Aging Out

There's nothing I enjoy more in scouting than kicking a scout out.
When new scouts join, one of the first things I tell them is that my hope is to kick them out. I don't really care if they reach Eagle or not because that is completely up to them. But, I want to be the one to kick them out of Boy Scouts because they are still here having fun when they have to leave at age 18.

The oldest patrol of scouts in our troop is now down to two scouts with one more aging out in two weeks. The last to go will be in June. Six scouts in that patrol stayed active until their 18th birthday - some more active than others, but all participating. Four of them also reached Eagle rank.

At this week's troop meeting, I presented the most recent "ager outer" with his Eagle square knot so he'd have it ready when he became active as an adult. I feel that recognizing each scout that stays active to 18 is important. If they didn't reach Eagle, there's a good chance they earned the Arrow of Light and you can give them that square knot. If not that, then a sincere thanks for their impact on the troop.

Depending on the plans of the scout, he might be ready to take on an Assistant Scoutmaster role so you could present him with an adult application and patch right away too.

Recognizing the aging out scouts shows the younger scouts that expectation of "sticking with it". My hope is that this recognition activity will be taken over by the scouts instead of me for the next scout in two weeks since it's their troop and would probably be more meaningful. Besides, the next scout is my son. :-)

Scout On