Last week Ryan Wilson, 29, achieved Eagle rank. Not only did he achieve this distinguished honor, but he earned almost double the merit badges required – a total of 38. Only 5% of the scouting population reaches Eagle and only a few scouts with Down syndrome have achieved this honor. Ryan, who has Down syndrome and a heart condition, is not only an inspiring role model for other special needs children but he’s an example to us all reminding us that with determination and dedication, anything is possible. He’s an example of everything that the scouting program stands for – developing character through skill development, doing good deeds, and living his life in accordance with the Scout Law. 

We’re proud of our local Pasco County hero. Congratulations to Ryan Wilson for a job well done!

Boy Scout Troop 545 in Hudson, Florida is a troop that focuses on scouts with special needs. If you’d like more information click here. If you know a scout with a disability that has overcome obstacles and would like to share their story, please share your comments below. We’d like to hear from you.

Photos provided by the St. Petersburg Times – December 18,2011

Congratulations to Ryan Wilson for achieving Eagle rank is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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ClassB^® is honored to be the featured licensee in this year’s October issue of BSA^® Licensing Insider. BSA^® Licensing Insider is a monthly newsletter that provides new information from the Licensing Department of Boy Scouts of America^®. Topics include: new products, featured vendors, program updates and events.

In this issue, they interviewed Eric Hilferding and Gregg Hilferding our President and Vice President regarding how ClassB^®‘s business values stem from the Scout Law they both learned from growing up in the Scouting^® program:  —

“We’re Scouters first,” explained Gregg Hilferding, vice president of marketing we do our best to run ClassB^® by our Scouting values. For example, our customer service reps strive to be Helpful and Friendly. We’ll replace an order we made an error on to be Trustworthy. We try to keep costs down by being Thrifty. We reduce our environmental impact to be Clean. While we don’t call our departments “patrols” or our CEO an “SPL,” the values of Scouting permeate everything we do. We’re pretty sure our customers can tell the difference that makes in our personal interaction, and in our products.

Click here to read the full article.

We’d like to hear from you.
Which values from the Scout Law do you feel are most important for a company to have?

BSA® Licensing Insider features ClassB® is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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Yes! ClassB^® custom patches are BACK!

We’re incredibly excited to be able to provide custom patches once again to our customers.

Whether you’re looking for a patch that requires a laser cut edge, merrowed edge, button loops, metallic or neon thread, cool looking “ghosted” artwork – we can do it all. Our artists are more than ready to take your patches to the next level!  Check out samples of our work so you can see how great your patches will look!

As always you can still expect the same great ClassB service, awesome artwork, and incredible quality as our t-shirts. Just in a smaller, more tradable, embroidered format ; )

Let us show you how cool your patches can look for your next event. Order your patches today!

New! Custom Patches Now Available is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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If only there was some sort of printed version of the ClassB website so that you could bring it to your next unit meeting. Boy, that would be helpful, wouldn’t it?

Look no further! ClassB Troop and Pack Catalogs are now available! One of them can be all yours for FREE! Inside you’ll find all the information you and your group will need to make this year’s custom t-shirt order a total success.

When ordering t-shirts, questions like these can come up:

• What do I need to do to prepare my order?
• When should I place my order?
• What shirt and ink colors are available?
• Which one of these awesome designs will my group find to be the Most Awesomest?

The answers to all these questions and more can be found in these pages.

Click here to order a printed catalog of your very own. Within the next 5-7 business days you can expect your shiny new catalog to arrive.

If you want your catalog NOW and simply can’t wait any longer, you can download the pdf versions here : )

If you’re a council leader and would like multiple copies of council specific materials, or bulk catalogs to provide to your units, contact us  (catalogrequestclassbcom?subject=Council Request for Materials)  . We’d love to work with you.

NEW! ClassB Catalogs Available! is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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While at a meeting, a Cubmaster shared an idea with us that his pack uses to increase the amount of new boys joining the pack.

His pack had a fun idea for recruitment night.

On recruitment night at the elementary school, the night goes just like any other pack’s recruitment night with one key difference. All the boys, both registered cub scouts and visitors get to vote for that year’s pack t-shirts. Before the meeting, the adult leaders narrow the t-shirt designs for that year down to 3 choices to make the vote easier for the boys. The boys really enjoy the participation in picking their shirts. It gives them a sense of connection to the pack. The boys are overheard telling their parents they can’t wait to go to the next meeting to get their shirts.  Before the boys have even joined the pack, they feel like they’re a part of it.

The Cubmaster we talked to said it was very successful in increasing their recruitment numbers and it’s one of the best things they’ve done.

If you include the shirt in the fee, then you can tell them they will get their free shirts at the meeting in a few weeks. Be sure to get the kids and parents shirt sizes during the recruitment event.

After we heard this suggestion, we began work on a system to enable better printing of our designs for this purpose. Call us and mention this blog entry and we’ll take up to 4 of your customized designs and print out nice sheets for you to use for voting. We can turn them around in a day or two and mail them out to you, or email you a pdf to print on your printer.

Get the kids involved on recruitment night! is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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And the winner is…

July Photo Winner!

July Photo Finalists Revealed! is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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Through personal accounts of hotel meetings and the actual text of letters sent back and forth between the parties, readers get a glimpse of the egos, attitudes, and principles of these distinguished leaders.

The main conflicts are between Seton and West with Beard often being called into the argument to take sides against Seton or to mediate. Here are some quotes from an argument that arose over the look of patrol emblems.

“I know something about heraldry and I know a great deal about patrol emblems,” Seton tells the editorial board including West.

“I think Mr. Seton is all wrong in this matter,” West responds.

“I think he is making a mountain out of a molehill,” Beard says in reaction to Seton’s advice on the emblem designs.

Arguments like this one over details, and others regarding who should get credit for founding what aspects of the BSA, escalate to the point where Seton formally resigns from the Boy Scouts of America in 1915. Throughout the book, events like this are always put into the larger context of President Roosevelt’s America. Roosevelt even becomes a key player at times, entreating the BSA (a peaceful organization) to stand with him as America rallies to join the war effort.

The book is careful to remain objective, by presenting facts and letting the reader form their own opinions.

Overall, The Scouting Party is an informative and descriptive book on the rise of the Boy Scouts of America in the early twentieth century that Scouting historians will love!

Want to check out the other books in our Scouting Summer Reading Series?

Book 1: The Other Side of the Road

Book 2: Spirit of Adventure

Book 3: To Do My Best

Summer Reading Series, Book 4, The Scouting Party is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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Our morning started out with a guided tour of the 1,480 acre camp. Highlights included a trip down to the beautiful lakefront to check out all of the options for Scouts looking to get out on the water. Camp La-No-Che is an approved site for the B.S.A.’s National P.W.C. pilot program. P.W.C. stands for “Personal Water Craft,” commonly called jet skis.

A beautiful day for some watersports

One of things that stands out about La-No-Che is the experience of the Aquatics program staff. Scouts can learn how to sail small crafts, practice open water rescues in kayaks, go canoeing, enjoy wake-boarding or drive the P.W.C.’s along the lake’s new boat traffic lane that La-No-Che staff installed this year.

La-No-Che is one of only a few camps in the entire country that is used as a testing ground for BSA National pilot programs and is the only camp this year to adopt both new pilot programs. That means that in addition to jet skis, Scouts at La-No-Che are getting the chance to drive A.T.V.’s for the first time ever at a Scout camp!

Another popular site at camp is the Native American Area. Resident instructor Jim Sawgrass is a Southeastern Creek. He impressed our group by lighting a fire using the friction bow method in a matter of seconds. Sawgrass and his fellow native american educators like Little Big Mountain (a descendant of Comanche and Mohawk), teach Scouts native american weaponry, early American history, Indian lore, archeology, wilderness survival, and primitive cooking. One of our staff members commented, “I appreciate the fact that camp La-No-Che teaches young boys how to use and conserve our nation’s natural resources.”

Sawgrass starts a fire using only friction

Atlatl action, aiming for hay bales.

After lunch with the troops, Sawgrass promised to let our group try hatchet throwing, blowguns, and the atlatl (an ancient method of throwing long spears). The weaponry activity was an experience our group will never forget. The challenge of learning how to use ancient weapons was part of the fun. As one member of our group mentioned, “if we depended on our skills with the atlatl, we would all go hungry!”

The trip gave us all a greater appreciation for the huge amount of work that goes into running and maintaining a camp like La-No-Che and the camp staff there have the resources, knowledge, and experience to really get the job done. We all wished our visit could have lasted even longer. A member of our IT department pretty much summed up our feelings when he said, “Camp La-no-che kinda makes me wish I was a kid again.”

Everyone enjoyed trying to hit targets with a blowgun.

Camp La-No-Che is an amazing place for Scouts to safely work on merit badges, experience new activities, and learn valuable life skills.

For more pictures of ClassB’s day at Camp La-No-Che, check out our flickr album.

Have you been to this camp? Leave us a comment about your experience!

ClassB Goes to Camp La-No-Che! is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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BSA’s founder was a complicated and highly principled leader. The author of this book, Dr. Rowan, uses an easy-to-follow chronological structure to highlight key moments in the BSA’s history that grew the organization. He also reveals the character and personality of Mr. West, the first “Chief Scout Executive.”

The book raises many intriguing questions and offers several interesting stories for example:

Early in his legal career, West had his car stolen. West had left his two-seater parked while he visited a settlement house. He returned to find it gone. The police picked up the boy who stole it and West was asked to testify in court. When he learned that the boy had no lawyer, West volunteered to defend him.

The story goes on to tell how West saved the boy from prison by getting him off on a technicality. This action led to West helping to organize a Citizens Committee for Juvenile Court and saw the bill passed into law by Congress on March 12, 1906. West was of a firm belief that children should not be tried as adults and that there hearings should take place in a different setting by people who had experience working with young people.

Stories such as this one make this book a fascinating read.

At times throughout the book, James E. West  seems like a study in contradictions. He was a physically ill man from birth who never camped, yet he became the leader of the BSA. He was accused of being chauvinist when he went after the Girl Scouts for name infringement, but at the same time, had sent both of his daughters to respected colleges and always encouraged their career advancements.

West established The President of the United States as the honorary President of the BSA and this wise move did a lot of good for promoting the organization. The book highlights each President’s actions during this appointment for the years that West was in charge of the BSA.

Anybody in a leadership position in Scouting should add To Do My Best James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America to their reading list.

Subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog to catch our next book review on The Scouting Party by David C. Scott and Brendan Murphy!

Check out the other books in our Scouting Summer Reading Series!

Book 1: The Other Side of the Road

Book 2: Spirit of Adventure

Summer Reading Series, Book 3, To Do My Best is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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In some cases, it really does take one to know one and Alvin Townley author of Spirit of Adventure a book about the legacy of Eagle Scouts in America, is an Eagle Scout who travelled thousands of miles over this great country of ours to find out exactly what the future holds for Eagle Scouts–and to encounter past stories of honor and adventure.

The book introduces Eagle Scouts living in as far away places as Afghanistan and Australia. Townley finds Eagles who have competed in the Super Bowl and at the Olympics. He also meets teachers, servicemen, entrepreneurs, and activists along the way.

Townley’s writing is well-paced and descriptive. He sheds light on the motivations of the Eagle Scouts he visits by describing their actions, pastimes, and way of life. It always helps to hear someone tell a story in their own voice, and Townley is careful to include plenty of quotes from the subjects themselves regarding their various adventures.

Here’s an excerpt from the chapter entitled “Survivors.”

The race continued over the coming days, with the team slashing and trekking their way through jungles and up mountains. Mud, suffocating humidity, and brutal heat were constant companions. Bruises and lacerations received while plowing through dense foliage added to the difficulty. Unhealed cuts grew increasingly painful as the race continued. Days of sweating in the same clothes left Burton with a painful heat rash, but he kept going…

The stories found in this book should inspire and thrill Eagle Scouts of all ages, as well as, those working toward the highest achievement in Scouting.

This would make a great Eagle ceremony gift, or even a great book to give someone who is considering getting their child involved in Scouting.

The follow up to Townley’s acclaimed book, Legacy of Honor, it’s time to strap on the boots, fill up the CamelBak®, and set off with The Spirit of Adventure.

Check back soon to discover the next exciting Scouting book in our Summer Reading Series!

Check out the first book in our Scouting Summer Reading Series!

Book 1: The Other Side of the Road

Summer Reading Series, Book 2, Spirit of Adventure. is a post from: ClassB® Custom BSA® T-shirts Blog

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