The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded in 1910, and since then, about 110 million Americans have participated in BSA programs. BSA is part of the international Scout Movement and became a founding member organization of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1922.
A Scout is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section. Scouts are organized into troops averaging 20–30 Scouts under the guidance of one or more Scout Leaders or Scoutmasters. Troops subdivide into patrols of about 6–8 Scouts and engage in outdoor and special interest activities. Troops may affiliate with local, national, and international organizations. Some national Scouting associations have special interest programs such as Air Scouts, Sea Scouts, outdoor high adventure, Scouting bands, and rider Scouts.
Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is gender inclusive, and its programs emphasize camping and other outdoor activities.
Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized after Low met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, in 1911. Upon returning to Savannah, Georgia, she telephoned a distant cousin, saying, "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!"
Cub Scouting is part of the Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), available to boys and girls from kindergarten through fifth grade, or 5 to 10 years of age and their families. Its membership is the largest of the five main BSA divisions. Cub Scouting is part of the worldwide Scouting movement and aims to promote character development, citizenship training, personal fitness, and leadership.
A variety of religious emblems programs are used by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to encourage youth to learn about their faith and to recognize adults who provide significant service to youth in a religious environment. These religious programs are created, administered and awarded by the various religious groups, not the BSA, but each program must be recognized by the BSA.
The Gold Award is the highest achievement within the Girl Scouts of the USA, earned by Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts. Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award.
The Bronze Award is the third highest award in Girl Scouts of the USA. It was introduced by GSUSA in 2001, and can only be earned by Girl Scouts at the Junior level.
The American Heritage Girls (AHG) is a Christian-based Scouting-like organization for Americans. The organization has more than 52,000 members (2020) with troops or individuals ("trailblazers") in all 50 states of the United States and for American expatriates in fifteen other countries.
Studio 2B was a level of Girl Scouting in the Girl Scouts of the USA and consisted of girls between the ages of 11 through 17. GSUSA created the program to attract older girls into the scouting program and replace Cadette and Senior Girl Scouting.
Scouts BSA is the flagship membership level of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for boys and girls between the ages of typically 11 and 17. It provides youth training in character, citizenship, and mental and personal fitness. Scouts are expected to develop personal religious values, learn the principles of American heritage and government, and acquire skills to become successful adults.
Cub Scouts is the Cub Scout section of Scouts Canada for children aged from 8 to 10. Originally the "Wolf Cubs," the program offers badges to youth members as a mark of achievement in an interest area. The badges are grouped into six activity areas as described in The Cub Book. While youth experience fun and excitement presented by the program, each activity area focuses on a specific purpose and goal, intended to be relevant to modern children while meeting developmental needs. Originally the requirement entry was age 7 until 2001. Each activity area offers a variety of badges that youth may earn and sew onto their uniform sash:
The Scout section of Scouts Canada is for boys and girls ages 11 to 14. The program offers two main types of badges, Challenge Badges and Activity badges. The Challenge badges are round whereas the Activity badges are square or diamond-shaped. The Activity badges have two levels indicated by the border colour and shape: red and square-shaped for Voyageur and green and diamond-shaped for Pathfinder. Activity badges are required to achieve 3 out of the 4 awards, the Voyageur Scout Award, the Pathfinder Scout Award and the Chief Scout's Award, the fourth being the World Scout Environment Award.
The Girl Scouts of the USA has six levels: Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador. Girl Scouts move or "bridge" to the next level, usually at the end of the school year, when they reach the age of advancing. The Ambassador level is the most recent, having been added in 2011. They are considered in the appropriate level based on their grade on October 1, the start of each new Girl Scout year. There are exceptions for "special needs," but Girl Scouts who are "young in grade" have not been specifically considered. Each year of membership in Girl Scouting is represented on the uniform by a small, golden, six-pointed membership star with colored background discs which represent a level. Girl Scouts wear uniforms consisting of a white shirt and khaki bottom under the appropriate uniform item for their level: a blue tunic or vest for Daisies, a brown sash or vest for Brownies, a green vest or sash for Juniors and a tan sash or vest for the older girl levels of Cadettes, Seniors and Ambassadors. All uniform tunics, vests, or sashes must include the American flag patch, council ID patches troop numbers, and a yellow, brown, green, or navy tab with the WAGGGS pin and the membership pin.
Washington Crossing Council serves Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Mercer County, New Jersey and Hunterdon County, New Jersey. The council achieved the top "Gold" level in its 2014 Journey to Excellence.
Cub Scouts is the section of Scouts Australia for boys and girls aged 8 to 11 (inclusive), often known simply as 'Cubs'. The Cub Scout section follows after Joey Scouts and is before Scouts. Cub Scouts wear a uniform shirt with navy blue panels, and yellow shoulders.
The rank insignia system of the Indonesian Scouting movement Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia is by and large militarized in traditions and outfit.
Girl Guides is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroots Boy Scout Movement.
Youth organizations in the United States are of many different types. The largest is the government run 4-H program, followed by the federally chartered but private Scouting movement groups: the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA). Another somewhat smaller but co-ed Scouting derived group is Camp Fire. Other youth groups are religious youth ministries such as the evangelical Christian Awana, Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinders, and Assemblies of God Royal Rangers.
The ONE Programme personal progression system for youth members of Scouting Ireland has been designed and refactored since the merger of earlier organisations, using a number of key underlining principles. Activities and personal progression (badges) are designed to make use of the Scout method, maintain a consistent structure across the five youth programme sections, involve youth participation and personal experiences.
