Blue & Gold Crossover Ceremony
This past Friday, a select number of Scouts and Scouters attended the Blue & Gold ceremony for Pack 66. The troop paid for our dinner. Several Scouts working on the Communications Merit Badge were responsible for creating the Crossover Ceremony. [Sample Crossover Ceremony]
The scouts that should attend should be the Den Chiefs for the respective Webelos Dens. Siblings of Cub Scouts who are Boy Scouts should also attend. It is a judgment call who should pay, the family or the troop. I feel it depends on the role the boy has in the ceremony and where the boy is sitting. If he is primarily there as part of the troop and not with his family, the troop should pay. The troop committee can help make this call.
The Crossover ceremony is the official transition point for these Webelos to become Boy Scouts. Typically, they are called up with their parents and they AND their parents cross over a bridge to symbolize the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. We usually have troop neckerchiefs and boy scout slides waiting for them on the other side of the bridge. We take off their Webelos neckerchiefs and slides and hand them to their parents and put on their troop neckerchiefs.
After a few additional words, reciting of the Scout Oath and Law, etc. The ceremony is concluded. One thing I make a point of is letting the new Scouts know that because they are now Boy Scouts they need to help clean up. I make sure the Boy Scouts who are present work with them to break down and clean-up after the Blue & Gold.
This is an important ceremony and care should be taken to make sure the scouts attending look their best.
Mike
