Boy Scouts Ethnography

“Leadership in Service” are the watchwords of the Vigil Honor, the highest level of membership in the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society. Following nomination, a candidate for the Vigil Honor must undergo a solemn and secretive ceremony at a Scout camp in the pine woods of Bastrop, Texas. I, too, have kept the Vigil, and I will never forget it.

Troop 1324 consisted of about fifteen, second grade girls. We were all wonderfully and vastly different from each other, which made our troop more extraordinary. Looking back, a majority of girls in my troop came from broken places. Abigail Several of these second grade girls had divorced parents, family members with illnesses, disabilities, and faced some traumatic situations. Our troop was showered with hardships, but it only brought us closer to one another. It wired us to become a

In the story “Scouts Honor” by Avi is a short story that is a realistic fiction story about three boys who want to prove their toughness to too each other. They also want to be a level higher in boys scouts. Then shortly after they went to there house and told their parents that they were going camping with the group or with their scout leader. But really they had to go by themselves so they lied to there mom and dad.So for them to be “Toughfer” was by leaving New York and going to New Jersey.Throughout the story the characters struggle with being tough.

The path to Eagle is not a journey that can be completed alone. Upon joining the Boy Scouts of America, I realized that I would need help from others to complete the monumental task of obtaining the Eagle rank. As I embarked on my path toward eagle, recognized that I would need guidance and examples of how to complete my eagle project. This realization prompted me to attend the eagle scout project of many individuals to whom I looked upon as role models. From each project, I acquired insightful advice about the responsibilities of an eagle scout while also improving the community. The service projects, which ranged from building benches for a park to restoring a church, helped me contribute by providing a beneficial service to many different

Camp Tahquitz has observed the passage of traditions from generation to generation. Traditions involve what can be physically seen, but also the unspoken. Eventually, the group involved will follow the traditions out of cooperation and respect. When the term “tradition” is involved in organizations we immediately assume that what characterizes tradition in an organization is ideals and beliefs from past generations which are sometimes presumed outdated (Finnegan, 1991, p.105). Nonetheless, traditions are the main component in youth summer camps, such as Camp Tahquitz. Hence, Camp Tahquitz will regain its reputation as the best when the offerings go beyond “playing Indian” and there is an incorporation of

I see the barn with the green painted 4-H clover at its top, I smell the fresh, dewy grass, and I hear the sounds of anxious campers asking questions about what the week has in store. Hearing the kids’ voices all around saying “What’s that?” and “Look at that!” makes my heart smile. These kids have no idea what a great week we have in store for them and I hope that I can help make their experience one they will not soon forget. The other teens and I have been training and preparing for months, just to make this one week amazing for these kids. Leading the kids toward Ratliff Hall, they are all looking around amazed by their surroundings. The door opens and we enter, the camp staff greets us by chanting and singing. This is a sound like no other that I have waited all year to

William D. Boyce was a business man who hired hundreds of young boys, Newsies, to sell his newspapers. He has a great love of young men’s rights. In 1909 while on a trip to London he got lost in the thick London fog. A Boy Scout helped him find his way. He offered to pay the boy for his service but was refused, when asked why, the young boy explained that he was a boy scout a was doing a good turn. Because of this Boyce brought the Boy Scouts program to America and started Boys Scouts of America, BSA, on February 8, 1910. Because if this man I am a Boy Scout

Summer camp is a tradition that the women in my family have participated in since my mom was a little girl. In the mountains of North Carolina lies a very special place to me, my mom and my little sister. This place is called Camp Glen Arden and it is my home away from home. There are many special traditions within Camp Glen Arden, so that is why I chose it to be the topic of my ethnography.

In a world far far away there was a boy in desperate need of some after school activities. This boy went by the name of Cameron. His journey of finding fun began when he switched schools for the fourth time in four years. Cameron changed schools so much it became hard for him to make any real friends, until one day he almost gave up hope and there he was. The hero spoke with a stern voice reminiscing about the glorious adventures and journeys he had had. Then Cameron walked up he stopped and gazed upon the man and the man asked the lad would he like to have adventures, life full filling quests, and make lots of new friends in the process. The young fellow asked the hero what he meant and the ecstatic man shouts out “The Boy Scouts of America!”

As a member of the Boy Scouts of America in Troop 181 I have established myself as a young leader and well rounded individual. I have been a part of countless service projects with my fellow Scouts since I was in first grade. Sticking with Scouting has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I climbed through the ranks and attained my Eagle Scout award when I was sixteen. The Eagle Scout service project I completed along side the multiple other volunteering excursions I have been a part of have taught me several core values that will cling tightly to me from here on. These service projects have given me a fantastic outlook on life. My Troop often visits with the local nursing home to carol, plant vegetables in their garden, decorate,

A couple of summers ago, the troop went on a high adventure trip to the foothills. This was a 30 mile backpacking trip. I’ll be honest, sometimes it felt like we were walking straight up the side of Mt. Everest. Many of us had anywhere form 20-30 pounds on our back and I’m sure that most of the scouts will tell you that they would not had made it through without sheer perseverance. But the feeling of accomplishment we felt when we finished was beyond any measure. As most of you know, earning the rank of Eagle Scout is quite an accomplishment. For those of you like me, who started out as a tiger cub, at six years old, and continued on into Boy Scouts, you know the time and dedication that is needed to become an Eagle Scout. Every Monday night for the last ten years has been dedicated to scouts, attending merit badge fairs, going to summer camps, and doing training courses are just some of the things we do. To achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, you have to have perseverance. All those things lead up to the reward. God would not put the dream in your heart if he did not already have a way to make it come to pass. Perseverance and

Camping has been one of the main events in the Scouting program ever since it was first made. Camping at a locally owned or troop owned camp has also been a big thing. Sadly, many of these camps are dying out due to budget and low income of scouts. Ferris State Bulldog and Eagle Scout Raymond Sundquist has a solution. Sunquist believes “If we were able to get more kids involved in the Scouting program, we wouldn’t have such a huge problem in not finding enough scouts to run the camps” (Sundquist). Sundquist also believes that one of the biggest problems of not having many young boys and teens in the scouting program is because there has been a mixed feelings in the community for scouting. He stands on the fact that many families think that

In Boy Scouts the new troop will always do a campout for the new scouts that is relatively easy for them, and is there to introduce new members to the people that are leaders and other administrators. I joined a few weeks early that winter and joined the other scouts at Camp Emerson. Camp Emerson, in the winter is a cold place with up to three feet of snow. When I took my first trip with the scouts, there was a record amount of snow. I slept in a tent that we had to dig out of the snow a few mornings, then hiked our way to the frozen lake to learn not only about surviving but prospering in the harshest conditions with little to no gear. This was one of the most insightful and miserable experience of my life, but to this day I’m proud that I thrived at the event made for boys four year my senior, and earned the respect of those same boys. While I loved the Boy Scouts it was time for my family to move out of California to a more rural community. After this momentous change I was disappointed to find no active Boy Scout community near my new location. I have continued my work with the Backcountry Horsemen, but my new chapter is far less active than my

In 1927, the American Boy Scout Uniform was enhanced with the addition of the colorful Boy Scout Neckerchief. This important artifact is now regarded as an indispensable article of equipment in the Boy Scouts of America. My first Scoutmaster informed me that it was no coincidence the neckerchief had three sides. The top and left sides of the neckerchief are meant to remind the Scouts of their long-standing duty to God and country. The right side of the neckerchief is to show duty to oneself. When Scouting parents and other adult individuals see this triangular piece of cloth wrapped around a Scout’s neck, they will more often than not observe the entire uniform and perceive the Scout as: physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

- Dale was part of Boy Scouts of America, abbreviated BSA, for 12 years as a assistant scoutmaster.