Definitions

Like any organization, Scouting has a language all it’s own. This cheat-sheet should help new parents and scouts with the basic terms. If you hear anything that you don’t understand, just ask a leader or a parent who has been around awhile.

Cub Scouts – The scouting organization for boys/girls in K– 5th grades. Led by adult volunteers.

Scouts BSA – The scouting organization for boys/girls in 6th – 12th grades. Led by the youth.

Rank – The primary award that the youth work on each year (Scouts enter the Troop, beginning to work on their 'Scout' Rank, and move up the ladder to finish work on the Eagle Rank – the highest award in Scouting).

Patrol – A group of 5-6 scouts who are around the same age.

Troop – A group of scouts that consist of all age groups.

Council – We are part of the Spirit of Adventure, which consists of over 75 communities in Eastern MA. The council provides camps and a professional staff to assist Troop volunteers.

District – We are part of the Northern Light district which consists of Methuen, Haverhill, North Andover, Groveland, Georgetown, Merrimac, Amesbury, Salisbury, Newburyport, West Newbury, Newbury, Rowley and Ipswich.

Troop Meeting – Troop meetings are held every Tuesday (except during school breaks and holidays). Please refer to the Troop calendar for exact dates and times. Also, please read our Troop Meeting Guidelines.

Jamboree – A large gathering of scouts. There are State, National and World-Wide Jamborees.

Scouting for Food – An event scouts take part in to collect food for local food banks. We distribute door tags to homes in Methuen with the help from other cub scout, boy scout and girl scout troops. A week later we collect the bags full of food and bring them to the donation drop-off.

Family Night – A celebration of our Scouting Journey for the year! We have a present the scouts awards earned and families enjoy some light refreshments. Troop 51 celebrates this night in the beginning weeks of June each year.