Council, District, Pack, & Den

As you learn about Scouting you will hear about National, Council, District, Pack, and Den Events. Below we give you an overview of what these things mean.

Boy Scouts of America (a.k.a. "National")

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.®”. Traditional Scouting programs are operated by local chartering organizations, such as religious institutions, clubs, civic associations, and educational organizations, which implement the Scouting program for youth within their communities. These units are led entirely by volunteers appointed by the chartering organization, who are supported by local councils using both volunteers and paid professional staff. BSA programs are divided by age and activity:

• Cub Scouting is for boys and girls in kindergarten through 5^th grade,

• Scouts BSA is open to young men and young women in grades 6 through 12, and

• co-ed Venturing and Sea Scouting are available for young men and young women age 14 through 20.

• The BSA also offers career-oriented co-ed Exploring programs to youth age 10 through 20.

Los Padres Council

Los Padres Council serves youth in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. Our aim is to help chartered organizations effectively use the Scouting program and expand the use of the program to other community groups. Los Padres Council operates outdoor experiences through Camp Rancho Alegre in Santa Barbara county. Los Padres Council also delivers education to youth in Southern California through operation of The Outdoor School. The LPC will normally run several overnight camps for older scouts, day camps for younger scouts, and various other activities throughout the year. We will try to attend events as a Pack and others you will be encouraged to attend individually. Council also provides various resources and opportunities to become a very effective and well trained leader in Scouts.

Pacific Coast District

The Pacific Coast District serves the communities of Santa Maria, Lompoc, Orcutt, Vandenberg Space Force Base, Guadalupe, Solvang, Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, Ballard, Carpinteria, Goleta, Montecito, and Santa Barbara. Council overnight and day camps are usually broken up by districts to accommodate the large number of scouts that Rancho Alegre will have to host at once.

Pack 102

Our Pack serves Kindergarten - 5th Grade students associated with Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA. The entire Pack meets once a month and is lead by the Cubmaster. Founded in 1961, we are a family pack accepting both boys and girls since 2018. Our male scouts will normally bridge up to Vandenberg SFB's Scouts BSA Troop 394 who we have a long established relationship with. We are looking to start a female troop, if you have a female scout in 6th - 12th grade who may be interested, please let us know! The Pack will have a few key leadership positions:

• Chartered Organization Representative - Will ensure we abide by both the BSA and Chartering Organization's standards of conduct. In our case we are Chartered by American Legion Post #125 in Lompoc.

• Cubmaster - This is the Pack's "leader". They will provide guidance to the Den Leaders and lead pack meetings and events as necessary. This is the top leadership position to the Scouts

• Committee Chair - This is the Pack's administrative leader ensuring the logistics of running a Pack is properly coordinated between the parent volunteers and the District or Council above us.

Your Den

You will be assigned a Den based on your scout’s grade in school. The idea is to place the scouts into small groups with friends they might already know. Ideally, dens will have 6 to 8 scouts and will be led by a parent and parent helpers. Boys and Girls are separated into different Dens, but our dens are so small that most often they will meet at the same time and use the same Den Leaders (parents). Dens typically meet either once or twice a month in addition to the Pack meeting depending what advancements are being worked on. They focus on completing the grade level program as outlined in the handbooks. Each year you will use a different handbook.

• Den Leader - This individual will be the leader for your scout's individual grade level (rank).

• Den Chief - At times we are lucky enough to have a Den Chief who would be a youth scout from our Scouts BSA Troop on base and can help to instruct and guide the younger scouts while modeling good scout behavior themselves.