Welcome and Introduction

My name is Sarah Bailey, and I live in the beautiful state of Utah, USA. After much thought and prayer, I recently registered with the BPSA-US as a Rover, which is an adult scout and program based on the traditional methods created by Robert Baden-Powell, the father of scouting. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which in itself is epic, and I'm hoping that my new journey as a Rover scout will add to my fulfilling experience as a Christian.

Let me tell you about how I became so interested in scouting. Growing up, I watched my brothers do scouting with the BSA, and I wanted to learn the woodcrafting skills and do more camping like the scouts did. Our parents took us out once a year to the family reunion camp, and I've been blessed with a father that taught me some outdoor skills. I was blessed to go up into the mountains every summer until I was 14 or so to spend time in the forest, roaming through the trees and being with extended family at the cabin my grandpa built. I love the mountains and the woods. I love the fresh mountain air and the rigor of climbing up a trail. I love to find a good, primitive campsite, set up my tent, and listen to the sound of a stream gurgle through an otherwise quiet forest.

However, when I was young I wasn't aware of many scouting opportunities for girls. I knew about the GSA, but ultimately I wasn't interested in it. At the time, the BSA didn't have packs and troops for girls (although they do now!). If I had known about Venturing, which is co-ed for 14 and up, I would have joined in a heart-beat.

Badges and Camping Manual for the Young Women camp.
This part of the program was the closest I came to scouting
as a youth.

I did camping as a Young Woman. I loved my time in the Young Women program that the LDS Church offers, and the summer camps were one of my favorite events. We learned practical outdoor skills, many of the same basic skills scouts learn, tied in with our relationship to God. Now that I think about it, I wonder if whoever wrote the camp manual drew from Baden-Powell's work or from scouting in general. I earned all 6 Young Women camp badges, one per year, and a special jewelry box only awarded to Young Women who have completed the 4 preliminary years and the 2 youth leader years. I still have the badges, and the jewelry box still sits on my dresser. It was an awesome experience!

As I entered adulthood, got married, and started having boys, scouting started to enter my mind again. My husband James is an Eagle Scout, and both of us wanted our boys to have the scouting experience. A few years after moving to Ogden and living in our Church ward, I was called to be a Cubmaster for our Cubscout Pack.

This rekindled my interest in scouting. I accepted the call, got registered with the BSA, and studied the materials and training needed as a Cubmaster. Our Pack was tiny and was floundering, mostly because of lack of training among our leaders, no real committe, and parental/guardian disinterest in working with their boys through the Cub Scout program.  I was Cubmaster for about a year, but due to pregnancy with our 3rd little boy and the various complications that came with it, it became too exhausting for me and I resigned as Cubmaster. Fortunately our ward got a service missionary couple to take over the roles as Cubmaster and Assistant Cubmaster, and as far as I'm aware, they really got the ball rolling and created a much more vigorous program until the LDS Church officially dropped the BSA program the beginning of this year.

The YW Youth Leader
Camp award, a
beautiful little jewelry box.
Like it, I can be filled with
beautiful things.

The BSA has a terrific program with a lot of merit, as long as parents/guardians are fully involved and there's strong leadership and a full committee. (Although I must admit, to me it seems a somewhat watered-down version of the program Baden-Powell originally envisioned.) Once our oldest son Devin turned 5 we registered him as a Lion Scout. Him and the second oldest, Jim, would come with me to Scout activities while I was Cubmaster, and even almost 2 years after I resigned, they still love it. For anyone reading this who wants to get their kids involved with Scouting, I highly recommend the BSA.

So I'm a BSA parent-partner alongside James with Devin in the Cub Scout program. So why the BPSA-US? Well, I never got the chance to progress through scouting like a young person can, learning about woodcraft and scoutcraft along the way. I learned a few things as a BSA leader, but that can only take you so far if you want to be a scout yourself. Here are my main 2 reasons I joined:

Reason 1: The Baden-Powell Service Association has an adult program called Rovers, created by B-P himself, as he believed adults could continue to learn scouting and apply it throughout their lifetime. I haven't been able to find any other adult scouting programs, at least none that are readily available in my area.

Reason 2: The BPSA-US draws their practices and program from the original sources written by B-P, including Scouting for Boys (also known as Campfire Yarns), the Wolf Cub Program (based around The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, which is an awesome read), and Rovering to Success. I read the latter before registering, and I related to so much in it. He wrote to his audience, intentionally young men, frankly but with great compassion on subjects including facing challenges, chivalry, chastity, and religion. He taught how Scouting is an avenue to become a better citizen and to grow more appreciative of nature and God. I highly recommend Rovering to Sucess to everyone. (You can download it for free on the BPSA-US website under their Resources page.)

So after a lot of thought, prayer, and reading, I decided to join the BPSA-US and invest in learning new things through scouting.

I'm literally hundreds of miles from any Rover Crews, so I registered as part of the 1st Lone Scouts, which is the Charter for individuals and their families who wish to join that aren't near any Rafts, Packs, Troops, or Crews. A Lone Rover can still progress through the program and earn recognition by communicating by internet or even phone if necessary with their leader.

Anyway, that's my story. This blog will be a platform for me to share my experiences as a Rover and the progression I make as a Tenderfoot, Squire, and hopefully a Knight. I'll write things I learn and share pictures, but they won't be a substitute for proving myself for investiture (becoming a Squire and a Knight); I will be doing those in video form, and will share those when ready.

If you want to learn more about the Scouting program the BPSA-US has to offer, check out their website: www.bpsa-us.org.

See you on the trail!