24 May 2010
3 Bronze, 3 Silver, 3 Gold
Posted by admin under: program .
Well, this is going to continue to confuse things. ScoutingNews.org is reporting on a BSA press release that states that the Boy Scouts of America will be participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, which is cool and allows American Scouts to participate in a programme (to use our British cousins’ spelling) that is used all over the world. The confusing part is now a young lady involved in the Venturing program of the Boy Scouts of America and in the Girls Scout of the USA will be able to earn 9 different metal-themed awards. First I’ll quote the ScoutingNews.org-related announcement.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program announced today a new collaboration to promote the Young Americans’ Challenge to youth members of the BSA. The award program aims to involve youth in challenging educational and nonacademic programs in community service, adventurous journeys, and physical recreation activities to achieve a balanced development of life skills.
BSA Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca and His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, officially launched the program nationwide during a special reception at the National Scouting Museum. During the event, the two discussed the complementary efforts of both organizations to strengthen communities, families, and young people.
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Although the award will be available to all Scouts, the BSA will specifically promote it to members of its Venturing program. Venturing is a youth development program for young men and women between the ages of 14 and 21.
The Girl Scouts of the USA has 3 major awards for different age-ranges: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Most people involved with Girl Scouts understand that the Gold is the top award that can be earned and involves long-term planning and management of a project as well as earning of certain number of skill badges (interest projects). Sounds a lot like a certain Boy Scout rank, doesn’t it? Yes, there is a leadership component to the Gold award, too. The upshot is that a lady in Girl Scouts can earn a Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Because the award is related to the age group she is in she can earn the Gold without having earned the others and vice-versa.
The Venturing program also has a metal-based recognition program. It is not age-related like Girl Scouts. It is a progression. First you earn the Bronze award. Next, to be difficult, you earn the Gold award. The top award is the Silver. That makes sense if you’re used to how all the top recognition awards are silver-based (silver beaver, silver buffalo, etc.). Beginning at age 14 (or after graduating 8th grade) a lady can work on these awards and can theoretically earn all of them (and the cool thing about not over-burdening the kids is that some aspects can be used for both award recognitions).
Now the Duke of Edinburgh awardwill be available which also has Bronze, Silver, and Gold level. These may or may not be progressive. You have to be at least 14 to try for the Bronze. You have to be at least 15 to try for the silver. You have to be at least 16 to try for the Gold. If you earn the Bronze and then go for Silver you don’t have to do the requirements as long for Silver level. If you skip Bronze and go directly to Silver your time period is doubled. If you skip Silver your time period for Gold goes from 12 months to 18 months. So the DofE award is like Girl Scouts in that you don’t have to earn the previous one to get the next level, but is different in that you aren’t barred from doing a Bronze if you’re older. It’s also different in that you get an advantage for the next level if you completed the one before it.
So, if a young lady starts on her awards as a Junior, continues as a Cadette, bridges to Seniors where she works on the award there and also joins the Venturing program where she can work on those awards and decides to try for the Duke of Edinburgh awards, too, she can earn all 9 of them. Boys can only earn 6. I hope that make her feel better about not being able to get the Eagle rank.
- Girl Scouts and Venture Crews
- GSUSA: Weekly Troop Meeting
- New Centennial Awards Now Available
- Sunday’s Golden Girls – 11/23/2008
- Silver Award Hitting the Small Silver Screen
One Comment so far...
New York OA Trader | Shared Items From Around The Web – May 25, 2010 Says:
25 May 2010 at 9:00 am.
[...] 3 Bronze, 3 Silver, 3 Gold [...]
