Achievements Come in All Sizes

Tonight our scouts worked on advancement.  While the troop works as a group, advancement is very personal.  Each scout works on items at their own pace, with the harder they work, and the better they follow the plan in their handbook, the more successful they are at achieving rank advancement.

For some scouts, advancement is not the most fun thing they do at scouts. These scouts come for the social interaction, and if they actually happen to advance, well....fine.  Other scouts are very focused on getting the skills and merit badges they need to move up in the ranks.  With very few exceptions, the boys who are in the scouting movement are among the nicest kids you would ever like to meet. Every scout is different, yet all our scouts do their best to live the scout oath and law. Sometimes they are better at it than other times.

As an adult in a troop, it is positively fun to watch the scouts grow, and mature - in other words - advance.  The scouting movement have a variety of ranks that are used to measure progress and its genius is that the skills of the lower ranks are the same for everyone, but can be worked at an individual pace.

In a boy led troop, once the skills are mastered, and the scout reaches first class rank, they can sign off on achievements that the younger scouts have achieved.  The skills are handy, but also age appropriate, and achievable with a bit of elbow grease.  Following the skills mastery for any given rank, the scout must have a conference with their scoutmaster.  This is not a rubber stamp discussion, but a discussion, not only of the scout and his newly acquired skills, but a one on one discussion with an adult authority figure.  Starting at a very early age, this additional skill is so important, and in my opinion, getting comfortable talking to other people, particularly those who have an advantage or authority position, is a life skill that the scouts will use throughout their lives.  School, work, volunteering, private sector, government, it is a skill that will serve them well no matter where their life achievements take them.

Following the scoutmaster conference, there is a board of review.  The scout comes before at least three adults to whom they are not related, and answer questions from this board.  I suspect for our younger scouts, the first couple of boards of review are fairly nerve racking.  I can just imagine, sitting there as a youngster who has acquired some skills according to the plan in their handbook, with adults across the table from them asking them questions.  I have been privileged to sit in on a number of boards of review from tenderfoot up to and including Eagle ranks.  The board of review is not a retest of the skills they have acquired, nor does it resemble the Spanish Inquisition.  The questions, if framed properly can coax out thoughtful responses even from scouts who are 11 or 12 year olds. Given a chance, these kids are amazing.

Tonight, I was honored to be asked to sit in on two boards of review, one for 2nd class, and one for tenderfoot.  Both scouts did well in their review, and achieved their advancement in rank.  The introspection, and thoughtfulness of their answers was nothing short of amazing.  This is one of the duties that keeps me going.  It is so rewarding to have the interaction with each and every one of the scouts going through their review.  I'm humbled when a scout asks me to participate in their board of review and I cannot remember ever turning down a request.

Today, several of our adults were able to be on the board of review resulting in being on the  front line in congratulating each scout on their newly acquired rank.  Imagine being the first, second, or third person to shake the hand of a brand new 2nd class or a new tenderfoot scout, and to look at their new demeanor.  They stand a little taller, they are a bit more relaxed, and a bit more confident.  Who couldn't smile at that?  It was a good day.