Revised Cub Scout Awards

If you’ve been digging in to the 2024 Cub Scouting program, you may be asking, “What happened to our Cub Scout awards?” Most of them have been incorporated into rank adventures.

I’m sure your next question is, “Why?” To answer that, I want to share how BSA decided what changes to make to the program.

For those who don’t know, I’m a member of BSA’s National Cub Scouting Committee and served on a work team that helped with the changes.

Data-Driven Cub Scout Changes

The Boy Scouts of America wanted to ensure that our program remained relevant for today’s families. I’m amazed at how things have changed in the 15ish years since my sons joined Cub Scouts. Kids are different. Families are different. What they want and need from a program like Cub Scouts are different.

So the Cub Scouting program needed to change so that it could deliver the program that families want.

About five years ago, BSA started working on updating the program. They began by asking for feedback via surveys–including one that was sent to every registered den leader.

BSA heard from over 23,000 Cub Scout Leaders and parents. The organization received open-ended responses on what den leaders and parents like and don’t like about the program.

If you’re into statistics, you’ll be happy to know that all the surveys had a confidence level of at least 95%, making the data reliable. If you’re not into statistics, just ignore that last sentence. 😉

Cub Scout Awards Feedback

So what did leaders tell us about awards?

1. Leaders indicated that they don’t focus on awards.
2. Awards are not in the direct line of sight of a Den Leader and do not drive behavior to explore the topics of these awards.
3. On average, 1.5% of youth earn an award. 

In other words, having the awards wasn’t meeting the goals. For example, the National Summertime Pack Award wasn’t causing kids to participate in Cub Scouting events over the summer, and the Nova awards weren’t helping kids learn about STEM topics.

The National Cub Scouting Committee felt strongly that the topics of these awards are important and that they need to be in the direct line of sight of a Den Leader. The decision was made to incorporate them into adventures.

Incorporating Awards into Adventures

Here’s how these awards were incorporated:

National Summertime Pack Award – The adventure that replaces this award is Summertime Fun. It’s available for all ranks except Lions (because they can’t join until the fall). And it’s so much easier for kids to earn. All they have to do is participate in a total of three Cub Scout activities anytime from May through August.

Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award – Each rank now has a required adventure focused on outdoor activities. They are:

• Lion – Mountain Lion
• Tiger – Tigers in the Wild
• Wolf – Paws on the Path
• Bear – Bear Habitat
• Webelos – Webelos Walkabout
• Arrow of Light – Outdoor Adventurer

Cub Scout Nova Awards – Nova awards were STEM-based–Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Now, each rank has elective adventure for each of these topics.

Note: While the Nova awards may still be supported through your local council, they are not supported at a national level.

World Conservation Award – Each rank now has an elective “Champions for Nature” adventure to replace the World Conservation Award.

Shooting Sports Awards – All of the shooting sports awards are now adventures. Just a reminder, these cannot be earned at the pack-level. They can only be earned at a district or council activity.

Yours in Scouting,
Sherry

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