Welcome! This forum has a treasure trove of great info – Scouters helping Scouters! Just a heads up, though - all content, information, and opinions shared on this forum are those of the author, not the BSA.
Since the update to Scoutbook and Scoutbook Plus on 6/1/2024, we have lost the ability on our AOL Scouts to see completed requirements or log/enter current completed requirements for both Nova & Supernova awards. We need to complete some of these before advancing an AOL Scout to a BSA Troop (ready to go right now, is already working on Scouting requirements currently) and we have been told that all Cub advancement and awards will be locked out if we transition her to Scouts. Are we misinformed on this? Can this be fixed?
Also, to keep our over-achiever Scouts engaged with things to do, we have several families in our unit that have been doing the Sports & Academic Belt Loops with their children (found under the Scout’s profile, select Awards, scroll down to the bottom and select “Add Belt Loop”). We have never been able to enter these for Lion Scouts, and we lost the ability to enter them for AOL Scouts on 6/1/2024 (still shows them in Scoutbook, but causes an error when attempting to enter requirements). While this program was retired in 2015, it states that the Scouts can continue to earn them if award resources are still available (through the Scout Shop). I manage the remaining inventory of these awards for our pack, and we have been trading with other packs (meeting at the local Scout Shop) to supply the needs of our Scouts and theirs. We still have Scouts and families that continue to use this great and under-utilitzed program of 53 fun individual opportunities to do, learn, and continue their adventure in Scouting when the Den and Pack opportunities are insufficient to quench their thirst in the program. We hope that they can carry over into Scoutbook Plus if time and resources allow. Our Scouts extend a huge “Thank You” for keeping these extra adventures available and for all that they are learning through them after finishing their annual level adventures. God bless you and your team.
NOVA for still in Awards in Legacy Scoutbook - they have not been extended to AOL Scouts, and I do not expect them to be as they are now a council award, not a recognized National Award. All of the NOVAs for cubs are dated with old adventures listed in requirements.
As Far as the old Beltloops for Sports and Academics; that program was retired like 8-10 years ago and is no longer supported. You would need to track them on paper at this time.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but Nova Awards did exist for all Cub Scouts at Wolf level, up through AOL, and also exist for Scouts BSA at all of their ages and ranks, up to their 18th birthday.
Now, as of the 6/1/2024 update for Scoutbook and Scoutbook Plus, the ability to see, enter, and award Nova & Supernova Awards has disappeared for the AOL Scouts only. It still exists for the Wolf through Webelos Scouts, disappears for your AOL year, and then it comes back once you cross over to a BSA troop. Why drop it for AOL only? I am aware that it has been moved from a National program to a Council program, however the online resources to record requirements and recognize the accomplishment within the advancement & awards of Scoutbook still remain, except if you are an AOL Scout. If we had known that only AOL was dropping Nova & Supernova, we would have kept paper records for those Scouts.
I am aware the the Sports & Academics program was retired in 2015 from updates, publications, new awards manufacturing, etc. However, the resources to track requirements and give visual recognition of their accomplishment in the Scout profile still exist for Wolf and older Cub Scouts, except the AOL Scouts as of 6/1/2024. What changed to the AOL Scouts that locks them out of finishing these while the younger Cubs still can? Retired as it may be, this still continues to be a great resource for engaging our Scouts who can’t wait for the next meeting and want to do more adventures in the world of “all things Scouting.” If there is a planned sunset date of these 53 adventures within Scoutbook we will migrate to paper records. The ability of the Scouts to see these in their online profile (and beam with pride of their accomplishments) reminds me of earning extra Arrow Points when I was a Cub Scout back in the 1980s.
You are wrong here as AOL is a new Level - before it was part of the 1.5 year Webelos program. There were (are) NOVA for Webelos, but Never at the AOL Level as that is new and it is no longer a nationally supported program and there for no longer under development or enhancement.
As for as the Sports Loops - We had no idea ANY unit was using a 10 year old retired program - and they are retired now retired from the Scoutbook Platform as they were not and will not be part of the move to the SB+ Platform as they are no longer available for purchase.
I think I understand the issue now. While we functioned at the unit level with separate Webelos and AOL Dens divided by grade level, they were still one combined level on paper and electronically. The creation of a new AOL level as a separate 1/2 year program did not grandfather in the awards and capabilities of the Webelos level within the Scoutbook environment, and there are no plans to expand those.
Sorry for my mistake. Please accept my humble apologies. And also, thank you for allowing our Scouts to continue to use the Sports & Academics program for so long. We will continue to use them until we are advised not to do so anymore. It has been a great program with many unique adventures (such as Horseback Riding, etc) and has offered many opportunities beyond the belt loops within the individual levels, and often tie in with their after-school activities and interests. Some of our home school families have put them to good use, and also our traditional school family as well for adding to our Scouting adventures.
Thanks. I see that now, the difference between the wording of the specific Nova requirements and Supernova requirements. I was looking only at the Supernova as that was the one that was attempting to be completed but had noted that all of them had disappeared from the Scout’s list of available awards to earn.
I am curious, how many councils are still using the Nova / Supernova program? In the interest of serving the Scouts and encouraging STEM activities within the program, could this be an added Scoutbook feature to the AOL level in the future, as time and resources allow?
Discontinuing Nova was a mistake. It was a critical time filler because the program isn’t big enough to fill a whole calendar year. It was a good two week program that parents likes. Who has issues with science and tech?
We’re in October, we have Scouts 60% done with rank already. Camp gets the electives completed.
The new program is good, but it needs 2-3x as many electives
Our pack never stopped using the sports and academic belt loops. We had a healthy supply when it was retired and we inherited another healthy supply from a defunct pack. Before Nova it was our summertime program. We continue to use both programs in the summer using eBay to fill in any gaps in inventory.
Our 102 year old troop likes to ferret out the boy scout belt loops that were retired in the 90s and work on and award them for fun. We obviously embrace scout history and our youth enjoy having awards that few scouts have even heard of.
This should be brought up with your council. Support is done on a council by council basis. My council still supports it, for example, which is consistent with National’s direction.
I too am very disappointed they remove many of the awards the cubs could earn at the new AOL rank. I was under the impression that all cubs would loose the option of NOVA & Supernova so we moved quickly to complete those before August 30, 2024. Fortunately, one of our cubs was able to earn all NOVA & Supernova before it was gone. With that said, as long as you still get into the “Legacy” scoutbook you can still enter those awards for wolves through WEBELOS.
This could have all been avoided if BSA put some focus in marketing toward awards, not just a page or two in the handbooks. It’s a shame they’re gone.
@LukeCapria The simple answer is yes Scouts can still work on NOVA - the complex answer is getting the Awards is a very different matter, I know of a Pilot Nova council that totally dropped support and hands those seeking awards a phone number to individually by from manufacturer at high prices (you think Scout Shop is steep). So might be smart to call your Councils Main Scout Shop to check inventory.
I agree Kevin, it seems like we have a few programs stuck in limbo where National doesn’t have the resources to support it but they are not being canceled (I understand, budgets are tight, volunteers and manpower are stretched) but the local councils can still use them, such as Nova & Supernova. National still maintains the main website, the training, and the awards are still available through the manufacturing contractors and licensed from the BSA (easy to do, we placed orders from them back in May via their online stores).
The Nova, Supernova, and the Academic & Sports programs allow us to maintain a program for the over-achiever and faster paced Scouts in our unit. Last night on 10/15/2024, the first of our Wolf Scouts finished his level award and these resources are how we will keep him (and others that follow) engaged for the rest of the program year. So many of their requirements are able to be completed during summer camp and those that attend also have many of the elective Wolf belt loops done as well.
I’ve been doing some homework on this and there may be a disconnect in that there might be different information available to you versus the end users like myself.
Is Nova & Supernova discontinued by National? It appears the answer is “sort of.” National supply will no longer be stocking awards inventory (still available from Class-B and Crown Awards), however the webpages to support the program are being maintained by national, all required documents can still be downloaded from the national website, and your local councils can choose to run the program or not run the program as intended (with local counselor lists, in-person training courses, etc). My local council is one of these that continues using the Nova / Supernova program and counselor training is being taught again at our upcoming University of Scouting next month in November 2024.
Is Nova & Supernova available to AOL Scouts? A careful reading of the documents for the various NOVA award requirements shows that it talks about the Webelos level only and does not specifically name AOL Scouts. However the Supernova documents clearly make a distinction between Webelos Scouts and AOL Scouts and uses the same requirements for both of these levels. This makes me wonder if the Supernova docs were written at a later date, after AOL was into the transition of being a separate award / rank beyond the Webelos program. Reading the Supernova documents, the language within recognizes AOL as separate from Webelos and both years / levels use the same requirements for the Dr. Charles H. Townes award.
Looking at the Nova Awards FAQ (last updated 3/8/2023), it states “Yes” that Nova and Supernova Awards will continue to be available in Scoutbook and Internet Advancement 2.0, about halfway down the page. Nova Awards FAQ | Boy Scouts of America Does this need to be updated to state that they will not be available after a certain date, or AOL will not have access? Or should there need to be access to these awards in Scoutbook (and now Scoutbook Plus)? I have left a few voicemails at the BSA national office in the last two weeks in attempts to find out what are the intentions of those who have authority over the Nova & Supernova program (or it’s remnants), and those calls have not yet been returned. As an end user, I hope the programs survive and can be continued at the local level.
Thanks again for your help and support, you and the rest of the team. We appreciate it and God bless you all.
