The logistics of running and participating in the Boy Scout Court of Honor and how it enhances and strengthens advancement methods in scouting.
Show Notes:
- Boy Scout Court of HonorA nice treatment on the by Scouting Rediscovered.
- Information on holding a Troop Court of Honor.
- Boy Scout Requirements (Amazon)
- Scout Boy Compass W/Scout Oath/Eagle Scout Gift (Amazon)
- Scout Patch Collector Album (Amazon)
Transcript:
Troop courts of honor are a time for the troop to come together and celebrate the accomplishments of the scout. These courts of honor are traditionally held between 2 and four times a year.
In our troop, we hold a fall and a spring court of honor.
There are lots of moving parts to a troop court of honor, beginning with collecting all the awards to be presented, and in our troop we have a program listing out all the accomplishments by boy.
If we have given out the actual badge prior to the court of honor, then we give the boy the blue card and rank or merit badge card to signify the award. If they haven’t gotten the badge or patch we staple it all together and give it out as a single unit.
While our program for a court of honor follows a standard format, the senior patrol leader and his assistants are the boys in charge of running the program.
The adults, specifically the scoutmaster and committee chair have roles within the program, but the boys run the show, including swearing in of new patrol leaders and awarding badges.
Patrol leadership in our troop changes twice a year, in late October and early May and coincide with the court of honor. The senior patrol leadership is a full year assignment, changing in early May.
The responsibility for the court of honor is supposed to be in the hands of the committee. This is one place where our troop differs from the norm, as the preparation for the court of honor falls to the scoutmaster. This includes creating the program and organzining and obtaining all the advancements.
We have been trying to move this to its rightful place as a committee responsibility, but as of now it’s handled by the adult leaders.
At our courts of honor we include a spread of cheese and crackers, fruit and cake with coffee and iced tea. We also invite all the parents down to attend and make it into a troop event.
This has been a good way to get additional help for the committee and leadership over the years, as it’s difficult to avoid getting tagged by a leader’s pitch for help during the announcement period.
This has also been a good venue to publicize upcoming trips to all the members of the troop. But this is what works for us.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was a bit on a troop court of honor.
