communication, follow this link to open the "Training" page and then follow the "Online Guidelines" link.

The topics covered in the "Online Guidelines" section are:

1)  Two-Deep Leadership and No One-On-One Contact Between Adults and Youth Members Includes Digital Communication

2)  Two-Deep Administration of Online Platforms

3)  Social Media Guidelines

4)  Council Web Site Guidelines

5)  Unit Web Site Guidelines

This section includes links to the BSA Web pages that discuss these topics in detail, as well as excerpts from these pages that highlight key points of each topic.

If you need further assistance with these guidelines, you can contact the BSA National Council social media team at Social.Media@Scouting.org.

The Boy Scouts of America has announced changes to Cub Scout Adventure requirements in response to feedback from den leaders who have run the new Cub Scout program for a year.  All Adventures from Tiger through Webelos and Arrow of Light are affected.  There have also been some changes to the general requirements for advancement for each rank.

Most of the recommended changes involve reducing the number of requirements necessary to earn an Adventure.  These changes will speed up advancement, making it easier to fit everything into a typical program year of Cub Scouting.  In addition, the content of some Adventures has been changed.

[The changes are effective immediately (December 2016), and dens] may begin using the modified requirements as soon as they begin working on their next Adventure.  This implies that dens should complete their current Adventure using the old requirements.

UPDATE:  Changes to the Cub Scout Adventure and rank advancement requirements have been published as four separate PDFs, one each for Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos/Arrow of Light.  These PDFs can be downloaded from this page:  "Program Updates:  Cub Scout Advancement Modifications Made."

For more information about these changes, please read these two blog posts on ScoutingMagazine.org: "Modifications to Cub Scout program give den leaders more flexibility" and "Answers to your questions about the Cub Scout modifications."

There's a seldom discussed section of the BSA's Youth Protection guidelines that all Scouts and Scouters must be aware of and need to follow. It deals with digital communications, in all the various forms available today.

This post is meant to inform Scouters and their units how the guideline on digital communication applies to e-mail. This is important for Life Scouts who need to communicate with a District Eagle Representative in order to begin work on their Eagle service project, but it applies to all Scouts regardless of rank and all registered Scouters regardless of their position.

Any e-mail a youth sends to any adult Scout leader MUST be copied (CC:) to a parent or guardian AND to an adult leader in the youth's unit. The same holds true when an adult Scout leader sends an e-mail to a youth.

The wording of the relevant section of the Youth Protection guidelines is as follows:

"Two-Deep Leadership and No One-On-One Contact Between Adults and Youth Members Includes Digital Communication

"Leaders may not have one-on-one private online communications or engage one-on-one in other digital activities (games, social media, etc.) with youth members.  Leaders [and youths] should copy a parent [or guardian] and another leader in digital and online communication, ensuring no one-on-one contact exists in [e-mail,] text, social media, or other forms of online or digital communication."

This and other Youth Protection guidelines can be found in "Youth Protection and Adult Leadership," which is Chapter 1 of the Guide to Safe Scouting. It can also be found on Scouting.org using this link.

Roundtable Split Topics for 2016-17 have been added to the Roundtable Page.  Go here to see what's ahead and what you may have missed.

Unit College Scouter Reserve, Venturing College Scouter Reserve, and Unit Scouter Reserve

Does your troop or crew have a former Scout who has turned 18 and is away at college, on a mission, or in the service and wants to stay registered in your unit?

To help keep these young adults in Scouting and connected to your unit, two registration codes exist:  92U, Unit College Scouter Reserve (UCSR) and 92V, Venturing College Scouter Reserve (VCSR).  Only the appropriate Youth Protection Training is required.  All other adult registration application criteria and fees apply.

These positions are meant primarily for college students who want to occasionally help out as an adult leader when they are home on break, but who don't have the time to take the training required for an Assistant Scoutmaster, Assistant Cubmaster, or Assistant Crew Advisor.

Young adults who serve regularly as an adult leader should register as an Assistant Scoutmaster, Assistant Cubmaster, or Assistant Crew Advisor and complete all the normal training requirements.

If you have adults who assist the leadership in your unit and are available to fill-in as a leader on an as-needed basis, they should use registration code 91U, Unit Scouter Reserve (USR).  Only the appropriate Youth Protection Training is required.  All other adult registration application criteria and fees apply.

An additional benefit of the 92U, 92V, and 91U registrations is that they remove untrained Assistant Scoutmasters, Assistant Cubmasters, and Assistant Crew Advisors from your unit's registration.  This change will improve your unit's Journey to Excellence score.

Adult leaders registered as 92U, 92V, or 91U are permitted to wear a uniform when appropriate, but there is no position patch.

Adult Application Registration Codes

• 92U (Unit College Scouter Reserve):  For troop and pack leaders 18 years and older away at college.
• 92V (Venturing College Scouter Reserve):  For crew leaders 21 years and older away at college.
• 91U (Unit Scouter Reserve):  For troop, pack, and crew adults 21 years and older living at home.

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