Centennial Award Program

[WB Bear]

As we are ending the first year of the Centennial Awards, what are some of your thought about it?

[Westergaard]

The Centennial Award is nice but there wasn't enough time for the units to prepare for this...at least in our Council.
All of the units will receive the award provided that they submitted their application for the award and doing very little.
With the celebration of the Centennial, there hasn't been much scout history mentioned anywhere including Boy's Life and many of our scouts have no knowledge of Green Bar Bill, James West, or Baden Powell for that matter.
scouts in other countries have a better understanding of Scouting's roots than our scouts do.

[1st Mate]

Not sure what you mean Westerguard...

The Centennial Award is nothing more than the Quality unit Award re-named wiht the addition of the Unit Commissioner visits. It reflects the minimum program elements and achievements that a unit should be meeting in order to have what is considered a "healthy" unit.

What part should a unit have needed time to prepare for in 2007 that they shouldn't have been planning each and every year leading up to the re-naming?

As far as history, there is a introduction to all the people you mention in every Boy Scout Handbook. Plus there are articles on Scouting history in every Scouting magazine. If the scouts in the unit you serve do not know about the history of scouting then perhaps that is something the adult leaders in the unit should be addressing. Skits at pack meeting, campfire stories, a trivia game, articles in the unit newsletter, are just a few ways that the unit can tell the history of Scouting to youth.

There is no need to wait for the national office or the local council to do something for the unit that the unit leaders should be perfectly able to do themselves.

[Nuts4Scouts]

Actually the new Centennial Quality Unit Award is significantly different from the former Quality Unit Award.

The award is calendar year based instead of charter year based.

It is a 4-year program.

There are no list of requirements that must be met.

The unit sets a series of goals for itself at the beginning of the year (by mid-February). These goals are set while conferring with your UC, and are then approved by your UC and DE.

The UC's are supposed to monitor how their units are doing with meeting their goals as part of their monthly visits. They are to help their units develop a plan to meet their goals.

Units have between Oct 31 and Dec 31, to review the goals they set with their UC and determine if they have been achieved. Only if ALL goals they set have been met does the unit earn the award.

So, YES, there is a LOT that the local council has to do with the unit in order for them to receive the Centennial Award.

Unfortunately, the award was rolled out very badly at the beginning of the year. Not all councils implemented it, and the ones that did, did a VERY poor job of explaining what was involved. As a result, when Oct 31 of this year rolled around, Districts and Councils realized that because virtually NONE of their units had filled out a Commitment form (and in many instances the ones that did had set highly unrealistic, unmeetable goals), none of them were going to be earning the award this year, and as a result none of the Districts or Councils were going to be earning the District or Council version of the award.

So, in Oct and Nov, UC's across the country went to their units, gave them their numbers for the year, gave them the award form and told them to write down goals that had already been reached. In many instances only any increase over the prior year is required. That means as little as 1 more person or .01% increase.

Some councils dispensed with the paperwork completely and simply gave all units a pass for this year and handed out the award to everyone.

Hopefully next year will go smoother and be more meaningful.

The only part of Westergaard's post that was confusing was his reference to Scout history and the Centennial celebration. It is not really up to BSA National to teach your Scouts about the history of Scouting (it also has no connection to the Centennial Quality Unit Award). That should come from the unit's leaders. There are plenty of places, both online and in person, to learn about the history of BSA and Worldwide Scouting. Scouting Anniversary Week happens every February and is a wonderful time to remind your Scouts of that history.

As for the Centennial Celebration, it is still a bit early for any centennial events or programs. The Centennial is February 8, 2010. I am sure that by the end of 2009 there will be plenty of celebrations in the works for the following year.

[1st Mate]

But there are printed requirements. And they are on the same things that were in the quality unit award. Unit growth, adult training, advancment, program, on time registration. The shift from charter year to calendar year is a minor alteration when you consider that most councils now charter in December or January. The only real addition is the Unit commissioner visits as a requirement, and that is the district's responsibility more so than the unit's.

This is simply a repackaging of the Quality Unit award as we approach the 100 year anniversary of the BSA. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not something units should have to suddenly do something different to obtain. A unit that has been achieving the Quality Unit award should have no difficulty in achieving the Centenial Award.

And the UCs in your council were supposed to be monitoring units on the QU awards just as they should be monitoring them on the Centennial Award. There is very little difference.

[Nuts4Scouts]

The main difference is that what each unit has to do to achieve the award is ENTIRELY up to each unit.

Yes, there are requirements. However the requirements are on the order of set a goal as to how many new scouts you will register and then meet your goal. Units can state their goal is 1 new scout and if they meet that goal that "requirement" is achieved.

Units never before had to set goals for themselves. And, goals in ALL areas, not just 6 out of 10. And, the kicker - meet those goals - in ALL areas.

Yes, it is a repackaging, but units DO have to do things differently in order to obtain the award.

Now, weather either version of the award is a true indication that a unit is running a quality program is another story altogether.

[WB Bear]

I didn’t give my thoughts about the Centennial Award when I started this thread and I still would like to hear others thoughts on it or the procedures they have used in implementing it.

I believe BSA did a great job in “re-packaging” the Quality Unit program as 1st Mate said. When he mentioned membership, he didn’t actually mention the retention of the youth. Retention is so important; too many are lost to the program

I also think that the unit themselves setting the goals is a great idea. Actually it is much easier and obtainable setting your own goals. If it is gaining on 1 new boy, that’s growth; if it’s a gain in your retention percentage that’s even better. Every one of the goals is an indicator of whether the unit is providing a quality BSA program. It is entirely the unit’s job to do so. The districts and councils are a resource for them to accomplish the task. Meeting all the few requirements isn’t too much to ask either. After all when a boy is working on a rank or badge, doesn’t he have to complete all requirements?

[1st Mate]

The unit had to do things under the Quality Unit Award as well. And they had to set goals for the next year.

In a troop for instance, under Advenacment the troop had to show that 60% of the members advanced or that 10% more than last year advanced.

In activities, the troop had to have had 6 highlight activities and attend a long-term camp.

Under membership, the troop had to show growth in membership.

All the elements of the Quality Unit Award had to be achieved by the unit and not by anyone else, unlike the Centennial award which now has a requirement that is completely outside the control of the unit, and that is the UC visits.

The only real difference in the Centennial Award is that the unit rather than just "show improvement" must set a numeric goal. But again, any unit that regulary worked to achieve the Quality Unit Award set those numbers in their annual plan, they just weren't required to show them on the QU application.

The Centennial Award is a repackage and nothing more. It gives a unique award to members who had the good fortune of being involved during the years leading up to the 100th anniversary.

As far as whether or not either the Centennial Award (or the Quality Unit Award) guarantees a quality Scouting program, they do not. What they do is show that the unit is doing the basic things needed to support a healthy program. While neither guarantee that a unit that earns the award has an outstanding program, you can be sure that a unit that is not doing these basic things does not really have a scouting program at all. At best they are just doing things in a Scout uniform.

Every Unit should be able to earn this award. Any unit that does not really needs to take time to re-evaluate themselves and the efforts they are making to offer a Scouting program.

[WB Bear]

Very well said 1st Mate. The UC visitations are out of the units control but that is not required. The same applies with the unit participating in FOS or the council’s annual product sales. There are no values set for that and I think participating in those 2 should have been required.

[1st Mate]

Must be a local adaptation then because here the UC visits are a requirement.

[WB Bear]

Well I actually thought it was required until we received from national the CQUA Achievement form, (#14-186), which stated that those 2 items “were not required to qualify”. The only reason I can think of that the UC visits are not required is because it is something that is out of the unit’s control.

[Apache Bob]

Overall, I think the Centennial Award for 2007 is a good version on the old quality unit award form with the 2008 form better that the 2007 form. That said – its just another paperwork form that the unit leaders are pushed to complete. All unit leaders are trying to give their youth the best program they can. They liked the old form better that the new form because it took less time to complete and they did not have to think thing out in detail before answering. (For example, on retention. Do you count the boys in your figures if they aged out?)

I understand the concept of going to a calendar year on the Centennial Award but it does put a large (and extra) burden on the UC. Now before you start thinking bad things about me, hear me out. The UC is making monthly visits so it is no problem to get the unit leaders to sit down and fill out the form. Wrong. How many of you have filled out the form with a unit leader. I have with over 30 unit leaders. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the form correctly. Can that be done at a Pack meeting? A Troop meeting? Or a Crew meeting? No. It has to be done at a different time, as the unit leader is very busy at those meetings. In other words at a separate meeting. When are we trying to get the form completed? During months that have major holidays in them. Most units are not meeting for all of November and only half of December.

Well you say, you have all of January and half of February to finish completing the 2008 forms. You’re right but if we are going to save time you get the unit leaders to complete the 2008 form the same time they are finishing up the 2007 forms. Yes, it does take longer but it is one less thing for the UC to do. Remember they are there to work with the unit leaders on the program, etc and not to do paperwork.

Why cannot the Centennial Award form be made part of the units recharter process? The unit leaders would complete the form online as the last part of recharter. That would insure that everyone completes the form. If they want to keep the form on a calendar year that would be fine but put it online. That way the unit leaders could just email the form to your Council office or District Commissioner.

One problem that always bothered me about the old and new form. Its filled out, turned in, and then filed. Does anyone at District or Council level look at the forms to see what is happening overall in their units? Or is it paperwork just to get a patch? If the form was part of the recharter process or online with the answers coming into Council, like the recharter, then stats could be taken from the forms, which would (?) help Scouters at higher levels, understand what is taking place at unit levels.

Well I got long winded again but what Scouter isn’t. Hope everyone out there had a great holiday and may the New Year be the best you have every had!

[1st Mate]

The job of evaluating unit health falls to the Commissioner service branch of council/district services. Unfortuately, this has become one of the weakest parts of unit support in most councils over the years.

During the last two years National has tried to re-establish the commissioner service force in councils, however in my personal opinion they have taken the wrong road to get there. Time will tell who is right. If by the end of 2008 there is not a marked improvement in the number of ACTIVE unit commissioners, and a measurable result of that activity within the units then I think they need to look at a complete overhaul of it.

I have great effection and respect for the programs of scouting, and I respect the hard work done by professionals from national through council levels, but often times changes in the BSA are a matter of comsetics rather than substance, the last real change in the BSA was the re-modeling of Wood Badge back in 2000, and I was very impressed with it.

I believe that Commissioning is in need of that same kind of over-haul. But that kind of vision does not come as easily as simple repackaging.

[Westergaard]

Here, if a unit bothered to put their name on the application; they'd receive the award regardless to whether or not they completed the list of goals they wanted to achieve.

That doesn't make for a quality unit award in my book centennial or no.

As far as the historical significance goes, National could have at least put out some psa's on the 100th anniversary of scouting.
Scouts Canada and so does Scouts Australia have a nice anniversary patch available but I haven't seen anything like it here within the BSA.

The scout handbooks do not even scratch the surface on the history of scouting and how the program has evolved into what it is today.

[1st Mate]

If the award is not being processed correctly in the council you reside in that is a local problem and does not mean there is a problem in the other 300 plus councils. Your council is an independent corporation and responsible for its own actions.

The Boy Scout Handbook introduces the key figures, you and the scouts are free to delve deeper into their histories. The Handbook is not designed to be a history book but that does not mean that you cannot use elements of the program to teach the history of scouting as part of a unit program as we wind our way up to the anniversary.

I do not see the relevance in comparing the BSA program to other programs or to their marketing techniques. Since we neither belong to or follow those programs.

We are still years away from the actual anniversary date, what possible benefits would there be to marketing it to the general public this early?

[WB Bear]

Bob, To answer a few of your questions:

Retention is not expected to be 100%. Boy will age out and that is figured into your retention percentage. It’s more focused on not losing those who are still under the age limit.

According to our registrar, national did not want the CQA as part of the recharter process. A unit can achieve the award Oct. 31. The unit will also not have the figures to set their goals for the next year.

I do understand that one person or a few filling out the forms is a huge job. But if (that’s the big problem) there were UC with only 3 units it should be that difficult. I don’t know where the best place to handle completing the form. The committee does need to be aware of what goals are being set. I am hoping to get an idea from this forum on what others have done and what has worked for them.

I don’t feel the award is just some more paperwork for the units nor it is just for a patch. It is a measurable way to see how the units are delivering the program. 2008 forms are different and a little more customer friendly. Professionals and district and council volunteers are looking at statistics, membership, finances, advancement, etc. year round.

[1st Mate]

I agree with WB Bear, there are real benefits to tracking this information and for rewarding units for setting and achieving specific goals. But as Westergaard points out, everyone needs to be conscientious in their roles. Unit leaders need to have action plans that will take them to their goals. The District needs to be diligent in the processing of the forms. Unit Commissioners need to regularly evaluate the units progress toward their goals and direct them to resources that will help them in problem areas.

Good scouting is a team effort with shared responsibilities.

[Westergaard]

The benefits would be increasing membership, on all levels, through recruiting using psa's.
We are a part o the WOSM and, it is because we are a part of the WOSM, that we need to be conscious of what other countries are doing within their programs to better promote and improve our scouting methods.
While I have been working indirectly with Scouts Australia; I can tell you that, throught their psa's and their advertising techiniques, they are actually growing in number on all levels of the program which includes the leadership core.

[1st Mate]

Westergaard while I understand what you are saying, I feel that false premises have lead you to false conclusions.

Which do you believe would draw more local boys to a local scout unit...a 30 second PSA or a a local program that was so much fun that the kids in the unit told their friends about it?

No amount of national advertising will recruit or retain youth as good as a strong unit program will, and national is not responsible for your next meeting or your next outing.

Being a member of WOSM, (Which we may not be at this time due to a disagreement with WOSM financial management) has nothing to do with marketing the BSA. We derive few if any services or benefits from WOSM, the primary purpose in our membership is to help third world and developing countries finance and develop their scouting movements. We are in WOSM to help others. WOSM is not a governing body it is a cooperative. WOSMs methods and programs are not binding on any nation's program.

As far as emulating the recruitment prowess of the Australian Scouting Movement...the BSA has over 5 times the membership of the Australian program. In fact the only country that has a larger youth membership than the BSA is Indonesia where it is a mandated part of the school system. Even though there are 155 countries with Scouting programs the BSA has over 10%of the membership. Perhaps our strength is in how we differ from the others and not in how we try to be the same?

The BSA does on occassion run national advertising, but remember that your local council is an independent corporation and perfectly capable of running local or national produced ads in you local community if they so choose.

Still the best advertising available is the quality of your next meeting.

[WB Bear]

1st Mate it the nail on the head, the best advertising is the quality of your next meeting.

Undoubtedly “word of mouth” advertising is the best and most effective avenues at all levels. Not only at recruiting but also for support within the entire community. Those who are involved in a fun and exciting program will spread the word. Membership will increase and also we will be retaining more people.

Running psa’s could be really detrimental to Scouting program in a community if it did attract people into and poorly ran program. The word of mouth from that would spread even more rapidly, I’m afraid.

[Westergaard]

Why not use both methods?
It is very easy to get Cubs to recruit their peers into the cub program but how many boy scouts wear the recruiter patch on their uniforms let alone encourage their peers to join a unit?
Yes, I do agree that the units need to provide the quality program for the scouts and yet I still believe that the National Council and District Councils could do more to help in promoting scouting.

[WB Bear]

We have tried PSA’s in our council in the past with no noticeable results. One of the drawbacks is that the time slot they are air in. I also have seen some in the past from national. Actually I think it is far better to have news media coverage of Scouting events, activities, noticeable deeds, etc. People who aren’t involved with BSA already have an idea about the program and the benefits of it. I believe that is a well know fact. So I really don’t think it is necessary to try to let them know or introduce them to youth program. I am not in marketing, this is just my thoughts about it.

I don’t see any problem with using both but I think it would be a better use of time and energy to focus on having a good, strong program at the unit level.

[1st Mate]

There is nothing wrong with having advertising, the question is who should determine it. It is not the units' job to tell national how to advertise, or where, or to be concerned if they do or not.

The unit's job is to deliver a good program and that is not dependent in any way on national ads. If the local council wants to advertise locally National can help support that decision with audio/video and print support, But that is for the local council/district committee to decide....not the unit leader.

The unit's responsibility is to deliver a quality Scouting program. That is by far the best marketing avialable to help the units we serve recruit and retain Scouts.

[WB Bear]

We, including myself, have drifted of the subject of this thread. I am and I am sure it would be helpful to others to hear of some success or other difficulties involved with the Centennial program.

[1st Mate]

It is certainly helpful for units to have a vehicle for setting goals which are important to not only the growth and health of the unit, but to the growth and health of the Boy Scouts of America as a whole.

The best aspect of the new Centenial Award is that it requires the unit make set an actual degree of improvement rather than just "improve over last year".

It is human nature to want to succed but it also natuaral in many people to stop as soon as that success is reached. In a unit with twelve boys once they get the thirteenth the tendency with the the Quality Unit Award was to stop and say "OK that ones done whats the next goal?".

With the Centennial Award units are more likey to stretch themselevs and set the goals higher, which helps the program locally and nationally. The same with the other goals such as training. Rather than just have a few specific leaders trained, the Centennial Award requires a larger number of trained leaders each year for four years. Certainly the more trained leaders in the program the better for everyone.

So I think the recognition was some very good points to it, I hope that every unit realizes the positive impact that the achievement of the Centennial Award can have on the health of the unit and that the quality of the pprogram is the real value, the award itself is just a reciognition of the effort put forth by the unit to improve.

[Scoutmamaof4]

I think one reason that the product sale is not a requirement is that some units have a high number of dual enrollments and therefore do not participate in the sale in one of the units.

Our Venture Crew is made up of at least 80% of boys from our Troop. It would have been difficult for the boys to try to sell for both units, therefore we made the decision to use a different fundraiser for the Crew.

I would like to see the UC visit be mandatory as well, but realize that the visits are not entirely within the control of each local unit. It's possible that the unit has invited the UC to visit but for one reason or another it did not occur. It would be a shame for a unit to miss getting the award if it was something not within their control.

[Bluejacket.commish]

I am a new member to the forum, but I have just finished working thru my districts annual Charter renewal and getting units to complete the Award forms. I have talked with over 40 different units about the award so I have some perspective.
Here are what I see:
1. By changing the award, unit leaders are now actually looking at all the measures, to see how they stack up against other units in the district. Low performing units now can see where they are and are actively working to get better. (The District staff is providing this info as part of discussions with the Units.)
2. The new form has encouraged the leaders in units to sit back and evaluate their programs and key parts of their programs to look for ways to improve.

3. The form really encourages Unit Commissioners to actually meet with the units to perform some actual work, rather than to just observe. This looks like help to many units as the discussion provides an opportunity for the UC to provide other ways to accomplish goals.

Net, Change for Change sake is never good, but in this case it seems to have invigorated the program and is helping the program of the units in our district.

I think the youth in our area will be better off because of it.

[WB Bear]

Thanks Bluejacket and welcome aboard.

[Apache Bob]

Welcome Bluejacket.commish - Had a question about your statement below.

1. By changing the award, unit leaders are now actually looking at all the measures, to see how they stack up against other units in the district. Low performing units now can see where they are and are actively working to get better. (The District staff is providing this info as part of discussions with the Units.)

Are you saying that in your Council (District) you showed unit leaders how other units completed the Centennial Award form? How is the District Staff getting the information on the Centennial Award forms or did you mean District Commissioner Staff?

Thanks in advance for helping me understand your statement (sometimes I have a thick skull).