All Insignia Right Pocket Crest of Leadership/BGSA

Eastern Kentucky University's Bluegrass Scouting Alliance Club (BGSA) is a "Club of Future Scouting Leaders". It was formed in 1978 by myself and eight other college Scouters, more than half of whom have never been Scouters before. It was chartered in March of 1979 as Explorer Post 279 (College Scouter Service), Bluegrass Council, BSA and partnered by the Office of the Vice President/Dean of Students, Eastern Kentucky University. The post still exists as a collegiate-level program of interest for former Scouts and present Scouters living or working on the Eastern Kentucky University campus. Students, faculty and staff may become members of the Post. While membership rises and falls with the semesters, the program has remained constant: to provide additional leadership opportunities, to provide insight and opportunities for professional employment with the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scouts of the USA, to provide quality service to the University community, and to permit former Scouts and Girl Scouts to interact and work together in a college atmosphere. The BGSA is a recognized student organization and assists each summer with orientation and greeting of incoming first year students and their families to the "Campus Beautiful".

The "Crest of Leadership" was designed by William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt for a series of "get back to basics" youth and adult leadership experiences collectively called ALL OUT FOR SCOUTING! It was first used in 1975 in selected Councils and used in all local Councils from 1976-79.

After the ALL OUT FOR SCOUTING! program had become part of the revised Boy Scout program in 1980, the BSA's National Uniform and Insignia Committee granted the Bluegrass Scouting Alliance Club (BGSA Explorer Post 379 -- the nations' first College Scouter Reserve Explorer Post) permission to wear and display the Crest. The Club sought to find a crest similar to those which campus fraternities and sororities display and wear. After receiving permission, the BGSA made two significant changes to the Crest, making it distinguishable from those who have earned the Crest during their earlier Boy Scout or Scouter experiences.

First, the BGSA's Crest of Leadership is fully embroidered, with a deep brown background instead of the light brown cloth background found on the older Crest. Then, a silver Mylar-threaded border was created on the new Crest to take the place of the yellow/gold border found on the cloth emblem. Only ONE additional Crest may be purchased by a BGSA member. Stadri Emblems Company of New York City created the special Crests and made them available to BGSA Club members as well as to College Scouter Reserve Explorer Posts in four other locations in the USA.

Because most of the members of the BGSA are Scouters involved in other local Councils other than the Bluegrass Council, A special CSP (this is the second version of the CSP) was designed by Mike Walton. Below the CSP is an illustration of the BGSA's adaptation of the official Crest of Leadership.

From the BGSA Induction Ceremony, written by Paula "Butterscotch" Ward:
"I have the honor of explaining briefly the Crest of Leadership to you. It is a special badge indeed.

In 1973, the Boy Scouts of America, for the first time in its existence, radically changed its programs. These uniforms are one result. A more important result was the way we changed the program from one of the outdoors to one in which the outdoors was not necessary for participation. We thought we were doing it to attract more youth, more adults, more community support, and to make the program more accessible to those who could not go to the outdoors. We even changed what we called ourselves. We were no longer "Boy Scouts" and "Boy Scouters" and the "Boy Scouts of America". We were called "Scouts", "Scouters", and "Scouting/USA" was the name of the program we were in.

The only problem was, kids wanted to go camping. They wanted to learn about the environment. They wanted to swim, to cook, to hike, to do all of those things. Outside. They wanted to be Boy Scouts, not "Scouts". Bill Hillcourt, also known as "Green Bar Bill", and a group of veteran and new Scouters were asked to assess and improve upon the "improvements". Hillcourt and the others brought Scouting back to what we are all about through a program called ALL OUT FOR SCOUTING! Hillcourt emphasized that Scouting is an outdoor program and in having local Councils to implement this new program, told them that ALL of it must take place outdoors. ALL OUT FOR SCOUTING!'s training programs trained those who would work with the youth of Scouting -- the adults and youth leaders.

The emblem he chose to symbolize those who went through such training courses was designed by him. It would have no lettering except the word "FORWARD". It represented where Scouting has been and where it was going. He describes the emblem in the ALL OUT FOR SCOUTING! Guidebook for Scouters administering the training courses as follows:

"The upper right corner contained three red lions, taken from the flag of the county in which Brownsea Island is found. Brownsea Island is where Baden-Powell tested this new idea called Boy Scouting. The lower right corner contained two silver bars -- a reminder that Scouting is a youth-led leadership experience. Boys lead patrols, troops, teams, dens, and crews. Boys and girls lead Explorer ships and posts. The upper left corner contained a fluer-de-lis, found as part of every Scout emblem around the world. It reminds us of our commonality with the many other Scouting programs in the world, free or otherwise. In the lower left corner is placed the eagle and shield --emblems of the United States of America. Put together, the two emblems form the official emblem of the Boy Scouts of America. The knight's helmet reaffirms our obligation to be of service to our fellow man -- to "help other people at all times". The Campaign hat, commonly called the "Smokey the Bear Hat", reminds those whom wear this emblem that Scouting was held to be of such high esteem by our country, that Scouts were frequently sought out to lead military units into battle during both World Wars as well as in peacetime. It also ties us together with Lord Baden-Powell himself, a veteran and highly decorated British military officer. The brown background suggests the out-of-doors, where Scouting is conducted. The rectangular shape of the emblem suggests a doorway -- perhaps one into that of leadership. Finally the silver border (the original emblem had a yellow/gold border) matches the silver shoulder loops and the silver border of the trained Scout leaders' badges of office.

About the word FORWARD. "Green Bar Bill" chose this word to symbolize the direction Scouting should be going in, as well as to remind Scouts why they are in Scouting. He stated in the guidebook:

"Scouts and the American Scouting movement should go FORWARD. Forward in service -- service to their communities, their nation, their God. Forward progress is good progress. Do not forget the past, honor it. But move FORWARD. For the person who does not move FORWARD does not look for the future. He is not prepared for the changes. He is not ready to accept the mantle of leadership which society will place upon him because he has been a Boy Scout. And if those of us whom are responsible for this young man's training does not take that responsibility seriously, then we have failed in giving the man the tools he needs to lead."..."

I am looking for any and all items relating to the ALL OUT FOR SCOUTING! program, whether the materials are from National, Regions or local Councils. Specifically, I am looking for the original Crest of Leadership poster cards (similar in style to the rank cards for Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts), training materials, Crest of Leadership decals, neckerchiefs and neckerchief slides. I have several of those items but I want to expand on what I have and share some of it with EKU and with other collegiate Scouter programs. Of course, I also want to eventually display some of these items here in my office. "Green Bar Bill" had a great idea......it brought us back to what Scouting is really about...outing...and I'm glad that I was a participant in the program and later a trainer. I'm especially glad that the BSA allowed our Explorer Post and two others to use the Crest as a visual outward symbol for college students willing to expand their personal involvement in Scouting.

Post me if you have anything that I may be interested in!

This webpage is designed for printing, three-hole punching, and insertion into Your Binder!

Insignia mainpage

Back to The Tree

© 2001 Settummanque!
Designed by Mike Walton

Created with the CoffeeCup HTML Editor