Troop Court of Honor

A troop Court of Honor (COH) is held about three times a year (see Courts of Honor) to recognize advancement and other achievements in front of the whole troop and families. This guide covers the work of preparing for one and running it (not the Eagle Court of Honor, which is a different ceremony).

BSA guide to Courts of Honor

The date is set as part of Annual Planning. The Advancement Coordinator prepares and organizes the awards themselves, but running the event is the Patrol Leaders’ Council’s job.

Before the Ceremony

The PLC picks a scout to be master of ceremonies for each COH. It’s open to anyone who wants it — scouts often volunteer because emceeing a COH satisfies a Communication merit badge requirement.

The MC is the director of the ceremony, not just its host. That means:

• Writing their own script — treating the example below as raw material for structure and phrasing, not something to read verbatim
• Recruiting and coordinating whoever else has a part — color guard, speaking parts, and any other elements the MC chooses to add (a candle lighting, for example)

Tip

A Court of Honor is more memorable when it doesn’t sound like the last one. The Master of Ceremonies can change the order, add a new element, write new material- feel free to get creative and do more than stick to the script. A chatbot such as ChatGPT can be really helpful for this.

Example script, from a past COH:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19nxEYgTedP0QDk2us15SONlFVoLpeTprM8ZBARo-nMI/edit

The physical event setup (chairs, tables, decoration, speakers, etc) is done by the scouts- make sure you arrange for some volunteers to come early, and make sure someone will be there to unlock the VFW building early.

Running the Ceremony

1. Opening — color guard posts the colors, an opening prayer or invocation (the Chaplain Aide leads this), and the PLC, Scoutmaster team, and committee are introduced.
2. Recognitions — merit badges and ranks, presented by the MC and a helper scout. For ranks, the scout’s parents also come up, and the scout pins them to thank them for their support. The Scoutmaster presents any special awards.
3. PLC changeover — at the fall COH only. Incoming officers take an oath of office, and the outgoing Senior Patrol Leader hands the building keys to the incoming one.
4. Closing — announcements, a closing prayer, and the color guard retires the colors.
5. Food - sometimes the PLC will arrange for there to be food after the ceremony.

After the Ceremony

After the COH is done, scouts need to stay to help clean up and get everything put away where it belongs.