Update: The Centennial Rank Advancement Badges are now shown on Scoutstuff.org
The National Council has announced that all rank patches for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts for 2010 will feature special designs. The patches called the ’2010 Centennial Rank Advancement Badges’ feature 2010, Boy Scouts of America, and the rank in text.
View the designs of the 2010 Centennial Rank Advancement Badges (pdf).
The 2010 Centennial Rank Advancement Badges should be available in Scout Shops by the beginning of February. Make sure you honor your Scout’s rank advancement with these 100th anniversary rank badges.
What do you think of these anniversary badges?
Popularity: unranked [?]
January 27th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Ack, these are horrible — especially the Arrow of Light.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
@JeffC – I agree. When I first read about it I thought it sounded like a cool idea, however seeing the images I’m disappointed.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:48 am
quit being a grouch. They are ideal for the centennial year.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:26 am
So, are you saying we should discourage advancement in 2010? Just kidding!!!!
Agreed, I think the badge design isn’t particularly attractive, but in 20 years when these guys are involved in Scouting as adults, it’ll be something cool to show the upcoming generation
January 31st, 2010 at 6:13 pm
The patches are way too busy, they have too much writing on them. It’s not necessary IMHO to waste real estate with naming the rank and writing out BSA. They should instead mention the centennial and not just say 2010. The real question is not what the adult leaders think, but rather are they cool enough to motivate the boys to advance.
February 5th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Blecch. Ugly. Even if they weren’t, they’re not patches that can be earned by every Scout. Those that have already worked hard to earn their rank don’t have a choice.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
I’m a 16 year old Life scout in my troop. I awarded a scout with the 2010 Life patch last night at our weekly meeting (I am the SPL), and everyone in the troop thought it was a really cool-looking patch. Personally, I agree with you guys that it’s not very easy on the eyes, and I also agree on the fact that the kids’ opinion is more important regarding the design. A lot of the guys (younger kids especially) really liked it and all “want to get one really bad”. So that’s my troop at least, hopefully other kids are motivated by it and will “rank up” this year because of that.
Personally I think that the “2010 Eagle Scout” patch would stick the most, because a scout would always be wearing his Eagle Scout patch in his uniform.
i.e. I earn Eagle in 2010, I have the 2010 patch forever. But a scout earns Star in 2010, he’ll have his “normal” Eagle patch on forever.
I saw the 2010 patch on scoutstuff.com and I like that the Eagle design is truer to the original design, thank god- I almost considered holding off on my Eagle work!
Very interesting idea by BSA though, for better or for worse. I’m still on the fence on whether or not they’re kind of “milking” the 100th anniversary or not. I understand that 100 years of anything is a huge anniversary, but I think some of the things that the BSA is doing is sort of unnecessary…
Anyway, good article