The Scouting experience is divided into five programs according to age and activities. Discover what programs are available to your scouts by selecting their age:
What is the Cub Scouts Program?
Cub Scouts is for boys and girls, kindergarten to 5th grade. It is a program where youth develop the foundations for leadership, citizenship, and personal fitness through fun activities involving parents and legal guardians. Cub Scouting designates participants into groups based on grade and gender before participating in activities.
What Will I Do in Cub Scouts?
Cub Scouting activities are designed for Scouting families to get in on the fun, and include exploring the outdoors, building projects, making friends, and developing a lifelong love of learning as Cub Scouts earn patches related to their grades.
How Often Do Cub Scouts Meet?
Cub Scouts meet twice a month or once a week depending on what times are convenient for families involved in the program.
Who Runs Cub Scouts?
Parents and legal guardians of Cub Scouts work together to run the Cub Scout program. Cub Scouting offers excellent support for parents and legal guardians to deliver the program as a team through national online training and resources to local in-person coaching and mentoring.
Why Join Cub Scouts?
Cub Scouting encourages family fun while providing youth with a safe space to make friends and challenge themselves through age-appropriate activities. It is a program where children and parents feel like they belong to an organization that consistently reinforces worthwhile values like honesty, good conduct, and respect for others.
What is the Scouts BSA Program?
The traditional Scouting program, Scouts BSA is where youth develop outdoor survival skills, self-confidence, and ethics through youth planned activities with increased attention to service, community engagement, and leadership.
What Will I Do in Scouts BSA?
Scouts BSA is where youth explore their interests and develop skills by participating in outdoor activities like hiking, camping, and canoeing. Scouts earn merit badges along the journey and work towards achieving Scouting’s highest rank—Eagle Scout.
How Often Does Scouts BSA Meet?
Scouts typically meet once a week. Troops may hold special activities, like service projects or outdoor experiences, in place of or in addition to one of the weekly meetings.
Who Runs Scouts BSA?
Elected youth lead their troop and run the meetings at the guidance of the Scoutmaster and other adult leaders. Unlike Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA is a youth program planned mainly by the Scouts, not the parents.
Why Should I Join Scouts BSA?
Scouts BSA prepares youth to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Throughout their time in Scouting, Scouts learn the value of hard work and experience the thrill of seeing it pay off.
What is the Venturing Program?
Created for boys and girls ages 14-20, Venturing is a youth-led program where Scouts experience positive mentorship and develop leadership skills in a fun, supportive environment.
What Will I Do in Venturing?
Venturers develop leadership skills like decision making, communication, and organization by choosing activities they are most interested in performing. Some of these activities include kayaking, volunteering at animal shelters, or designing robots—the Venturing activity is entirely up to the Scout!
How Often Do Venturing Crews Meet?
Up to twice a month at locations relevant to the crew’s high-adventure or activity of interest.
Who Runs Venturing?
Elected youth lead meetings, set schedules, and plan activities under the guidance of adult advisors. Chartered organizations like religious institutions, youth groups, or service organizations typically sponsor Venturing programs.
Why Should I Join Venturing?
Venturing teaches youth valuable leadership skills through fun, challenging, and age-appropriate adventures where they are encouraged to make ethical choices that adhere to the Scout Oath and Law.
What is the Sea Scouts Program?
Sea Scouting is a maritime program for boys and girls ages 14-20 providing a fun, safe environment for Scouts to learn, build friendships, and develop character while earning advancement.
What Will I Do in Sea Scouts?
Sea Scouts—organized into units called ships—recognizes Scouts for activities they learn and do, including paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, and even SCUBA. Scouts earn certifications in SCUBA, boating safety, lifesaving, CPR—credentials that mark their growth as sailors and leaders throughout their time in the program.
How Often Do Sea Scouts Meet?
Sea Scouts meet weekly or every other week.
Who Runs the Sea Scouts?
Elected youth officers plan and conduct the program under the guidance of adult advisors. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Flotillas are among the chartered organizations interested in teaching youth activities in, around, or underwater. Each ship is typically sponsored by a business, service organization, religious institution, or other organizations within the community.
Why Should I Join Sea Scouts?
Sea Scouts prepares youth for the routine and unexpected challenges of seamanship while encouraging citizenship, developing boating skills, and promoting water safety through hands-on experience on a watercraft.
What is the Exploring Program?
The Exploring program connects boys and girls ages 10-20 with mentors, businesses, and agencies within their communities to help them discover future career paths.
What Will I Do in Exploring?
Explorers step out of the classroom and into real-world work environments to gain hands-on experience and learn more about potential career paths.
How Often Does Exploring Meet?
Exploring programs meet up to twice a month throughout the academic school year.
Who Runs Exploring?
Businesses or organizations interested in helping youth gain experience in an area of expertise administer the Exploring program.
Why Should I Join Exploring?
The Exploring program helps youth broaden career skills, gain leadership experience, and develop critical life skills like problem-solving, communication, and conflict resolution under the guidance of dedicated professionals.
Online Membership Resources
In-Person Membership Resources
Click to download the Restart Scouting Checklist.
Click to download the Boys’ Life Mini Mags.
CLICK HERE! To download the Official Youth Application.
CLICK HERE! To download the Official Adult Application.
Click to download the Cub Scout Recruitment Idea Book.
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Recruitment Night Tool Kit Inventory
Check-in Sheets
Pens
Bookmarks
K-5th Grade Table Tents
Youth Applications
Adult Applications
Stickers
Boys’ Life Mini Mags
Posters
Yard Signs
Wristbands
CLICK HERE! To view the Recruitment Night Unit Playbook.
Did you know the Sandhills District has great program resources that units can reserve for FREE or at a reduced cost? If not, you should take advantage of these great resources and reserve anyone of the items listed below!
Pinewood Derby Tracks
Raingutter Regatta Trough
Leather Working Equipment
Turkey Bowling Pins
Yard Games
Carnival Equipment
Inflatable Equipment
LEGOS
AND SO MUCH MORE!
Our priority is to bring the benefits of Scouting to more youth while remaining true to our mission.
Because you give time and effort to Scouting, youth in your pack, troop, crew, or post will have advantages in life they may not otherwise have. A study done by Harris Interactive shows that compared to their non-Scout peers, Scouts grow up to perform better in school, are more financially responsible, and give more to their communities through acts of service and charitable giving. All of this starts by giving youth the opportunity to join a strong and healthy unit. Together we can inspire youth and their families to take advantage of all that Scouting has to offer.
Pack Recruitment Resources
Cub Scouting is fun for the whole family. In Scouting, boys and girls, start with their best right now selves and grow into their very best future selves. It’s fun, hands-on learning and achievement that puts kids in the middle of the action and prepares them for today – and for life.
The council-wide sign-up night campaign focuses on recruiting new families to the fun and adventure of Cub Scouting. Begin your planning by attending the council’s fall sign-up night training. Involve all of your pack leaders in the recruiting efforts by inviting everyone to training! At this training, the council will provide support materials to help you have a successful sign-up night. This years training will be held September 2nd, 2020.
Webelos to Scout Transition
By planning and coordinating efforts, the pack and troop can:
Help make the Webelos-to-Scout transition seamless
Give all Webelos Scouts a chance to experience the fun and excitement of joining a Scout troop.
Scouts BSA
Scouts BSA is the traditional Scouting experience for youth in the fifth grade through high school. Service, community engagement, and leadership development become increasingly important parts of the program as youth lead their own activities and work their way toward earning Scouting’s highest rank, Eagle Scout.
A steady flow of youth into a Scout troop is essential to maintaining the troop’s health. New Scouts bring energy and enthusiasm to the troop program. When it comes to attracting and retaining new members, the prerequisite focus for all troops is to ensure their program is delivering the promise of Scouting – the Scouts enjoy fun monthly outings, awsome long-term opportunities, summer camp opportunities at Howard H. Cherry Scout Reservation, and dynamic weekly meetings.
Having an effective year-round growth plan in place will help attract new Scouts. A helpful step for any recruitment effort is to appoint a troop committee member to serve as the troop membership chair. This person will develop and implement a year-round growth plan that incorporates all methods of recruitment, working closely with Cub Scout packs in the community, the district membership committee, and the unit commissioner.
Generally, there are three methods of recruiting new Scouts into troops. A good year-round recruiting plan addresses all three:
- Graduate Webelos Scouts into a Scout Troop
- Host a Troop Open House
- Youth and Recruitment – Encourage your current Scouts to recruit others into the Troop
Venturing
Venturing is a program for youth ages 14 – 21. Venturing is for those who love to explore their passions, make new friends, and discover the world. Venturers are always looking for an adventure. Rappelling a cliff. Perfecting their shot. Designing a robot. Kayaking into the sunset. Exploring their faith. Volunteering at an animal shelter. The choice is theirs! Each activity provides an opportunity for youth to shine and learn more about themselves and the world around them. Venturing is youth-led and youth-inspired. Youth acquire life skills and gain experiences that will prove to be valuable regardless of where their future takes them, all while having a blast.
Exploring – Learning for Life’s career education program
Exploring’s purpose is to provide experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults.
Programs are based on five areas of emphasis:
Career Opportunities – Real-world career skills facilitated by caring professionals.
Leadership Experiences – Training opportunities to develop the leadership skills that employers desire as well as leadership opportunities for youth within the program.
- Life Skills – Conflict resolution, problem solving, teamwork, and communication.
- Citizenship – Service learning opportunities in your community.
- Character Education – Professionalism and ethical decision making.
To learn more about the opportunities in Exploring visit www.Exploring.org
If you know of a business that would like to charter an Exploring Club or Post contact your District Executive.
BeAScout Pin
in their neighborhoods. Simply go to BeAScout.org and type in your zip code to find the closest Scouting in your area. Unit leaders should be populating their “unit pin” in order to display the most accurate information. To edit your unit’s pin look under Legacy Tools on My.Scouting.org
How to update your BeAScout.org pin
Updating your BeAScout.org pin is simple, and it’s a good way to make sure your information is current — that it doesn’t list last year’s Cubmaster or meeting time, for example.
Access to update your pin is available to all unit leaders, including committee members in a unit.
To update your pin:
- Go to My.Scouting.org
- In the drop-down menu, go to Legacy Web Tools and select BeAScout.
- Choose “unit” (rather than council) under “Unit Pin Mode” to update the pin with your contact info.
- Be sure to set pin status to “active.” If they want the “Apply Now” button on the pin, set “Apply Status” to “active.”
- Note that it may take a few hours, or up to overnight, for the updated information to show up.
- For Cub Scout packs: You’ll also want to go to Organization Manager and identify your pack’s gender: all-boy, all-girl or a mix of all-boy dens and all-girl dens. Under Organization Manager, find the settings tab and scroll to the bottom of the page. The default is Boys Dens, but you can change that. Be sure to enter an effective date or it will not update the pin.
Unit New Member Coordinators
Sustaining strong membership in a unit depends partly on reaching new audiences to invite them to join the unit and partly on engaging new members and their families so that they feel welcomed and want to stay. The role of the New Member Coordinator is to ensure that both keys to success take place.