Leadership in Scouting America
Leader of a Scout unit in the Boy Scouts of America
In Scouting America (formerly the Boy Scouts of America), a Scout leader refers to the trained leaders (men or women) of a Scout unit. Adult leaders are generally referred to as "Scouters," and the youth leaders are referred to by their position within a unit (e.g. Den Chief, Patrol Leader, Boatswain). In all Scouting units above the Cub Scout pack and units serving adolescent Scouts, leadership of the unit comprises both adult leaders (Scouters) and youth leaders (Scouts). This is a key part of the Aims and Methods of Scouting. In order to learn leadership, the youth must actually serve in leadership roles.
Adult leaders
Scouting America has always relied on volunteers to make the organization run. Among the volunteers who provide troop level adult leadership and support, there are Scoutmasters and their uniformed adult leadership (including assistant Scoutmasters and unit chaplain), and committee members. All positions require adults to join the troop by registration. The registration process for adult leaders includes a personal reference and criminal background check, nomination by the committee chairman, followed by appointment by the chartering organization and concluding with acceptance by the district executive (a professional Scouter who is an employee of the local Scout council).
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This entry incorporates text from “Leadership in Scouting America” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.