Adult Leadership

We welcome and encourage active parent participation to ensure that we can deliver a wide range of activities and experiences. Leading a troop is a group effort and your involvement will greatly enhance the experience for our Scouts. Please contact our Troop Committee Chair to learn about areas where we could use your help.

There are four leadership roles for adults:

1. Be a Member of the Troop Committee

The Troop Committee is the troop's board of directors, and generally meets once a month. The Committee sets policy, approves outings and expenditures, appoints the scoutmaster and assistant scoutmasters, approves Eagle Scout service projects, and provides adults for boards of review. The Committee elects its chair and the troop treasurer, appoints a Committee secretary and a liaison to JPL, and appoints other positions as desired. Parents of scouts may sit in on Committee meetings even if they are not members. To become a member of the Troop Committee, all you need to do is register with BSA (see above) and take the online "Troop Committee Challenge" class.

2. Lead Outings

Two adult leaders are required for all outings, both of whom must be registered with BSA, YPT trained, and California AB506 compliant. For any activity invloving girls, a female adult leader must be present. The adult leaders aren't actually the leaders on the outing (the scouts are), but the adults make the logistical arrangements before the outing, and during the outing they provide support to the scouts and make sure the outing is conducted safely. The adult leaders collect an activity consent form from each person attending the outing. Adult leaders also take BSA online training in topics appropriate for the outing, such as Hazardous Weather. Some types of outings require at least one adult certified in First Aid/CPR, so we encourage all adult leaders to become certified. To qualify to lead outings, just register with BSA and take the online Youth Protection training (see above).

The adults currently certified in Wilderness First-Aid can be found on this pdf.

The adults currently registered for meetings or outings can be found at this link.

3. Be a Merit Badge Counselor

Merit badge counselors work with scouts on merit badges. Take a look at the 135 or so merit badges and their requirements (see scouting.org or usscouts.org or meritbadge.org) and select the merit badges you'd like to be a counselor for. You don't need to be the world's leading authority in the subject, just be sufficiently knowledgeable. The more counselors the troop has, the easier it is for our scouts to earn merit badges. To become a merit badge counselor turn in your Merit Badge Counselor Application to the troop's merit badge coordinator or the Troop Committee chair, in addition to registering with BSA and taking the online Youth Protection training (see above).

4. Serve as Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmaster

The scoutmaster and assistant scoutmasters work directly with the scouts, helping the scouts run the troop. They are appointed to those positions by the Troop Committee and they have to complete special training given by Council, in addition to being registered with BSA and taking the online Youth Protection training (see above).

5. Wood Badge Trained Adult Leaders

* Instructor

** Course Leader

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