STEM Supernova Counselor

The BSA’s Supernova awards honor Scouts for exceptional STEM achievement

There are seven Supernova awards: one for Cub Scouts, one for Webelos Scouts, two for Scouts in Scouts BSA, and three for Venturers.

A Supernova mentor is a key player in the Supernova awards program, serving in a role similar to that of a merit badge counselor. Whatever your area of expertise or interest—whether it is a special hobby (amateur radio, geocaching), a profession (veterinary medicine, aviation, engineering), or perhaps a life skill (cooking, personal management, communication)—as a Supernova mentor, you play a vital role in stirring a young person’s curiosity about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The mentor will help the youth to decide upon research topics, help them to develop a project from the selected topic, help to identify and recruit the appropriate subject matter experts (if different from you as the mentor) to assist the youth in their project, and determine the difficulty and complexity of the project. Additionally, as the youth’s mentor, you will be the person to encourage them to complete all of the Supernova awards and to help them to work through the inevitable setbacks that will occur.

By serving as a mentor, you offer your time, knowledge, and other resources so Scouts broaden their horizons and set and achieve goals. Your mission is to combine fun with learning. You are both teacher and mentor to the Scout as he or she learns by doing. By presenting opportunities for growth via engaging activities like developing simulations to predict performance, discovering how to design aircraft for maximum flight, or learning what it’s like to be an astronaut, you may pique a young person’s interest in STEM and inspire a Scout to develop a lifelong hobby, prepare for a particular career, or become a responsible, informed citizen.