Here are some questions frequently asked by parents whose sons are crossing over into Boy Scouts.
What fun things / campouts do you do during the year?
Will the older boys there like me and how will I fit in? Can I talk to the boys about their experience? Especially boys about my age?
When we bring the new scouts in we group them with other scouts from their pack and some older scouts to help guide them. The older scouts will be working with them to teach them scouting skills and achieve their rank advancements. We will have the boys spend some time with your sons tonight to get to know them. There are also two scouts that crossed over already this year that you can talk to
Parents: What's different about cubs vs. boy scouts? How will my son advance?
This is a boy led adult coached/mentored troop. The first few years of the program your son will learn scouting skills. After your son achieves 1st class the focus will switch to responsibility and leadership skills and your son will have the opportunity to take on roles of leadership within the troop. The biggest challenge you will have is letting the boys do the work and figure things out for themselves. In cub Scouts the parents did all of the planning and ran the events. In Boy Scouts the parents are behind the scenes coaching and mentoring. Parents are welcome and encouraged to be engaged in all of the activities. The boys do all of the planning and work.
Parents: Are you organized and what is your communication method? How do I fit in?
Our primary means of communication is an ID protected, private Google group site and e-mail. We also utilize Scoutbook, which allows you and your scout to track his advancement.
How do you balance Scouting with other activities.
We are extremely flexible when it comes to other activities (Sports, Music, and Clubs etc). School always comes first and we recognize that your boys may be involved in many different activities. We try our best to never make Boy Scouts an either or activity. Our goal is to keep them in the program so they can receive the awesome benefits that the scouting program has to offer.
How many of your scouts achieve the rank of Eagle?
From the time a boy starts in scouting the national average for those reaching Eagle is 1.5%. In Troop 103 we are running at approximately 15%. We place a lot of emphasis on reaching Eagle and if a boy wants to do it we do everything in our power to get them there.