Summit Award

Summit Award
Owner Boy Scouts of America
Country United States
Created June 1, 2014

The Summit Award is the highest award for youth in the Venturing program of the Boy Scouts of America. It requires Venturers to earn the Pathfinder Award, participate in adventures, and demonstrate leadership, service and personal growth.[1][2][3]

Award

The award consists of three elements: a badge, a medal and a knot insignia.

The badge is a rotated square cloth patch, with the Summit Award emblem and the words LEAD THE ADVENTURE above. The badge is worn on the left pocket by youth have earned the award.

The medal is an antique silver colored roundel with the words LEAD THE ADVENTURE in the border. The inner border is inscribed with a compass rose. Superimposed on the roundel is a silver eagle in flight with the Venturing emblem below. The medal is suspended from a white ribbon with green stripes; the ribbon is suspended from an antique silver colored bar bearing the word SUMMIT. The design incorporates elements from the Exploring Silver Medal issued between 1954 and 1965. The medal is worn on formal occasions.

The square knot insignia is a rectangular cloth patch with a silver knot and border on a green and white background. This is the same knot previously used for the Silver Award. The knot is worn above the left pocket by adults who have earned the award.

History

The Summit Award replaced the Silver Award on June 1, 2014, with the Silver Award discontinued as of December 31, 2014. The first recipient of the award was Jeremy Felty, on February 16, 2015. He was given the award at his Court of Honor by former BSA National President, Wayne Perry.

Requirements

Adventure

  1. Participate in at least three additional (for a total of seven) Tier II or Tier III adventures at the crew, district, council, area, regional, or national level. To earn the Summit Award, a Venturer must have participated in at least one Tier III adventure and served as a leader during one adventure.

Leadership

  1. Complete BSA Mentoring Training prior to initiating mentoring relationships.
  2. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, mentor another Venturer in the planning and implementation of a crew, council, area, regional, or national Venturing activity (see Summit Adventure requirement 1). Work with the youth enough to ensure he or she is ready to lead and has organized the appropriate resources, is prepared for contingencies, and has developed an itinerary, conducted training to support the adventure, and mitigated risk before and during the adventure. Participate in the adventure and provide feedback on how the adventure was conducted.
  3. Complete two of the following.
    1. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, serve actively as your crew president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, guide, historian, den chief, or quartermaster for a period of at least six months. At the beginning of your term, work with your crew president (or Advisor, if you are the president) to set performance goals for the position. Any number of different positions may be held as long as the total length of service equals at least six months. Holding simultaneous positions does not shorten the required number of months. Positions need not flow from one to the other; there may be gaps in time. Once during your term of office, discuss your successes and challenges with your crew president (or Advisor, if you are the president).[lower-alpha 1]
    2. Participate in or serve on staff for leadership training such as National Youth Leadership Training, Kodiak Challenge, National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience, Order of the Arrow National Leadership Seminar, Sea Scout SEAL Training, or Wood Badge (for Venturers 18 or older). You may also participate in non-BSA leadership training courses such as those delivered by the National Outdoor Leadership School, if approved by your Advisor. This must be a different training course than you completed for Pathfinder Award requirement 4b or Summit Award requirement 4c.
    3. Lead the delivery of Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews for members of your Venturing crew or another local Venturing crew or for a local district or council training event. After leading the training course, discuss with your crew Advisor how you believe you helped build the skill set of your crew and what you learned by organizing the training course.

Service

  1. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to a religious institution, school, or community. (The project must benefit an organization other than the Boy Scouts of America.) Before you start, a project proposal must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your Advisor, the unit committee, and the council or district advancement committee (per local practices).

Personal growth

  1. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, complete a structured personal reflection. Use this reflection to prepare for goal setting and as part of your Advisor conference. Explore two of the following realms: "Adventures of Faith,"[lower-alpha 2] "Adventures of Self," or "Adventures of Others." You may explore one of the realms twice or select from between two different realms.
  2. Create a personal code of conduct. This code of conduct should be guided by your explorations in the realms of faith, self, and others.
  3. Since earning the Pathfinder Award, lead an ethical controversy and conflict resolution scenario with members of your Venturing crew.
  4. Participate in an Advisor conference. As a part of this conference, share your code of conduct with your Advisor, and explain how your explorations of faith, self, and others, and your goal-setting exercises, influenced the development of your code.
  5. After your Advisor conference, successfully complete a crew board of review.
  1. ↑ Venturers may substitute district, council, area, regional, or national Venturing officer or cabinet positions for the positions listed in this requirement.
  2. ↑ A Venturer is not required to share the personal reflection associated with "Adventures of Faith" with his or her Advisor or members of a board of review, including the discussion that takes place at the Advisor conference or the board of review.

Highest awards in other programs

The highest awards in other BSA membership divisions are: the Cub Scouting Arrow of Light, the Boy Scouting Eagle Scout, the Sea Scouting Quartermaster Award (Boy Scouts of America), and the Varsity Scouting Denali Award. Other Scouting movements and many non-Scouting organizations have similar programs and awards.

References

  1. ↑ Venturing Awards and Requirements Handbook. Boy Scouts of America. 2014. 618767.
  2. ↑ "Program Updates - 2014 and Beyond". Boy Scouts of America. 2014.
  3. ↑ "Venturing Awards". Boy Scouts of America. 2014.
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