Boy Scout Troop 642

The Boy Scouts of America provides an outstanding handbook for adults, and an excellent set of training courses/materials to help us understand the aims and methods of Scouting. The adult manual is called the Scoutmaster Handbook, and it's worth the time of every adult involved in our Troop to buy a copy of this manual and read it.

BSA training courses available to adults are highlighted in the Adult Training section of our Parents Handbook. The Mustang District and Sam Houston Area Council offer a broad array of training options that we encourage all parents to consider as a good investment of your time.

We also encourage every new adult who wants to lend a hand to our troop, even if it is only to drive scouts to campouts and/or sit on boards of review, to complete Scout Leader Basic Training.

Basic Leader Training is a series of three 1-hour classes: Youth Protection Training, Fast Start and New Leader's Essentials. The first two classes can be completed on-line by registered adults at a web page maintained by BSA National at http://olc.scouting.org/. All three classes are also available almost every month in traditional stand-up leader-led classroom format somewhere in our council. The council posts a consolidated district training schedule at: http://www.samhoustonbsa.org/Home/Training/.

After completing basic training, most volunteers make a decision to either join the committee or become one of our scoutmasters. BSA offers additional training specific to each role. Every year, the troop asks adults to report their progress so that we can recognize our trained leaders.