Professional Scouter (Boy Scouts of America)
| Professional Scouter | |||
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| Owner | Boy Scouts of America | ||
| Created | November 28, 1911 | ||
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The Boy Scouts of America is an organization run by volunteers, however the day-to-day administration is performed by a staff of professional (or career) Scouters. The organization has professional staffing at every level—district, council, regional and national. The Chief Scout Executive is the top professional Scouter.
The commissioner position is the second oldest in Scouting (Scoutmaster is the oldest) and is the origin of the professional Scouting positions, which is why position insignia of the professional Scouter have the wreath of service as a feature on all professional position patches.
In the earliest days of the BSA, some commissioners were paid by local benefactors and supporters to administer and "grow Scouting" on a daily basis. This was because as the program expanded and more Scout Troops were formed, the capabilities and abilities of the volunteer commissioner to devote time and effort away from their primary work to make Scouting work was stressed. These first "Scout executive commissioners" (shortened to "Scout executives") were critical in expanding the BSA's outreach in urban and rural areas around the nation and eventually were under the direction of James E. West, the BSA's first national Chief Scout Executive.
On January 24, 1908, the Boy Scouts movement begins in England with the publication of the first installment of Robert Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys. Baden-Powell then went on to make his idea of Scouting a worldwide trend. By the end of 1908, there were more than 60,000 young men “enrolled” in the organization. By 1910, the Boy Scouts of America had officially become established as a trendy organization for young boys both in and out of England. Shortly after the BSA was fully operational, there became a need for adults willing to run the organization. From this point on, adults have been in the background, behind the scenes, making sure everything is running as smoothly as possible for the organization.
The basic qualifications to be a professional are:
Males and females may apply and have been approved for professional service with the Boy Scouts of America.
Those who do not qualify to be a professional may be hired to serve as a paraprofessional or other employed positions within a local council, a Region or at the BSA's National Office.
The day-to-day work of Scouting is managed by the professional staff. Professionals spend a good part of every day cultivating future partners for various Scouting units; promoting the programs to other organizations, key businesses, key and influential individuals, and the general public. This is the core element of the professional's support to the volunteer. Since the majority of volunteers are working during their day and cannot, for instance, sit down with a corporate executive of a business, the professional does this on behalf of the district's volunteer chairperson and commissioners.
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