Summer of Global Citizenship Capstone Event – 

This summer we conducted our first “summer of global citizenship”. The program was provided free of charge to any Scouts who wished to participate. By using the BSA curriculum, we provided merit badges and other online program opportunities to spark challenging, civic-minded conversations.

We received wonderful positive comments from parents across the country, as well as some feedback to help us improve the program for future Scouts. The program was conceived to help give families an opportunity to hold challenging discussions around race, and the US civil unrest. As a capstone program we are hosting a discussion on September 10 at 7pm. The discussion is for Scout Parents, leaders as well as older scouts.

How the discussion will work

We encourage folks to bring their thoughts and observations to the conversation. All observations are welcome. Below we’ve gathered a list of movies, books and podcasts recommended from our Diversity and Inclusion team. The facilitators will likely reference some of this material, but participants should NOT feel obligated to watch, read or listen to all or any of the material. In fact, we encourage participants to bring their own references to the conversation from your life experiences or from media. Sometimes these challenging discussions are a little more accessible when we access them through media. So, feel free to attend and raise your digital hand to ask “I saw a scene in the movie …. and it made me feel ….. how do others feel about that?”

Our conversation will be facilitated by our Scout Executive, Chuck Eaton and several other panelists. The reflection exercise is not to discuss the social injustice or how it is portrayed in media, but instead, to draw parallels, lessons and commentary, from our Scout community which could be helpful for us at Spirit of Adventure and the BSA to better cross connect, approach, work through and achieve better success into the future in inclusion and equity amongst all of our participants.

The work of inclusion involves self-reflection and critical thinking. The work of active citizenship requires those same attributes. All opinions and perspectives are welcome.

To join us, Register Here.

• A Summer of Global Citizenship: The BSA curriculum provides dozens of opportunities to constructively address racism and injustice. The curriculum also develops a deep sense of fairness, equity and calls all participants to action. Developing civic responsibility in youth is crucial to our mission. One of the great aspects of the curriculum is that it is self-directed. It follows the child’s natural curiosity. This is wonderful when the child is learning to camp, and then seeks to learn more about weather or astronomy. The camping experience naturally opens up the Scout’s concern about weather and suddenly he is researching weather patterns. Or during the same camping trip another Scout is awed by the vastness of the night sky without any light pollution and so she learns how to navigate by the stars or identify planets in the night sky.

• Self-Directed Learning provides opportunities for youth to show curiosity about the current events, the curriculum gives parents the tools to hold those conversations about racism and justice. It develops critical thinking skills for the youth as a requirement to be better citizens.