Please review the Troop calendar carefully and reserve time on your personal calendar in order to benefit from the many events, both single day and overnight trips, that are offered throughout the year.
The Activity Requirement will be based on 3-month quarters, as follows:
A) October, November, December
B) January, February, March
C) April, May, June
D) July, August, September
Effective immediately, in order to be considered to be “Active” (a BSA Advancement REQUIREMENT), you must complete the following minimum number of events during each Quarter:
1 Campout (minimum 1 night)
1 Day Event (minimum 5 hours duration)
1 Service Project (minimum 2 hours duration)
Dispensations: A second Campout may be substituted for the Day Event, but a Campout or Day Event may NOT be substituted for the Service Project. A Service Project that lasts 5 hours may also be substituted for the Day Event; however, a one day Service Project that lasts 7 or more hours cannot be divided and used as BOTH the Day Event and the Service Project – it’s one or the other. Campouts that straddle a Quarter transition point (like Guns and Arrows, September 29th – October 1st this year) may be used for either quarter, but not for both (and only if you stay BOTH nights).
Intent: As previously noted, this new version of the Activity Requirement is specifically designed to encourage at least minimal, YEAR-ROUND participation in the Troop’s outdoor program. It is also specifically intended to prevent a Scout from loading his entire activity requirement in one short stretch, and doing pretty much nothing else the rest of the year, which several Scouts got away with his past year (for example, all the ski trips, or just summer camp).
Allowances/Disallowances: As was permitted during the past two years, Scouts who participate in non-111 Scouting events and activities with the Council, the District, or other Troops (for example, the District Pinewood Derby, Order of the Arrow, Goshen Bus Loading, an Eagle Project for a Scout in another Troop, etc.), may use those activities as substitutes for their Activity Requirement. However – and this is a change from the past two years – the Troop will no longer accept “make-up” programs from inactive Scouts; these were too difficult to administer, and most of the dozen or so “barely active” Scouts never bothered to submit a makeup program anyway. Similarly, and for the same reason, the Troop will no longer accept stringing together multiple Day Events as a substitute for a Campout. You were either active the last two quarters, or you weren’t, period.
Self-Tracking: The Troop will have Activity Requirement Tracking Sheets posted on the “black boards” at the Troop meetings. The SCOUTS (NOT THE PARENTS) will be responsible for filling in these sheets.
Consequences: No Scout will be terminated from the Troop for failure to meet his Activity Requirement. However, in order to advance to the next rank, the Scout must have been active for the two quarters prior to his Scoutmaster’s Conference. In short, if you’re not active, you can’t advance. As a further dispensation, if a Scout has met the Activity Requirement for the current Quarter, then it may be counted as one of the “last two Quarters”. If he has not, then the two Quarters prior to current Quarter are the two that will count. PROSPECTIVE EAGLE SCOUTS WHO ARE APPROACHING THEIR 17 1/2 YEAR OLD “HALF-BIRTHDAY” MUST BE PARTICULARLY MINDFUL OF THEIR ACTIVITY REQUIREMENT FOR THEIR FINAL TWO QUARTERS.
Comments: Any system is prone to weaseling and/or abuse, including this one, and those who are so inclined can certainly figure out easily enough how to get two quarter’s credit in four or five weeks. Or to do nothing for a year and a half, and suddenly come back to life just in time to make Life or Eagle (a really bad idea, by the way). To repeat, it is not my desire to drive anyone out of the Troop. That said, anyone who can’t make one campout, one day activity, and one service project IN THREE MONTHS TIME really needs to move on with their life, or transfer to another Troop that does not enforce this requirement (about half do not). And so, if you find yourself staring at the Troop calendar, trying to figure out “what is the absolute least I can do?”, I suggest you ask yourself a very different question – and I think everyone already knows what that question is. In my opinion, every Scout should be able to easily *double* the minimum requirement in most if not all quarters. Most of the other Troops in the area that have Activity Requirements require far more than what we are asking.
Remember – If you want to be an Eagle Scout, first you have to be a Scout.
