Packs Troops Crews Ships
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Big Cypress District Packs
Cub Scouting is for youth in the kindergarten through fifth grades. Since its beginning, the Cub Scout program has been a fun and educational experience concerned with values. Besides providing a positive place where youth can enjoy safe, wholesome activities, Cub Scouting focuses on building character, improving physical fitness, teaching practical skills, and developing a spirit of community service.
Big Cypress District Troops
Boy Scouting is available to youth who have earned the Cub Scout Arrow of Light Award and are at least 10 years old, or have completed the fifth grade and are at least 10, or who are 11, but not yet 18 years old. The program achieves the BSA's objectives of developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness.
Big Cypress District Venturing Crews
Venturing is a youth development program of the Boy Scouts of America for young men and women who are 13 and have completed the eighth grade, or age 14 through 20 years of age. Venturing's purpose is to provide positive experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults.
Venturing is based on a unique and dynamic relationship between youth, adult leaders, and organizations in their communities. Local community organizations establish a Venturing crew by matching their people and program resources to the interests of young people in the community. The result is a program of exciting and meaningful activities that helps youth pursue their special interests, grow, develop leadership skills, and become good citizens. Venturing crews can specialize in a variety of avocation or hobby interests.
Big Cypress District Ships
Sea Scouts are run by the youth members. Elected officers plan and conduct the program. Being part of the vessel’s crew teaches teamwork. As experience is gained, more opportunities arise to contribute to the leadership of the unit. At quarterdeck meetings, ship’s officers work together to plan and evaluate the ship’s program. Leadership skills learned in Sea Scouts last a lifetime. Sea Scouts give service to others, and have been of service to hundreds of communities across the nation. Service can be expressed in individual good turns to others, or in organized projects involving the crew or the whole ship. In rescues at sea, or facing emergencies on shore, Sea Scouts have saved lives and property. Sea Scout service puts citizenship into action. Sea Scout advancement rewards individual pursuits of excellence. Each level of advancement marks growth as a seaman and a leader. The highest rank a Sea Scout can earn is the prestigious Quartermaster rank. Seafaring has traditions that go back hundreds of years. Sea Scouts have adapted these traditions to the Sea Scout program, and have created traditions of their own. A youth must be 13 years of age and graduated from the eighth grade, or be 14, to join Sea Scouts. A youth can stay in Sea Scouts until 21 years of age. Sea Scout ships can be located by contacting the Boy Scouts of America in your area. If there is not a ship nearby, encourage parents, school, church, or community organizations to organize one. Find a ship near you.
Commissioners*
Commissioners are district and council volunteers who help units succeed. They are available to coach and consult with parents and leaders of Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops and Venturing crews and ships. Please feel free to contact your commissioner anytime with questions. Commissioners help maintain the standards of the Boy Scouts of America. They also oversee the unit recharter plan, so that each unit re-registers on time with an optimal number of youth and adult members.
A commissioner plays several roles, including friend, representative, unit "doctor," teacher, and counselor. Of all their roles, friend is the most important. It springs from the attitude, "I care; I am here to help, what can I do for you?" Caring is the ingredient that makes commissioner service successful. He or she is an advocate of unit needs. A commissioner who makes himself known and accepted now will be called on in future times of trouble.
- The commissioner is a representative. The average unit leader is totally occupied in working with kids. Some have little if any contact with the Boy Scouts of America, other than a commissioner's visit to their meeting. To them, the commissioner may be the BSA. The commissioner helps represent the ideals, the principles, and the policies of the Scouting movement.
- The commissioner is a unit "doctor." In their role as "doctor," they know that prevention is better than a cure, so they try to see that their units make good "health practices" a way of life. When problems arise, and they will, even in the best unit, they act quickly. They observe symptoms, diagnose the real ailment, prescribe a remedy, and follow up on the patient.
- The commissioner is a teacher. As a commissioner, they will have a wonderful opportunity to participate in the growth of unit leaders by sharing knowledge with them. They teach not just in an academic environment, but where it counts most—as an immediate response to a need to know. That is the best adult learning situation, since the lesson is instantly reinforced by practical application of the new knowledge.
- The commissioner is a counselor. As a Scouting counselor, they will help units solve their own problems. Counseling is the best role when unit leaders don't recognize a problem and where solutions are not clear-cut. Everyone needs counseling from time to time, even experienced leaders.