Youth Leadership Programs
Sign-up for Cub Scouts Today!
For only 40 cents/day the possibilities are endless for your child! From Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA to Venturing and Exploring, the programs offered by Hoosier Trails Council open opportunities for all interests. Our membership extends across south-central Indiana, so there’s plenty of opportunity no matter where you live. There are many benefits to becoming a Scout.
- Scouts have the time of their lives making new friends and learning new things in environments designed to help them succeed.
- Camp programs use natural surroundings to provide youth with opportunities for physical, mental and spiritual growth.
- Scouting promotes character development, citizenship training, and mental and physical fitness.
Our mission is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them values that emphasize trust, loyalty, friendliness and other prized principles.
Cost of Scouting
When compared to the cost of sports and many other activities, there is no doubt that Scouting delivers great value to its members! Costs include Scouting America membership fees, uniform costs, and nominal activity fees that may be charged locally. Of course, these costs may be offset by unit fundraising and other available scholarship funds.
To join Scouting in 2024 it costs $145, which consists of $85 BSA Fee, and $60 Council Program Fee.
Added-value benefits members receive for this annual investment:
- Life-changing programs
- Free Campsite Rentals – ($30 savings on each rental throughout the year!)
- Free Cub Scout Activities (STEM-O-Ree, Cub-O-Ree Adventure, Shoot-O-Ree)
- Free Scouts BSA Merit Badge Fairs
- Free Standard Adult Trainings
- Safety Net of Accident & Liability Insurance Coverage
Joining fees are designed to be covered through your Scout unit’s Ideal Year of Scouting budgeting plan and then selling Scout Popcorn to cover expenses; however, if a family has financial concerns that would prevent them from benefiting from Scouting, we can help with that. Please complete the Individual Registration Assistance Request. There is also a Scouting uniform deal available this fall.
Through our programs, we provide youth with many unique and educational experiences. Scouting teaches outdoor skills, the value of servant leadership and giving back to the community. Scouts develop positive character and leadership traits that will last them a lifetime.
Use the locator map (www.BeAScout.org) to find a Cub Scout pack in your community. Questions or need more information, contact Jon Ocheltree, 812-336-6809.
Cub Scouting
Cub Scouts is a family and home centered program that develops ethical decision-making skills for girls and boys in the Kindergarten through fifth grade. Activities emphasize character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness. Youth Leadership Program Participants can expect to make good friends, have adventures and enjoy their family in the programs.
The Purposes of Cub Scouting
Cub Scouting is a year-round family program designed for girls and boys who are in Kindergarten through fifth grade. Parents, leaders, and organizations work together to achieve the purposes of Cub Scouting:
- Character Development
- Spiritual Growth
- Good Citizenship
- Sportsmanship and Fitness
- Family Understanding
- Respectful Relationships
- Personal Achievement
- Friendly Service
- Fun and Adventure
- Preparation for Scouts BSA
Cub Scout Values
SCOUT OATH – On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
SCOUT LAW – A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent
Cub Scouting’s Core Values
- Citizenship: Contributing service and showing responsibility to local, state, and national communities.
- Compassion: Being kind and considerate, and showing concern for the well-being of others.
- Cooperation: Being helpful and working together with others toward a common goal
- Courage: Being brave and doing what is right regardless of our fears, the difficulties, or the consequences.
- Faith: Having inner strength and confidence based on our trust in God.
- Health and Fitness: Being personally committed to keeping our minds and bodies clean and fit.
- Honesty: Telling the truth and being worthy of trust.
- Perseverance: Sticking with something and not giving up, even if it is difficult.
- Positive Attitude: Being cheerful and setting our minds to look for and find the best in all situations.
- Resourcefulness: Using human and other resources to their fullest.
- Respect: Showing regard for the worth of something or someone.
- Responsibility: Fulfilling our duty to God, country, other people, and ourselves. The family is the basis of Cub Scouting.
The Cub Scouting program takes place at two levels
Den – A den is a small group of girls or boys in the same grade level who meet weekly.
Pack – All dens, from Kindergarten – 5th grades make up a Pack. Once a month, the dens, with their families, come together for a Pack meeting, where the scouts show off their skills and are recognized for the badges they’ve earned.
Scouts BSA
This is the traditional Scouting experience for young men and women in the fifth grade through high school. Service, community engagement, and leadership development become increasingly important parts of the program as youth lead their own activities and work their way toward earning Scouting’s highest rank, Eagle Scout. There are currently 855,000 Scouts BSA and 485,000 adult volunteers in the United States.
While there is guidance from experienced leaders, Scouts BSA take their own lead, exploring places they’ve never been as they dive into the rugged world of outdoor adventure. With a spirit of teamwork, they pack up their Scout gear and their sense of adventure, and dive into the learning and excitement that comes from being in our movement.
The program achieves the BSA’s objectives of developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness.
Learn more about the Scouts BSA adventures.
Click here for more information about how to Join Scouts BSA.
SCOUT OATH – On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
SCOUT LAW – A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.
Venturing
Venturing is a teen development program of Scouting America for young men and women who are 14 (or 13 and have completed the eighth grade) through 20 years of age. Venturing’s purpose is to provide positive experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults. Like a Scouting Troop or Pack, a Venturing group is referred to as a “Crew”.
Venturing has become the fastest growing program of the BSA, as young adults have found the outlet they have been looking for in their age group. They are able to do more and go further as a Venturer or Sea Scout in a Venturing crew or Sea Scout ship.
Venturing provides positive experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults. Venturing provides the skills needed for young adults to make ethical choices, experience a fun program full of adventure and challenges, acquire leadership skills, and to take advantage of opportunities to advance their skills and knowledge in the areas of high adventure, sports, arts, hobbies, religious life, and Sea Scouting.
Exploring
Exploring provides exciting activities and one-on-one mentorship for youth looking to discover their future. Whether you’re a local organization looking to strengthen the community or a young person wanting to uncover the possibilities of your future, Exploring is a great place to start. This program helps young men and women who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) through 20 years of age to explore possible future careers. The heart of Exploring is to match the resources of the community with the career interests of students, giving them real world work experience before attending college.
Order of the Arrow
Nischa Chuppecat Lodge, Order of the Arrow
As Scouting’s National Honor Society, the Order of the Arrow is an integral part of the council’s program. Our service, activities, adventures, and training for youth and adults are models of quality leadership development and programming that enrich and help to extend Scouting to America’s youth.
The purpose of the Order of the Arrow is fourfold:
- To recognize those Scout campers who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives and by such recognition cause other campers to conduct themselves in such a manner as to warrant recognition
- To develop and maintain camping traditions and spirit
- To promote Scout camping, which reaches its greatest effectiveness as a part of the unit’s camping program, both year-round and in the summer camp, as directed by the local council’s camping committee
- To crystallize the Scout habit of helpfulness into a life purpose of leadership in cheerful service to others