Being a Supernova Mentor Information on how to be a mentor in your district.

Supernova vs. Nova Nova Award: Supernova Award: The Nova award can be earned by all scouts and worked on by the troop. Any adult leader can sign off on Nova Requirements. Supernova Award: A mentor must be the one to sign off on a scout’s requirements for Supernova. When completed, a scout must have their Supernova packet confirmed by the district advancement committee. Nova and Supernova are two very different awards. The Nova award can be earned by scouts working together to earn a very baseline knowledge of STEM. For Supernova, however, a scout needs to find a registered mentor to sign off on and council them through the process. Once a scout has a mentor, they must keep their completed work must be kept together (binder, folder, ect.) to be presented to the district. Once completed, the District Advancement committee (or a designee chosen by the district) must confirm the completion of the award. The district approval is a simple confirmation and is not a full interview. A scout does not need to be present if his materials are well kept.

Supernova: From Start to Finish STEP 1: A scout finds a mentor that agrees to council work on Supernova. STEP 2: The mentor reviews that all prerequisites are complete before working on other requirements. STEP 3: The mentor councils then approves progress made by the scout. The scout’s work is recorded in a folder. STEP 4: On completion the scout takes his signed application and progress folder to the district advancement committee for approval. STEP 5: The district approves and passes on the application to council to be processed. STEP 6: The scout is presented the award by the unit. It is important that the mentor keep with the project throughout the process of earning this award. Elements that that involve working with the mentor should be done together and not before hand. Prerequisites and other awards need to be confirmed and if they are not all done, the mentor should help the scout develop a plan for completing them. Once done, the scout passes off the information and the district should pass off the application to council.

Who is a Mentor? Those with STEM careers are great options for mentors. A mentor is a no-fee position registered with the district, not the unit. A scout leader can multiple as a mentor. Mentors are anyone who have a STEM career, certification or education that can be provided as the top candidates for STEM mentors. The purpose is to provide an academic value to scouts to apply their own activities directly to their education. A mentor is registered just like a merit badge councilor, as a member of the district going unpaid.

Supernova Template Broken down by program then by individual levels. General Theme of requirements: Some prerequisites to qualify. Earn some scouting awards from a list of choices that are STEM relevant. Complete some more STEM exploration. Different Tiers Cubs and Webelos have their own award. Boy Scouts have a first and second level award. Venturing has three levels. Supernova uses the same general theme for each of it’s awards. The scout needs to have some prerequisites to work on the award, complete some number of STEM related scouting awards then do some exploration and discussion with the mentor. Boy Scouts and Venturing break the award into multiple teirs creating different and higher levels of achievement. Cubs and Webelos break theirs down separately for each age group.

Cubs & Webelos Supernova Wolves and Bears can earn the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova award. Webelos can earn the Charles H. Townes Supernova award. Tigers are not eligible for the Supernova. Each award is geared towards each group’s age group. There is one award eligible to Wolves and Bears. When they cross to Webelos they can earn the next. One award is not eligible while the scout is in a different level of Cub Scouts.

Boy Scout and Venturing SuperNova Requires points of the Nova complete. Certain merit badges complete for Boy Scouts and Explorations for Venturers. Both have two tiers. The first must be finished to work on the next. Venturing has a third, college oriented award that must be approved by the Council then passed on to national. Scouts that are multiple registered within Boy Scouts and Venturing can work on the 1st level Boy Scout supernova, then the 2nd level Venturing supernova or vica versa. Also a Boy Scout may do the first two supernova awards and do the third as a Venture scout.

Common Questions How far back can badges be relevant? Approval process? Problems being confirmed? But I heard…? The purpose of using pins and badges for Nova is so that scouts can use their experiences and see their educational value. If a scout is using a badge from so long ago that he cannot discuss and recall his experiences with the mentor or councilor then it should not be used. The district approval process should be a quick check over of the Scout’s supernova folder by the district Advancement chair (or their designee.) Scouts with disputes on the district level can take them to the Council STEM committee through contacting the Council STEM advisor. All questions with how the process the works can be taken to the professionals designated to advise the council on STEM.

Contacts? www.baltimorebsa.org/STEM www.scouting.org/stem Contact Us: Patrick Shields 443-573-2537 pshields@baltimorebsa.org Ian Smith 443-573-2554 ismith@baltimorebsa.org Let us know on your progress!