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Non-Traditional Programs

Exploring (coed, for ages 10-20)

A descendant of the earlier career-awareness Exploring program, now operating under Learning for Life (Scouting America affiliate) since 1998
Exploring is a non-traditional, work-site-based program.
Explorers are not required to adhere to the Scout Oath or Law, and membership is open to any youth subject to the age restrictions.
Note that what was for many years called "Exploring" is now generally covered in the Venturing program.
Coed Explorer posts serve youth aged 14 to 20. And since 2013, coed Explorer clubs serve middle school youth aged 10 to 13 (grades 6 through 8). Both clubs and posts offer interactive character and career activities facilitated by trained business leaders.
As of 12/31/2023, Exploring youth membership totaled 33 445.

Learning for Life (LFL) (coed, for grades K-12)

Scouting America affiliate since 2013 (formerly considered a BSA subsidiary), started in 1991
Learning for Life is a non-traditional, coed, classroom-based character education program, with programs set up by grade:
Seekers (K-grade 2)
Discoverers (grades 3 and 4)
Challengers (grades 5 and 6)
Champions (special needs)
Builders (grades 7 and 8)
Navigators (high school)
LFL members are not required to adhere to the Scout Oath or Law, and membership is open to any youth subject to the age restrictions.
As of 12/31/2023, Learning for Life youth membership totaled 56 343.

Scouting America Program Summary

Traditional Programs	Year Started	Grade/Age Range	Term for Youth Member	Term for Unit/Sub-units
Cub Scouts	1930	grades K-5	Cub Scout (grades K-3) Webelos Scout (grade 4) Arrow of Light (AOL) Scout (grade 5)	pack/dens
Scouts BSA	1910	age 10/11-17	Scout	troop/patrols
Sea Scouts	1912	age ~14-20	Sea Scout	ship
Venturing	1998 (1935)	age ~14-20	Venturer	crew

Non-Traditional Programs	Year Started	Grade/Age Range	Term for Youth Member	Term for Unit/Sub-units
Exploring [younger youth]	2013	age 10-13 (grades 6-8)	Explorer	club
Exploring [older youth]	1998	age 14-20	Explorer	post
Learning for Life	1991	grades K-12	6 terms based on grade	group

Special Notes

Discontinued or Renamed Programs

Air Scouting/Air Explorers—separate aviation-focused program started in 1941 as Air Scouting, renamed Air Exploring in 1949; ended and merged into the overall Exploring program in 1965 as the 'Aviation Explorers' specialty
Boy Scouts—common term for boys in the Boy Scouting section. With the admission of girls in 2019, the program name was changed from 'Boy Scouting' to 'Scouts BSA', and all youth (male & female) are now called Scouts
Boy Scouts of America—official corporate name from the organization's founding on 8 February 1910 until 8 February 2025, when the new Scouting America name became official (though note that the new name was intended for use starting on 7 May 2024)
BSA—convenient shorter term for 'Boy Scouts of America'. Since the short form BSA no longer fits with the name Scouting America, it is gradually being eliminated except in the clumsy program name 'Scouts BSA'
Cubbing/Cubs—original name (1930) of the younger-boy program and its members, changed in 1948 to the Cub Scout program and Cub Scouts
Explorer Scouts—original term for older boys in the Explorer program (1935); youth members called simply Explorers starting in 1949
Leadership Corps—special patrol with special uniform shirts & insignia for 14-15 year-old Scouts from 1972 to 1989
Sea Explorers—name for Sea Scouts from 1949 to 1998
STEM Scouts—former pilot program, mostly school-based, now discontinued at the national level. Some Councils may choose to operate a similar local STEM Scout program.
Tiger Cubs—former name for the BSA's version of Canada's Beaver program for boys younger than Cub Scout age, begun in 1982; in 2015 BSA created the Tiger rank and fully integrated that age group into Cub Scouts
Varsity Scouting—LDS-originated program for older Scouts (see below) from 1984 to 2017
Venture Scouts—term for Scouts age 14 & up (replaced Leadership Corps) from 1989 to the early 2000's when BSA quietly dropped the term due to its confusion with the unrelated Venturing program; Venture Scouts could form their own Venture crew to do high adventure activities

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(also known as 'LDS' or 'Mormon' church)

The LDS church officially adopted the programs of the BSA as the church's youth program for its boys in 1913. While many churches support and sponsor Scouting units, the LDS involvement was unique. It meant that every LDS ward (church) had Scouting units with leaders appointed by the bishop (leader of the ward), and that most LDS boys went through Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and one of the high-school-aged Scouting programs. Ultimately over 20% of all BSA youth belonged to LDS-sponsored units.
Around 2016, the LDS church decided to create its own youth program for its boys. As a result all church wards ceased sponsoring Sea Scout ships and Venturing crews effective 31 December 2017, and ceased sponsoring Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops effective 31 December 2019. Although LDS youth may still join 'regular' Scouting units, this number will likely be a small fraction of the number formerly involved in Scouting.

Varsity Scouting—Developed in the early 1980s by the LDS church, Varsity Scouting was approved by the BSA in 1984. The church was experiencing a high dropout rate in its Explorer posts and was anxious to find a more effective way to keep its high school young men in Scouting (and perhaps to avoid the now-coed Exploring programs). Varsity Scouting was an optional sports-oriented program for older boys. Although officially available to all Scouting sponsors, Varsity Scouting overwhelmingly remained an LDS program throughout its existence. Varsity teams were separate from the troop (although there was a brief period when older Scouts could also do Varsity activities within a troop). Varsity Scouting offered sports programs and sports terminology (boys belonged to a squad, which was part of a team led by an adult coach and a boy captain). After the LDS church ceased sponsorship of Varsity Scouting at the end of 2017, the BSA quietly dropped the program.

Girls in Scouting America

Note that as of 2019, Scouting America offers either coed or separate single-gender programs for both boys and girls from Kindergarten through age 20. And the separate single-gender programs are gradually being updated to be truly coed. [The unrelated Girl Scouts of the USA continues to offer separate, girl-only programs.]
Cub Scouts opened to girls in 2018. Cub Scout packs can choose to be for boys only, for girls only, or mixed. Dens in a mixed pack ("family pack") can be any combination of single-gender and coed dens. Coed dens (called "family dens") were officially allowed starting mid-2023; to date, only AOL (fifth grade) dens must be single-gender (though this is likely to change now that mixed troops are permitted). All Cub Scout handbooks and program materials have been re-written to include gender-neutral terminology and photos of boy and girl Cub Scouts.
Scout troops (formerly called Boy Scouting, now called Scouts BSA) opened to girls in 2019. Troops can be for boys only or girls only, and (effective 15 December 2025) can be mixed gender (called 'family' troops). Separate boy-only and girl-only troops at the same chartered organization are officially called 'linked' troops and can share the same troop number and be operated by a single troop committee. The Scout Handbook briefly offered separate boy-only and girl-only versions, but is now a fully coed handbook. Now all youth members in troops are referred to as 'Scouts'.
Sea Scouts and Venturers (Scouting America's high school and college aged programs) have been coed since 1971. Girls could be non-registered 'associate' members starting in 1969, and full registered members starting in 1971, though they couldn't begin earning the Eagle award until 2019.

Eagle Scout Award

The famous Eagle Scout award was created in 1911, and the first was awarded in 1912. Until as late as 1965 adult men could also earn the award. Starting on 1 February 2019, girls were allowed for the first time to begin working on the Eagle requirements, and the first female Eagle Scouts finished the award in mid 2020.
Although the Eagle award is most associated in the public mind with Scout troops, Sea Scouts (formerly Sea Explorers, but originally also called Sea Scouts) and Venturers (formerly Explorers, and originally Explorer Scouts), plus members of the former Air Scouting/Air Exploring and Varsity Scouting programs could also earn Eagle. Even though Sea Exploring/Sea Scouting and Venturing/Exploring have been coed since 1971, female members were not allowed to begin earning Eagle until 2019.
Today, all youth members of Scouts BSA can earn Eagle. In addition youth members (under age 18) in Sea Scouts and Venturing can also earn Eagle if they have earned First Class as a member of a Scouts BSA troop (which is a minor hurdle).

Order of the Arrow (coed, for elected youth & adults in the Scouts, Sea Scouts, & Venturing programs)

The Order of the Arrow ("OA") started in 1915 as an unofficial, American-Indian-themed program to promote Scout camping and support of Scout summer camps (it was started by a camp director).
The BSA officially adopted the OA program in 1934/35, and the OA became BSA's national honor society in 1948, promoting service to others (its official name is Brotherhood of Cheerful Service). Although originally tied strongly to supporting summer camps, the OA today has fairly limited ties to camps (primarily as a location for their Ordeal and service weekends).
Membership was originally open only to Boy Scouts and Boy Scout adult leaders. Since 1988, adult women associated with Boy Scout troops could also join. Starting in 2019, the OA opened to female youth as it expanded its membership to all youth and adults within not only Scout troops but also Sea Scout ships and Venturing crews.
Members are elected by their fellow Scouts/Sea Scouts/Venturers, and must complete a 'secret' "ordeal" to join. [The 'secrecy' is part of the attraction to youth, although parents and other adults can choose to learn any of the 'secrets' they wish, and are also allowed to attend formerly closed ceremonies.]
Because the OA uses indian themes, costumes, dances, and ceremonies, some American Indians have objected to the program, accusing it of cultural appropriation. In recent decades, the OA has made efforts to be more culturally sensitive, which has helped them gain at least some support in the American Indian community.

In the early decades of Scouting, various Scout Councils and camps started a number of local organizations similar to the Order of the Arrow. Of these, it appears only two survive today: the Firecrafter organization, founded in 1920 in the Crossroads of America Council (Indianapolis, Indiana) and the 'Tribe of Mic-O-Say', founded in 1925 by H. Roe Bartle, with Mother Tribe at Camp Geiger (Pony Express Council, St Joseph, Missouri) & a second tribe at H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation (Heart of America Council, Kansas, City, Missouri). Both organizations use indian themes and promote service and Scout advancement through a program strongly tied to their council's summer camp. These programs are available only at their respective summer camps, and members who move out of Council cannot transfer into the Order of the Arrow unless they are elected.

For more information on Scouting-related topics, see:

For information about US Girl Scouting (Guiding), see Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA).

For information about girls in Scouting America, see Women and Girls in Scouting America.

For information on Camp Fire and other alternatives to Scouting, see our Scout-like Organizations page.

For names and pictures of the highest rank/achievement/advancement in other countries, see our Highest Rank in Scouting page.