ADVANCEMENT CEREMONIES

Key to the City

Heart of America Council

Personnel: Cubmaster

Equipment: Top hat and sash for Cubmaster to look like a Mayor. The badges and arrow points are mounted on cardboard cutouts of large keys and attached to a long ribbon to be worn around the neck.

Setting: Cubmaster dressed as Mayor in front of the audience

Cubmaster: This month the theme that the dens have been working on is exploring your neighborhood. In exploring our neighborhood, the boys have been learning about the different business's and organizations that make up the community that they live in. Tonight as part of our awards ceremony each boys will be given the key to our fair city. In moving into a new community, a person is always interested in the safety organizations it has, such as the fire and police departments, and the hospitals. The boys that have just moved into Cub Scouting will receive their Bobcat badges. (Call forward the boys and their parents. Present the badges.) After a person has learned about the safety organizations in a community, they need to know about the City's services. These services include the power and light, gas and the water companies. Each is an important part of the community we live in. There are boys here tonight that are on their way of being of service as Cub Scouts to their own communities. There are the boys who are to receive their Wolf badge. (Call forward the boys and their parents. Present the badges.) Other important businesses in the community are the grocery stores and clothing stores. These businesses all fulfill a need in the community. The next step in Cub Scouting is to help fulfill the needs of some boys who have worked hard to reach the rank of Bear. (Call forward the boys and their parents. Present the badges.) In our community there are organizations that also help with the moral ideals needed to help the community grow. These organizations are our schools, churches and social organizations. The Cub Scouting organization is a program to develop high moral standards to help our community grow. Tonight there are boys who have worked hard to understand the ideals of Cub Scouting. These boys are here tonight to receive their Webelos badge. (Call forward the boys and their parents. Present the badges.) Each boy tonight that has received an award has received a key to this fair city. With the things the boys have learned in Cub Scouting from their leaders and parents, hopefully, they will be able to improve the neighborhoods that we live in. This key is their key to knowledge, expansion and moral growth that will benefit us all.

TIME CAPSULE ADVANCEMENT

Sam Houston Area Council

Arrangement: Have a shoebox for each boy receiving an award. Label with boy's name and the date. Cubmaster is dressed as "a wise old family member. "

Cubmaster: Back when I was a young man, I remember a tradition we used to have when a new building was being built. They would take a strong box and fill it with things to remind us about what things were like in the days when the building was built. They put in newspaper clippings, money, pictures, awards, and little things like that. Many years later, sometimes as long as 100 years, when the building is being replaced, they always looked for this box in the cornerstone of the building. Some people call it a time capsule. It tells us what was important to the people who put it there.

Tonight, we are giving you each your own box. It is a Cub Scout time capsule. It symbolizes all of your Cub Scouting years. It holds the awards you earned this month. Keep this box and add to it. Treasure your years as a Cub Scout and save this box to show your kids what was important to you. The best way to save your family heritage is to start today with you. (Bring each boy forward and present a box and his awards)

NORTH STAR ADVANCEMENT

Sam Houston Area Council

Equipment: Pinhole planetarium punched for Big Dipper and North Star, flashlight

CUBMASTER: For thousands of years, men have known that the North Star is fixed. Shepard's knew it before the time of Christ and seamen have used the North Star and other heavenly bodies to guide their ships to ports ever since they first dared leave the sight of land. Even today, the stars are important in navigation for ships, jet planes and spaceships.

Cub Scouts don't need the stars to find their way. But even so, we do have our own guiding stars to help us through life, for example, your church, your school, and Cub Scouting. In Cub Scouting our navigational aids are the Promise and the Law of the Pack. They tell us how we should act and what we should do for ourselves and for others. The Promise and the Law of the Pack are just like the stars by which seamen steered their ships.

Tonight we honor those Cub Scouts who are navigating straight and true on the Cub Scout trail. With their parents help they have advanced a rank and have shown that they live by the Promise and the Law of the Pack.

Will ______bring his parents forward and accept this award.

THE ROCKET

Circle Ten Council

Threading a straw with a launch line makes the rocket. Leader blows up a long balloon. He attaches it to the straw with tape. The Cub then goes to the other end of the launch area and waits by his parent. Cubmaster then attaches the award to the balloon and releases the balloon. It rockets to the parent for the award to be given to the Cub.  Be sure to include traditional presentation words while performing this ceremony.

ROCKET TRAVEL

Circle Ten Council

Preparation: Ceremony board resembles a chart of the sun and planets with a Cub Scouts logo as the sun and ranks as planets (use Cub Scout insignia stickers). Make a small blue and yellow cardboard rocket for each boy getting a badge and place it on or under his rank. If a loop of masking tape or Velcro is placed on the back of each rocket, the Cubmaster can move the rocket to the new rank as the adult family members are presenting the badge.

CUBMASTER: Will the den chiefs [or den leaders] please bring forward the Cub Scouts who are ready for advancement, along with their parents or guardians?

CUBMASTER: Cub Scouts, we are happy to see that you have taken another flight forward in our Cub Scouting galaxy. These Cub Scouts have done a fine job in our pack. They are progressing through the Cub Scouting galaxy this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the interest and help of their families. I'm proud of the families in our pack. As I move your rocket forward in our galaxy, your parents or guardians will present you with your badge.

The Cubmaster or den leader calls off the names as he/she moves the rockets to the appropriate ranks on the ceremony board while parents present the badges. The Cubmaster congratulates the boys and adult family members with the Cub Scout handshake.