Mike Lanning became the Scoutmaster of Troop 223 in Pacific Palisades, California, in 1953, when he was 21 years old. More than 70 years later, Troop 223 is still going strong, and so is Lanning. The troop celebrated its 1,000th Eagle Scout last month. Every single one of the awards was earned under Lanning’s guidance. […]

There’s a new way to earn the Skating merit badge — and it comes with the backing of the national governing body for skateboarding in the United States. The merit badge already featured options that allowed Scouts to explore the exciting world of ice skating, roller skating and in-line skating. Now add skateboarding to that

Scouts enjoy helping their communities – and one council has seen the impact their Scouts are ready to make. Last year, the Lake Erie Council hosted a beach cleanup on the shores of Lake Erie. Working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the council organized a day for Scouts to serve. In all, about

Camp Agawam was overrun by zombies, ghosts and evil rats. Fortunately, Scouts were in control of the situation. They were directing short films at the Michigan Crossroads Council camp last October for the ScoutDance Film Festival. The moviemaking-themed district camporee not only offered Scouts the opportunity to work on the merit badge, but also showcase

A simple discussion over lunch sparked a big idea – so big that more than 1,000 Scouts and leaders from 16 states will flock to West Lafayette, Ind., this December for it. The Sagamore Council will host a University of Scouting event at Purdue University, presented by Subaru of Indiana Automotive, and offer more than

How well do you know Paris, France? Probably pretty well if you’ve visited or if you watched the Summer Olympics and Paralympics this year, where several Eagle Scout athletes competed. But do you know the city of 2.1 million people well enough to take a CBS News correspondent and his crew on a tour about

Last month, Mars Meyer, an 11-year-old Scout with Troop 66 of Longmont, Colo., was playing soccer at a local park when a 7-year-old boy in the game got hit in the face. The boy’s nose started bleeding, and Mars quickly checked on him. The boy’s mother also came over and instructed her son to tilt

The Scouting America Brand Center has long been No. 1 on our list of tools for marketing your unit. You can use it to prepare authorized logos, photos and videos for sharing online. There is still, however, tremendous value in real-life, in-person, face-to-face recruiting events, and in those situations, you can’t go wrong with a

We’ve long known that summer camp has the potential to be one of the best experiences of the Scouting year. Beyond the merit badges and outdoor skills, kids learn to be responsible and self-sufficient while dealing with adversity like heat, bugs and the occasional rain shower. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying to

For four decades, painted wooden signs have hung in Camp Medicine Bow’s dining hall, highlighting campsite names. There’s Minnikesu, Weemat and Wuttah, just to name a few … and this summer, Troop 399 of North Babylon, N.Y., added a new one. The troop created all the campsite signs, each with the campsite name and its