Interested in signing your child up for Scouting (or becoming a BSA/Boy Scout yourself)? If so, you’re in the right place! Having personally been a Boy Scout, in this article, I’ll be sharing with you some amazing crowd-sourced highlights of Scouting that any new member can look forward to. 🙂
First and foremost, what is Scouting? Being a Scout consists of planning outdoor activities like campouts and hikes, learning useful survival skills, working together with other Scouts to serve your community, and completing advancements to one day reach the highest rank of Eagle Scout.
My Own Experience Through Scouting
Personally, in my journey to earn the Eagle Scout rank, I became physically fit, gained life-saving knowledge, and honed my leadership abilities. I also had incredible experiences with my troop buddies and attended camping trips as wild as a 7-day canoeing adventure on the Canadian boundary waters!
Best of all, Scouting helped me to become my best self through proper values, self-confidence, and the opportunity to build deep friendships with incredible people. I’m confident that Scouting can do the same for you — or any young person who decides to join!
Don’t just take my word for it though… I recently asked 100’s of Scouts, parents, and Scoutmasters what their favorite aspects of Scouting were in my ScoutSmarts Scribe Newsletter, and received some extraordinary responses! Below, I’ll be sharing their words of wisdom on why you should join Scouting too. 😀
58 Amazing Aspects Of Scouting (What To Look Forward To!)
“What have you gained from Scouting that’s unexpectedly awesome?” For privacy, the repliers will stay anonymous, but a huge thank you if you wrote in with your Scouting highlights! Reading these points will give anyone a well-rounded view of the Scouting Experience, so let’s dive in:
Here’s What Scouts Love About Scouting:
Scouting gave me…
- Scouting gave me incredible memories and life-lasting skills.
- A sense of citizenship with fellow Scouts and community.
- I have gained a love of helping people!
- A closeness with nature.
- A deep satisfaction in making a difference.
- A passion for climbing, a hidden desire to mountain bike, and an uncanny ability to cook mediocre-tasting food. (Cole here – LOL!)
- The confidence to try many new things. The sky is the limit!
- Opportunities to reach out and learn more about my community.
- Skills and knowledge of the outdoors, along with how to protect and take care of the Earth. Also, I discovered how beautiful the stars are!
Cole Here — Speaking from personal experience, Scouting is more than just an extracurricular. Scouts build close friendships, learn skills and develop character within their troop – while having a blast!
- Scouting gave my troop a sense of community, regardless of where we are all from.
- The ability to learn many things.
- Memories. The previous campout was the first in which all of my Cub Scout Den were together again in our troop. I felt on top of the world for those few hours, and the campout was really fun! We went shooting, and I hit 5 clay pots. I also discovered that one of my friends was a really good grub master and made really good hamburgers. Overall, the Memories and Experiences were a great part of Scouting, and I would advise any Scout to enjoy the moment.
- Just general smarts! I am pretty much the best Scout in my troop, and everyone looks up to me to know what to do.
- An interest in a career in welding.
- Money! I’m an extremely active Order of the Arrow member, and I’ve made upwards of $100 trading OA patches! When I joined Scouts in 2017, looking at the organization, that is NOT what I would have expected, that there was an opportunity like OA patch-trading for personal gain.
- I have gained some good friends.
- I have gained a deeper love and respect for my country: the United States of America.
- A love of the outdoors! Surprisingly, I’ve figured out more about myself on camping trips than in school or at home. I’ve also found out when I’m most happy and feel the safest. (When I’m at a campfire and just kinda zone out while staring at the stars in the sky)
Being a Scout was a great way for me to build resiliance. Learning how to survive in nature and lead my fellow Scouts made challenges like school, sports, and presentations seem way smaller and less daunting!
- I have learned through many outings that the best way of life is simplicity.
- Time management! Before Scouting, I could barely get my work done on time. But, since joining Scouting, I’ve had to learn how to manage time to reach Eagle.
- A skill that I gained from Scouting are my public speaking skills. So, now if I’m needing to ask a question I can ask it to someone without being scared. This is really helpful when I’m needing to find a specific part of camp; I can ask without hesitation!
- I learned things that the next year I learned in school!
- I built a lot of leadership skills during my term as patrol leader. It really benefitted me outside of Scouting, as I used the skills I learned to deliver a project with my class to my school teacher!
- From Scouting, I learned of the importance and fun of doing service for your community.
- I learned how to drive a boat in Sea Scouts.
- I have learned so much and I get to spend time with my older brother!
- I have learned that being a leader is not as hard as it seems and that Scouts is a fun place to be.
- I’m starting to find out what I wish to do with the rest of my life through Scouting.
Leadership is one of the most important values in Scouting. As a Scout, you’ll learn to communicate clearly, guide others, and lead by example. Trust me, these skills will be so helpful to you later on in life!
Btw, check out my Guide to Leadership in Scouting for tips on better leading your troop!
- I’ve learned how to stand on my own in adverse environments. I always knew that Scouting would teach me skills and leadership, and I gained a lot from that. The unexpected part was how well it taught me to stand up for what I think is important because sometimes Scouts were the issue, and sometimes Scouting empowered me.
- I learned that it takes a plan to accomplish major goals, and time management to handle all the things I like to do. Nothing happens quickly but patience and planning make it feel like an accomplishment once done.
- I think I’ve become a therapist to several members of my troop, so I guess Scouting helped my people skills.
- I learned about first aid in Scouts, and that skill can help me save someone’s life.
- I learned to appreciate providing service to others.
- Scouting has changed my life permanently since I joined my troop. Scouting has affected me in unexpected ways by helping me get better at time management, balancing multiple things happening in a short amount of time, and all of the beautifully amazing things I’ve gotten to experience that I wouldn’t have been able to outside of Scouting.
- I have gained an appreciation for the outdoors.
- Building my own self-confidence in who I am as a person. Scouting has taught me to listen to myself and find my true path in life.
One thing that shocked me about Scouting was how much it helped with my academics! By learning to plan, manage time, and prioritize, I found that my experiences as a Scout majorly helped with my college apps.
To learn how it may be helping you, check out my article the 7 skills you’ll learn in Scouting that universities love.
- Learning to do things I thought I would never do.
- That life is not about just surviving but thriving instead.
- I didn’t know I was strong enough to hike so many miles, but once I got started working on my merit badge, I was determined to finish. I’m finding out that I am a lot stronger than I ever thought!
- I have gained new friends and learned new skills. I also just earned my Tenderfoot rank which is awesome!
- I live in Japan and I was able to learn more about American history.
- I have made tons of new friends that I talk to outside of Scouting as well.
- Interactions with adults. Scouts become more and more comfortable interacting with older youth as well as adults. This helps at school and with interviews.
- Time management and organizing.
- I’ve gained self-confidence and a love of nature.
- From Scouting, I have gained an awesome understanding of leadership and an outward-focused mindset.
- I learned a ton of life skills and made awesome memories with my Scout troop. My favorite part about Scouting is the merit badges. The merit badges can give you the opportunity to learn important life skills like Cooking and Family Life.
Personally, I think Scouting helped transform me into a lifelong learner and problem-solver! Whether I was applying to college, finding my first job, or working on hard things, the lessons I learned as a Scout helped guide me towards success.
Scouting Highlights From Scoutmasters and Parents
- Being a Scoutmaster provides a greater sense of purpose – It’s given me an opportunity to give back and mentor our youth and give them opportunities I never had…plus, it’s a whole lot of fun!
- Quality time with my own teenager with a wholesome activity. We forget the mom/kid dynamic.
- I gained LOTS of patience from being a Scoutmaster. 🙂
- The feeling of complete acceptance from the kids. They can make the worst day better.
- The joy of watching kids grow into responsible young adults.
- A greater appreciation for the patrol method, and giving Scouts the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and challenge themselves to do great things together.
- The fellowship between Scouts, leaders, and council members.
- More time with my boys.
- A sense of accomplishment. Knowing I am making a positive difference in a youth’s life. One of my Scouts was in a youth crisis center. Long story short, one of my leaders adopted him into their family. I had so many moments that I didn’t realize at the time were awesome moments. I had a young man that had a lot of anger issues. He and his brother were living with their grandparents because their parents were unfit. He and I had a lot of conversations when he could not control his temper. At one time I didn’t think our conversations were doing any good. His grandparents retired and moved to a different state. A few years later, my troop and I went an event in a different state and there he was! His new Scoutmaster told me he was the best patrol leader he had ever had. Then, a few years later his grandmother contacted me to inform me that he had passed his Eagle Board. That was one unexpectedly awesome thing to happen to me.
- Meeting up with old friends that I haven’t seen in a few years and watching my kids grow in self-confidence.
Conclusion
If you’re on the fence about whether to join Scouting, I truly hope you give it a shot. Some of the best times of my life were during adventures with my troop, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without those experiences. You can sign up for Scouting today at the Official BSA Website!
Also, if you want to learn more about the many benefits Scouting can offer young people, I’ve written a more in-depth article on 10 of the Best Parts of Scouting. This will help you to be 120% prepared for what’s to come if you do decide to join!
Thanks for reading and checking out ScoutSmarts. Here, my goal is to help Scouts lead and succeed. If you do become a Scout, I hope to see you here again soon! Until next time, I’m wishing you the best of luck on your adventures!😀