Annual Blue and Gold celebrates Valley Stream scouts

Posted

Blue and Gold celebrates cub scouting and their achievements. Each year, a ceremony takes place to highlight all of the requirements the scouts had to complete throughout the year before the advancements, or them moving up the ranks.

This year, Valley Stream’s Cub Scout Troop 367 held its annual Blue and Gold ceremony on March 4, when seven of its scouts moved up in the ranks. This was the 68th Blue and Gold ceremony in Pack 367’s history.

“It’s a celebration of the cub scouts,” said Carlos Caban, the committee chair of the Valley Stream scouts. “They advance which is wonderful, but they also share it with their family, which is another whole big thing.”

The seven scouts moving up were Alejandro Chungata, Colin Ho, Aiden Cort, Emanuel Estevez, Joseph Molina, Antonio Ramirez and Jacob Soto.

Cub Scouts range in age and grade level throughout elementary school and each grade corresponds to a rank. The Arrow of Light is the highest rank awarded to a cub scout and is the one in which they move up to the troop level. The fifth-grade scouts are called the “Arrow of Light” scouts.

“We go from kindergarten through grade five,” said Caban. “We call them up and we award them their new rank. It’s a wonderful thing.”

During the Blue and Gold ceremony, another sub-ceremony takes place as well, called Bridge Over. After achieving Arrow of Light, the scouts “bridge over” and then go into the next level, which is called Scouts BSA. There are two troops that the scouts could move to, Troop 116 and Troop 109. Both troops operate and meet in Valley Stream, but rarely combine for activities. They do every June, though, when they have a jamboree where all the units and scouts across Valley Stream come together and camp out on the Village Creek.

“Cub scouting is really the parents and the scouts together,” Caban said. “They’re always working together on advancement. It’s a celebration of the entire program, which heavily involves the parents, and recognizes the scouts’ achievements.”

Caban said the scouts do everything close-knit so all the families can be close. They do this, he said, because the high levels of scouts may do their own advancements in other states, so they want everyone to become close now.

For over a century, BSA has shaped its identity as a boys-only organization specializing in wilderness activities. However, in the near future, Valley Stream may be welcoming its first-ever female Eagle Scout into the community of scouts.