BSA Centennial Silver Dollar

The weaving of thoughts, cultures, and ideas into one American fabric is stamped into our National identity - E Pluribus Unum, "Out of Many, One."

This year the United States Mint will inscribe that phrase onto a new commemorative coin that honors the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America. Beginning March 23, 2010 the United States Mint will make available for sale 350,000 high quality, modern issue, commemorative silver dollar coins.

Like the inscription on the coin, the BSA gathers together youth from all backgrounds. So, it is fitting that the surcharges from the sale of each coin are authorized for use to benefit the BSA National Foundation in its efforts to bring Scouting to underserved communities. Surcharges for the coin sales may generate up to $3.5 million for this very worthy cause. For the first thirty days the proof coin will be offered at $39.95 and the uncirculated coin will be offered at $33.95, after which the prices will be $43.95 and $35.95, respectively.

Judge William S. Sessions, former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Distinguished Eagle Scout, is the Honorary Chairman of the BSA's initiative to promote the Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar. Judge Sessions' son Congressman Pete Sessions of Dallas, Texas, also a Distinguished Eagle Scout, introduced and championed the legislation that authorized the BSA to be one of the two commemorative coins produced by the United States Mint in 2010.

This limited quantity of coins is expected to sell fast! While orders cannot be placed in advance, beginning at noon (ET) on March 23, 2010 orders can be placed through the United States Mint at www.usmint.gov or at 1-800-USA-MINT.

Learn more about the Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar at the United States Mint web site.

Scouting builds: character, leadership, achievement, service to others and appreciation for the outdoors. Be a Scout! Do you have Scouting stories?  Let us know! Re-connect and re-engage with Scouting at www.BSAalumni.org

Posted by: Northern Lights Council, Boy Scouts of America on 2/28/2010 at 9:34 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 100th aniversary, boy scouts of america, bsa, centennial celebration, commemorative coin, northern lights council, scouting, silver dollar, united states mint

Scouting's lasting Legacy

This is an article that ran in the Bismarck Tribune on Monday, February 8th, 2010, the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. It was written by Dale Sandstrom, an Eagle Scout, and Justice of the ND Supreme Court. 

Cub Scout Eddie stood at the front of the House of Representatives chamber raising his right hand during the 45th Anniversary of Scouting Commemoration at the State Capitol in 1955. Other photos show Gov. Norman Brunsdale and other state officials participating in the ceremonies.

Cub Scout Eddie never forgot that important event.

Thirty-eight years later, Cub Scout Eddie, now an adult, again stood in front of the House of Representatives chamber in the State Capitol, raised his right hand, and said, "I, Edward T. Schafer, do solemnly swear . . . " as he took the oath of office as North Dakota's 30th Governor.

Today, February 8, 2010, marks the official 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America. The founding is being celebrated for a full year.

As part of the celebration, 1,000 or more Scouts will camp on the State Capitol grounds from June 4 - 6. The Scouts will learn more about state government and the responsibilities and opportunities of citizenship. Perhaps one or more of them will lead our state in the decades to come.

An English Boy Scout doing a good turn in the London fog inspired newspaperman William D. Boyce to found the Boy Scouts of America. But North Dakota played an important role as well. Earlier in his career, Boyce was in the newspaper business in Lisbon and Fargo. His years in North Dakota helped develop the love of the outdoors which has always been a key component of the Scouting movement. Boyce returned to the Lisbon area to hunt and enjoy the out-of-doors for the rest of his life.

Theodore Roosevelt, "Chief Scout Citizen," also played an important role in promoting the growth of Scouting and its lessons in citizenship, outdoor adventure, and the appreciation of nature.

The 112 million youth who have participated in Scouting have enriched their lives. Many have helped to preserve the freedom we enjoy. Working on merit badges, innumerable Scouts have discovered their talents and found their career fields.

A mother once told me that what her son learned in Scouting had saved his life when he used water survival skills following a boating accident. Bismarck native and Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon Charles Rosen told me he uses knots he learned at Heart Butte Scout Reservation on Lake Tschida when he performs transplant surgery.

When Devils Lake lawyer and State Senator Ralph J. Erickstad was elected to the Supreme Court in the early 1960s, he and his young family moved to Bismarck, and he soon became the Scoutmaster for Troop 14. Not long after, a family with young children moved from Williston to Bismarck, and brothers Wayne and Bob joined Troop 14. Ralph Erickstad had a long and distinguished career in public service, including 30 years on the Supreme Court and 20 years as Chief Justice. Wayne and Bob were inspired by their Scoutmaster Ralph Erickstad to their own careers in public service. Wayne Stenehjem is now North Dakota's Attorney General, and his brother Bob is the Senate Majority Leader.

Scouting makes a difference. Today Scouting offers a worthwhile program for the entire family. Scouting is needed now more than ever. The values embodied in the Scout Oath and Law, life skills, leadership, an appreciation for the out-of-doors, good fun and friends, and succeeding generations of involved citizens are parts of Scouting's lasting legacy.

(Dale Sandstrom is a Justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court. In 1965, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. In 1997, he was named a Distinguished Eagle Scout by the Boy Scouts of America.)

Posted by: NLCBSA on 2/09/2010 at 11:39 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Tags: 100th anniversary, boy scouts of america, dale sandstrom, edward schafer, wayne stenehjem, wiliam boyce

More Interesting Things You Might Not Know About Scouting

We have kicked off the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and we are looking  forward to this year-long celebration and the next century of the Boy Scouts of America. Did you know there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of interesting things and factoids about Scouting and the Boy Scouts of America. 

Following is the next installment of interesting facts about Scouting. The first 25 were posted in early January.  Enjoy!

26. The Soviet Union turned to the BSA in 1993 for help in producing the first Russian Scout handbook; 20,000 copies were distributed.

27. The 20 millionth Scout was registered with the BSA in 1952; by 2000, that number reached 100 million.

28. The gravestone of worldwide Scouting founder Robert Baden-Powell is marked with a trail symbol of a circle with a dot in the center, which means “I have gone home.”

29. While Robert Baden-Powell’s English Scouts had nine points in their Scout Law, the Boy Scouts of America added three more: A Scout is brave, clean, and reverent.

30. In 1929, an African American Boy Scout from Fort Worth, Texas, found and returned a woman’s pocketbook that contained more than $300 in cash. The boy declined her liberal reward, saying, “No, madam. I am a Boy Scout and cannot take a tip for doing my duty.”

31. Scouts have served at every presidential inauguration since Woodrow Wilson’s in 1913. Boy Scouts who helped out at the Wilson inauguration were Honor Medal recipients.

32. Portions of the 1963 move, “PT 109”, the story of the sinking of the John F. Kennedy’s PT boat during World War II, were filmed on Big Munson Island at the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base.

33. When America entered World War I in 1917, membership in the BSA outnumbered the 200,000-man U.S. Army by more than 68,000 members.

34. American passenger railroads helped boost the population at the first national Scout jamboree in 1937—they offered fares at a special price of 1 cent per mile.

35. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton became an Eagle Scout at age 13, businessman and philanthropist H. Ross Perot at 13, and President Gerald R. Ford at 14.
 
36. The first Scouts to live in the White House were the sons of 30th U.S. President Calvin Coolidge: John and Calvin Jr.

37. In the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Scouts from New York and New Jersey helped reignite the American spirit, collecting more than 153,000 bottles of water for Ground Zero rescue workers—and placing handwritten messages of appreciation and encouragement in their hard hats.

38. The Boy Scout Memorial in Washington, D.C., marks the site of the 1937 National Scout Jamboree. One of the few D.C. memorials to commemorate a living cause, it was accepted in 1964 by Associate Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark on his 50th anniversary as an Eagle Scout.

39. More than 8 million read Boys’ Life each month.

40. In Scouting’s first decade, dozens of composers turned out Boy Scout sheet music, including John Phillip Sousa, who wrote the “Boy Scouts of America March” in 1916.

41. More than 1.5 million pinewood derby cars are sold each year. If the cars were lined up end to end, they would stretch 166 miles.

42. At the outbreak of World War I, the Boy Scouts of America was the largest uniformed body in the United States—twice as large as the U.S. Army, nearly twice as large as the National Guard, four times larger than the U.S. Navy, and 11 times larger than the U.S. Marine Corps.

43. Each year, the BSA awards 6 million pocket certificates. If stacked on top of one another like a deck of cards, they would be as tall as the Empire State Building, the Washington Monument, both Sears Towers (now Willis Tower), and the John Hancock Conservatory combined.

44. The first African American Boy Scout troop was organized in 1911 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

45. The Florida National High Adventure Sea Base is one of the largest scuba-diving operations in the United States, conducting more than 25,000 individual dives annually.

46. These days, boys may earn the rank of Eagle Scout only until age 18, but until 1965, both boys and men could achieve Scouting’s highest rank.

47. Of the 12 men who would eventually walk on the moon, 11 were former Scouts.

48. Rafael Petit and Juan Carmona of Caracas, Venezuela, hiked to the 1935 National Scout Jamboree, only to find that it was canceled due to a polio outbreak. They returned for the rescheduled 1937 Jamboree—a total of 8,000 miles.

49. The only recorded Tyrannosaurus Rex footprint cast was discovered at Philmont Scout Ranch.

50. Norman Rockwell designed the first 12 Scout medals for the BSA.

Stay tuned . . . for the next installment of the top 100 interesting things you probably didn't know about Scouting.

Were you a Scout? Do you have a story or an interesting fact? Do you have Scouting memorabilia and pictures? Let us know . . . we want to hear from you.

Scouting builds: character, leadership, achievement, service to others and appreciation for the outdoors. Be a Scout! Re-connect and re-engage with Scouting at www.BSAalumni.org

Posted by: Northern Lights Council, BSA on 1/25/2010 at 9:07 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 100th anniversary, boy scouts of america, factoids, northern lights council, scouting

Launch of BSA Motorsports

The Boy Scouts of America Races into a New Decade with Dale Coyne Racing
Connecting youth through leadership and education

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) have announced that the two legendary organizations are teaming up to promote family fun and education through a new BSA IndyCar venture and the launch of BSA Motorsports. Scouts can experience the BSA’s No. 19 IndyCar entry throughout the 17-race 2010 IZOD IndyCar® Series schedule, including the “greatest spectacle in racing,” the Indianapolis 500.

The No. 19 car will help commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the BSA, the nation’s largest youth-serving organization. The BSA and DCR plan to utilize the high-tech nature of IndyCar-style cars as a platform to promote science, technology, and math to those involved in Scouting.

“Racing is a modern-day way to connect with youth and to further Scouting’s dedication to expanding tomorrow’s leaders through education, math, science, and engineering,” stated Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca. “We are grateful to Dale and Gail Coyne and their entire racing team for making this incredible opportunity possible.”

“This is a program with true heart,” commented race team owner Dale Coyne, “from watching a young boy’s first pinewood derby to helping him learn and apply the disciplines of science and technology using the excitement of IndyCar. The message we will convey is the significance of education and the value of preparing for a rapidly advancing hi-tech world.”

Through the IndyCar program, Scouts and volunteers will have fun and exciting participation opportunities at the tracks throughout the year. The Boy Scouts of America and Dale Coyne Racing collaboration provides an unparalleled opportunity to reach out to America’s youth with a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math. A Web page has been created at www.scouting.org/motorsports. The No. 19 team will appear at Scouting events in 2010, including the National Scout Jamboree.

Were you a Scout?  Do you have a pinewood derby race car and a story to tell about your race? Let us know . . . we want to hear from you. Scouting builds: character, leadership, achievement, service to others and appreciation for the outdoors. Be a Scout! Re-connect and re-engage with Scouting at www.BSAalumni.org or www.nlcbsa.org

Posted by: Northern Lights Council, BSA on 1/12/2010 at 6:12 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 100th anniversary, bob mazzuca, boy scouts of america, bsa, dale coyne, indycar race, motorsports, northern lights council, scouting

Things You Didn't Know About Scouting

There are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of interesting things and different factoids that you probably don’t know about Scouting and the Boy Scouts of America. Over the course of the next few days, we will give you a look at some of these. Let’s get started:

1. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is an Eagle Scout. When he said, “The Eagle has landed,” he wasn’t kidding. In 1969, Armstrong became the first Eagle Scout to be portrayed on a U.S. postage stamp called “The Man on the Moon.”

2. The Invention Merit Badge (1911-1918) required the candidate to obtain a patent.

3. Boys’ Life Magazine, which goes to 1.1 million Scouts each month, was started by an 18-year-old Scout, Joseph Lane, in 1911. A year later, the Boy Scouts of America bought the magazine for $6,100 – about $1 per subscriber.

4. James E. West was the BSA’s first Chief Scout Executive. When he took the position in 1911, he agreed to serve six months. At his retirement in 1943, he was given the title of Chief Scout.

5. The BSA is the second-largest Scouting organization in the world. The largest is in Indonesia.

6. One of Scouting’s most popular traditions, patch trading, has bloomed into a full-fledged hobby. Some rare patches are worth thousands of dollars.

7. For all but two years from 1925 to 1976, illustrator Norman Rockwell illustrated the annual Brown & Bigelow Boy Scout calendar - for free.

8. Former US Senator Alan Simpson and former US Congressman Norman Mineta served together in Congress from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. They met as Boy Scouts during World War II, when Simpson’s Boy Scout troop from Cody, Wyoming, visited the internment camp where Mineta and his Japanese immigrant parents were being held. The two became – and have remained – close friends and political allies.

9. The first Eagle Scout to earn all available merit badges was Leon Wallace in 1922.

10. In May 1964, 29 of America’s 30 astronauts visited Philmont High Adventure Base for a two-week training trip to learn geological mapping and seismographic studies in preparation for the Apollo programs.

11. Three important Eagle Scouts all have names beginning with “A.” The First Eagle Scout is Arthur Eldred (1912) of Long Island, New York; the 1 millionth Eagle Scout (1982) is Alexander Holsinger of Normal Illinois; and the 2 millionth Eagle Scout (2009) is Anthony Thomas of Lakeville, Minnesota.

12. Scouts collected more than 65 million containers of food across America during the first National Scouting for Food Drive in 1988.

13. The Cub Scout Sign (the index and middle fingers extended in a V shape) symbolizes the ears of an alert wolf.

14. The BSA sells 2.3 million merit badges every year – one for each person in the state of Utah.

15. After eating candy when he promised not to, a repentant Howard Hughes returned his Buckskin Badge to Daniel Carter Beard with a note that read, “With love, from Howard.”

16. By the BSA’s centennial in February 2010, more than 1.2 billion Boys’ Life magazines will have been printed.

17. At age 12, Seattle Mariners Chairman and CEO Howard Lincoln posed for Norman Rockwell’s painting The Scoutmaster.

18. On February 8, 1910, William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America. He personally donated $1,000 per month to keep the organization afloat – on the condition that boys of all races and creeds be admitted.

19. In 1920, the BSA sent 301 Scouts to the inaugural world Scout jamboree in England, where they joined Scouts from 33 other Countries. The American Scouts represented all 48 states plus the territory of Hawaii.

20. In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt requested the Boy Scouts’ service in collecting 1.8 million items of clothing, household furnishing, food stuffs and supplies for victims of the Great Depression.

21. After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian Scouts set up first-aid stations and emergency kitchens, helped evacuate civilians, served as messengers, and manned 58 air-raid sirens around Honolulu.

22. During a three-month drive in the spring of 1942, Scouts collected 318,000 tons of paper for the war effort.

23. In a nationwide nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaign in 1956, Scouts distributed more than a million posters and 36 million Liberty Bell doorknob hangers.

24. In 1954, the BSA conducted a National Conservation Good Turn, distributing 3.6 million conservation posters. In parks, rural areas, and wilderness areas, Scouts planted 6.2 million trees, and built and placed 55,000 bird-nesting boxes.

25. In 1971, on Scouting’s Keep America Beautiful Day, Scouts picked-up more than 1 million tons of litter.

Stay tuned . . . for the next installment on Scouting and the interesting things you probably didn’t know about Scouting and never thought you would. The 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America is upon us and we look forward to this year-long celebration and the next century of the Boy Scouts of America.

Were you a Scout? Do you have a story? Do you have Scouting memorabilia and pictures? Let us know . . . we want to hear from you.

Scouting builds: character, leadership, achievement, service to others and appreciation for the outdoors. Be a Scout! Re-connect and re-engage with Scouting at www.BSAalumni.org 

Posted by: Northern Lights Council, BSA on 1/08/2010 at 5:23 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 100th anniversary, boy scouts of america, bsa, factoids, northern lights council, scouting