Advancement
Troop 840
Advancement in Rank Process:
What Scouts Need to Know About Getting
Signed Off on Requirements
1. Complete one or more requirements, as listed in the
back of your Scout book.
2. Bring your book to a meeting or campout to get each
completed requirement signed and dated by a troop official.
This can be your Troop Guide, Patrol Leader (if 2
ranks higher in
rank than you), Assistant Scoutmaster, or Scoutmaster. A
good time to get requirements signed off is during Patrol
Time, but the best time may be during a campout, when
there¹s lots of time to demonstrate knowledge and skill.
3. On most meeting nights, turn your book into the
Advancement room so that your records can be updated in
Troopmaster, the advancement software program, which is
managed by Advancement. Advancements will stamp a red star
in your book for each completed requirement, to indicate
that this has been entered into the computer. Please try to
turn in your book as early in the meeting as you can, so
that there¹s time to process your records. If Advancement
is not at the meeting, please bring your book back the
following week.
4. At the end of the meeting, please pick up your book from the
Advancement room.
5. Once you¹ve completed ALL the requirements for a rank, sign
up for a Scoutmaster conference on the clipboard outside the
advancement room. Conferences may be held that night or at
the next possible meeting.
6. Be sure to wear your Class A uniform whenever you plan to
participate in a Scoutmaster conference. For Star rank and
above, you need to wear your merit badge sash.
7. When you complete the Scoutmaster conference, sign up for a
Board of Review by writing your name on the clipboard
outside the Advancement room. Be sure to wear your Class A
uniform for your Board of Review. Once your meeting is
complete and the Board of Review members sign your book,
then take it to the Advancement room to be logged into the
computer.
8. Ask your parents to join you at the next Court of Honor.
Dates are listed in the troop newsletter and on the website
and are generally held in the months of January, May, and
August. The January and May ceremonies are held during a
Tuesday evening troop meeting. The August ceremony is
usually held on a Sunday afternoon because it takes longer
to award all the badges and advancements earned during
summer camps.
9. Repeat as necessary!
Additional info:
You can take your book to have your signed off requirements
logged into the Advancements computer whenever you¹ve
completed one or more requirements. It is not necessary to
wait till you¹ve met all the requirements for a rank. If
you should ever lose your book, your records will be
available in the computer so that you won¹t lost credit for
what you¹ve earned.
Please note that there will be some weeks when Advancement will
not be present to log records into the computer, so you¹ll
need to bring your book another night.
The deadline for turning in your Advancements in Rank will
generally be three weeks prior to the next
Court of Honor. This will allow time to
inventory, purchase, and organize all the awards before the
ceremony.
Feel free to check with the Advancements team if you have any questions.
Merit
Badge Information for Troop 840
For Troop 840 scouts who
complete a merit badge, be sure to turn in your signed "blue
card" (application for merit badge) to Advancement. They
will record the information in the Troopmaster database and
retain a hard copy of the blue card in the Advancement file.
The scout keeps the center section of the blue card
(applicant¹s record).
If a scout has earned partial requirements toward a merit badge,
give this information to Advancement as well. She will input
this data so the troop has an official record of the
completed requirements.
There are 12 merit
badges required to become an Eagle scout:
… Camping
… Citizenship in the Community
… Citizenship in the Nation
… Citizenship in the World
… Communications
… Environmental Science
… Family Life
… First Aid
… Personal Fitness
… Personal Management
… Cycling OR Hiking OR Swimming
… Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving
New scouts entering the troop should concentrate on
advancing through Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class.
To earn the Star rank, a scout must earn six merit badges,
including four from the required list for Eagle.
To earn the Life rank, a scout must earn five more merit
badges, including three more from the required list for
Eagle.
To earn the Eagle rank, a scout needs to earn a total of 21
merit badges, including the 12 listed above.
Court of Honor at Troop 840
Families are strongly
encouraged to attend every Court of Honor to show support
for your scout and to participate in and celebrate the
progress of all scouts in our troop. Feel free to bring
your camera.
Troop 840 holds three to four Court of Honor ceremonies each year.
Dates are listed in the troop newsletter and on the
website, and are generally held in the months of January,
May, and August. The January and May ceremonies are held
during a Tuesday evening troop meeting. The August ceremony
is usually held on a Sunday afternoon because it takes
longer to award all the badges and advancements earned
during summer camps.
The deadline for turning in your Advancements in Rank will
generally be three weeks prior to the next Court of Honor.
Deadline dates are announced to scouts during a weekly
meeting. This will allow time to inventory, purchase, and
organize all the awards before the ceremony and assign roles
and responsibilities for all involved.
All scouts who attend Court of Honor are expected to dress in
complete Class A uniforms.
Court of Honor roles and responsibilities are assigned 1 to 2
weeks prior to the ceremony. If you or your scout would
like to volunteer to help, or if you have any questions or
suggestions regarding troop Court of Honor ceremonies,
please contact Advancement.
In addition to the three troop Court of Honor ceremonies each
year, scouts who earn the rank of Eagle also hold individual
ceremonies. These are planned and coordinated by each Eagle
scout's family. Martha Ottwell is available to help with
or consult about Eagle scout ceremonies.
Procedure for Advancement in
Rank
In order for a Scout to advance, he must
complete all of the requirements for the next rank which are
listed in the back of his Scout book. Each requirement must
be signed and dated by a Troop official. This can be his
Troop Guide, a Patrol Leader higher in rank, Assistant
Scoutmaster or Scoutmaster. He must then turn his book in to
Advancement so that his records can be updated in the
TroopMaster software.
Once the requirements have been updated in
TroopMaster, Advancement will stamp a red star in the
Scout's book indicating that the requirements have been
officially entered into the TroopMaster database. This
insures that even if the Scout's book gets lost, the Troop
has a record of his completed requirements.
Then the Scout must sign up for a Board of
Review. Upon completion of the Board of Review, the scout
must sign up for a Scoutmaster conference. Once the
Scoutmaster conference is completed, the Scout will receive
the rank advancement at the Troop meeting. At the next Court
of Honor, the Scout and his parents will be recognized for
advancing.
For more information, check our
online handbook
Training Opportunities
NYLT - National Youth
Leader Training used to be called Golden Acorn and is an intense, 5-1/2
day, outdoor leadership training experience for troop youth
leaders. You must be an Oak Leaf graduate, be First Class
rank or higher, be 13 years old and completed 7th grade by
the first day of Golden Acorn. Golden Acorn camp is held at
Camp James Ray in six different sessions.
Circle 10 information on
NYLT.
OAK LEAF introduces leadership
concepts that are reinforced at NYLT. It is for all
First and Second Class Scouts (and higher ranks who have not
gone through this training).
Western Star information on Oak Leaf.
For specific dates of training activities check out the
Training page.
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