– Bryan On Scouting

Daniel Pate will always remember the date he completed his board of review and officially became an Eagle Scout. It was Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1998 — the same day Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run of the season, breaking the single-season record. “I’m a bit of a baseball nut,” Pate says, “so it ended…

One of the most important things you can do to stay healthy during a pandemic is to wash your hands on a regular basis. But what if you don’t have reliable access to clean, running water? That was a problem for some elderly members of the Navajo and Hopi communities near Glendale. Then Alex Palomo,…

lambada/Getty Images You won’t find this adjective in the Scout Law, but it might as well be sculpted in stone, painted on a wall or embroidered in the finest thread. A Scout is creative. Yes, this means Scouts find unique ways to solve problems, serve others and explore the outdoors. But it also means they…

Troop 2019’s soon-to-be Eagle Scouts, from left: Lindsay Parker, Kenzie Neal, Taylor Bell and Morgan Phillips. Morgan Phillips was a shy 14-year-old when she attended her first Venturing meeting. She left that meeting unconvinced that Scouting was for her. But her dad encouraged her to keep at it, providing that gentle nudge all teenagers eventually…

A lot of things have been cancelled, pared down and changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but your pack’s Pinewood Derby season can totally still happen. There are a couple of ways to make this favorite Cub Scout event happen. First and foremost, be sure to follow your local government’s rules and regulations, along with…

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Some of the most indelible non-Scouting memories from my childhood are of watching Jeopardy! with my parents. This wasn’t entertainment; it was competition. After school, we’d fire up the VCR to watch the latest episode as a family. I’d grab a yellow legal pad and pen from my dad’s desk, sit…

Many Scouting units have leaders who have volunteered for decades. Few though have erected a monument in honor of their leaders’ years of service. Last month, past members of Troop 584 of Olney, Texas, met at a new park and monument in town. Olney is a town of about 3,000 residents, about 100 miles northwest of…

Bridget Schlossberg won’t let anything — not even a worldwide pandemic — stop her from fulfilling the Scout Slogan’s charge to “Do a Good Turn Daily.” The 11-year-old, who goes by the nickname Gidget, has been helping her best friend’s brother cope with the stresses of the pandemic in a genuinely generous way. Because helping…

Scouts have been working to conserve our planet since the organization’s inception. Now, they can be honored for their work through the BSA Distinguished Conservation Service Awards program. Scouts BSA members, Sea Scouts and Venturers can earn the youth version of these new prestigious awards while adult leaders and other organizations and individuals can be…

This is the 32nd in an occasional series where I share Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos. See the complete collection here and submit your own here. COVID-19 note: Most of these Eagle projects were completed before the pandemic, meaning the photos may not necessarily depict coronavirus-related health and safety protocols. To fully understand the impact Eagle Scout…