Youth
Welcome to our troop! Hopefully, you have arrived to this webpage after attending one of our meetings or open houses. Youth can be Scouts if they have completed the fifth grade and are at least 10 years old, OR have earned the Arrow of Light Award and are at least 10 years old, OR are age 11 but have not reached age 18. Troop 168 is a boys troop. While some boys will join us as they crossover from cub scouts, you do not need to have been involved in cub scouts at all to join BSA.
- Register your son. Pay the registration fee.
- Get your class A scouting uniform and scout handbook.
- Pick up our troop welcome packet from our membership coordinator - This will have our troop neckerchief, slide, and information on our troop specific class B shirts.
- Start attending scout meetings and going on campouts!
Adult
We need you just as much as we need your youth. If you have the interest and inclination, there are many opportunities to serve in our troop. Here are some of those options
- Just be a parent. We understand that not everyone can serve. Bring your son to our meetings and support them on their scouting journey. Feel free to attend troop committee meetings as an informal member of the committee to have greater awareness of what is going on.
- Register as an adult leader, pay the registration fee, and complete online Youth Protection training (YPT). As part of your registration process, a background check is completed. This allows you to contribute to 2 deep leadership requirements at all scouting events. Create a profile at my.scouting.org and under your profile, select "My training" You will find the link to the YPT course at the very top of your training profile. You may purchase adult leader shirts and badges at your local scout shop.
- Join our troop committee as an official member. Once you are a registered adult, you can complete additional online training to become a committee member. This allows you to vote on committee agenda items and serve in committee roles (secretary, fundraiser, treasurer, etc. . .) Login at my.scouting.org, select my training under your profile, select Scouts BSA under Training courses by Program, Then choose Troop Committee Position - Specific training and complete the online course. Make sure to pick up a Troop committee member patch and a trained patch to add to your adult scout shirt.
- Volunteer as an assistant scoutmaster. Once you are a registered adult, with completed YPT, you may wish to help our troop in a more involved way by completing training to become an assistant scoutmaster. Login at my.scouting.org, select my training under your profile, select Scouts BSA under Training courses by Program, Then choose Scoutmaster Position Specific training and complete the online course.
- Become a Merit Badge Counselor. Once you are a registered adult, with completed YPT, you may wish to help our troop complete specific merit badges. There are 140 merit badges that our scouts may earn and they have much greater success starting and completing merit badges when our troop has the resources locally for them to do so. Login at my.scouting.org, select my training under your profile, select Scouts BSA under Training courses by Program, Then choose Merit Badge Counselor Position Specific training and complete the online course.
Just below is a detailed presentation on how to become a Merit badge Counselor. - Greater involvemement such as troop committee chair, scoutmaster, and specific roles on the committee are selected through the committee's processes.
| How to become a Merit Badge Counselor PDF |