Eagle Scout here. These asshat politicians need to keep their hands off scouting. It’s an awesome organization that gets kids off the screens and teaches them a bunch of cool, outdoorsy skills. Everybody should be encouraged to participate. Our society needs some fresh air.
Eagle scout here as well. I second this. When I was in scouting it was still boy scouts and I was always a bit bothered by the exclusions. So happy to see that the organization is now inclusive and standing by their beliefs.
Almost made Eagle Scout here. Would absolutely encourage people to join*. There is almost no other organization where you can learn cooking, first aid, environmental science, and many other cool and useful skills that I can think of. At least not for teens. There are definitely a good amount of things I learned that I have kept with me, even if I have never had to use them, especially a very important meeting we had on gun safety.
*obviously vet the troop. You absolutely don’t want to join a troop with homophobes if you or your child are not straight or are trans or whatever.
I had a very lucky experience in that my troop was about as secular as it gets, meeting at a local public school without any external financial support at all. There was no church involved; the parents funded everything and provided transportation and were our chaperones. The only mention of “reverence” was in the Scout Oath, and there were never any group prayers or other such things.
We also didn’t wear uniforms on outings, steering clear of any pro-military optics.
My point being: if you find yourself looking for a program that is more on the side of skill-building, outdoorsy stuff, and education, there are troops out there that may fit the bill.
The troop I was in was like that as well, minus the uniforms. Almost always had to have on either a uniform or troop shirt at outings so we could be identified in case something went wrong. Closest we had to church related stuff was how our troop was grateful enough to be able to hold meetings in a nearby church, a quick mention of it in Eagle Scout court of honor ceremony, and the occasional camp out “there’s service happening for anybody who wants to attend” type of thing.
As for funding, we definitely had the usual fall popcorn sales and then we usually did a bake sale early Spring for funding. Hated the bake sale because it was always at a small rest stop shop that was almost always cold. No external support outside of whoever popcorn sales were done through.
Eagle Scout here. These asshat politicians need to keep their hands off scouting. It’s an awesome organization that gets kids off the screens and teaches them a bunch of cool, outdoorsy skills. Everybody should be encouraged to participate. Our society needs some fresh air.
Eagle scout here as well. I second this. When I was in scouting it was still boy scouts and I was always a bit bothered by the exclusions. So happy to see that the organization is now inclusive and standing by their beliefs.
Now just to get religion out of scouting…
Another Eagle jumping in. It is so clear these clowns know nothing of what scouting is about.
They’ve basically violated every single last part of the oath. They’re 100% at-odds with the entire program as far as I can tell.
These clowns know that scouting promotes inclusiveness and they hate that.
Almost made Eagle Scout here. Would absolutely encourage people to join*. There is almost no other organization where you can learn cooking, first aid, environmental science, and many other cool and useful skills that I can think of. At least not for teens. There are definitely a good amount of things I learned that I have kept with me, even if I have never had to use them, especially a very important meeting we had on gun safety.
*obviously vet the troop. You absolutely don’t want to join a troop with homophobes if you or your child are not straight or are trans or whatever.
Re: vet the troop.
I had a very lucky experience in that my troop was about as secular as it gets, meeting at a local public school without any external financial support at all. There was no church involved; the parents funded everything and provided transportation and were our chaperones. The only mention of “reverence” was in the Scout Oath, and there were never any group prayers or other such things.
We also didn’t wear uniforms on outings, steering clear of any pro-military optics.
My point being: if you find yourself looking for a program that is more on the side of skill-building, outdoorsy stuff, and education, there are troops out there that may fit the bill.
The troop I was in was like that as well, minus the uniforms. Almost always had to have on either a uniform or troop shirt at outings so we could be identified in case something went wrong. Closest we had to church related stuff was how our troop was grateful enough to be able to hold meetings in a nearby church, a quick mention of it in Eagle Scout court of honor ceremony, and the occasional camp out “there’s service happening for anybody who wants to attend” type of thing.
As for funding, we definitely had the usual fall popcorn sales and then we usually did a bake sale early Spring for funding. Hated the bake sale because it was always at a small rest stop shop that was almost always cold. No external support outside of whoever popcorn sales were done through.