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--Troop 166 Trick: |
An essential part of the Scouting Experience is the system of ranks and achievements, to provide the Scout a steady pattern of making goals and rewards for goals achieved.
The official scout ranks can be grouped into two major groups:
Scout Skills: Scouts work on developing basic skills, the sorts of things important to our outdoor activities, from knots to first aid, as well as learning the ways of being a Scout. Scouts who have earned First Class rank, are considered to have all the essential knowledge and skills of Scoutcraft and are therefore ready to pursue the higher goals of leadership and service.
Leadership: These are ranks earned by service and leadership.
Scouting is about building character and leadership skills, the upper ranks of Scouting are opportunities to grow and develop in this regard.
The Scout Manual has all the requirements in detail, but here in order are the Ranks of Scouting.
Every Scout Troop has an Advancement Chair - an adult in charge of managing and recording the achievements of the Scouts.
The Scout Manual has the requirements for each rank, with a space to be signed-off once that requirement is met.
(BSA is very clear that the wording of the requirement must be met, the adviser is not allowed to add to, or qualify those requirements. If the Scout will require special accommodation to pass that requirement, the Scoutmaster must approve the accommodation.)
Ultimately, the Scout.
In the Skills ranks (Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd and 1st), in Troop 166, the Scout is usually in the New-Scout Patrol; the patrol leaders for the New-Scout Patrol are the troop Guides. The Troop Guides are tasked with guiding and encouraging the new scouts to complete their Skills-Rank advancements as quickly as possible. We aim to have a scout achieve First Class by the end of the first year in our Troop.
The Scoutmaster for each troop determines who can sign for the requirements.
For Troop 166, we allow any scout who has achieved First Class to sign for any rank below that, unless specified by the manual--sometimes a requirement must be signed by a Parent or Guardian, or by the Scoutmaster.
Unless a requirement specifies it must be earned while a certain rank, a Scout can work on any requirement in any order.
However, ranks can only be earned in order: Thus you must complete Tenderfoot before you can earn Second Class.
In simple form each rank is earned by:
Once all requirements for a rank are complete:
If the Board of Review passes the Scout that scout is considered to have earned the rank and may begin any specific work for the next rank.
It does happen sometimes that a Scout receives two or three ranks at a single Court of Honor, this can only happen with the ranks up to First Class.
