The BSA

For this assignment i decided to look at the largest community to which i belong to: The Boy Scouts of America. As most people know, the BSA is a nationwide organization of boys ranging from 11 to 18 years of age who work towards the common goal of attaining developing leadership, specialized skills, and lifelong connections. Also, while accomplishing these goals, participants in the BSA work towards attaining the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout. The BSA organization is broken down into many different section. Listed from largest to smallest (to the best of my ability) those sections are as follows:

National
Regional
State
Council
District
Troop (composed of Scouts and Leaders)

Because the BSA organization is so large, most of the ties involved are weak ties. These weak ties occur between the different stages of the organization (ex. between troops and districts). Even though i have been in the program for about 7 years, I do not have many links to eaither district or council. However, the ties that I do have with members of District and Council are fairly weak, yet are strong enough that my name and abilities are known to a few key members who plan and coordinate activities. Furthermore, because i attained the rank of Eagle Scout last December, I now have a weak, invisible tie to every other eagle scout alive. This weak tie gives me a slight advantage over other people when it comes to applying to college and for jobs because fellow Eagle Scouts know the commitment and hard work that it takes to become and Eagle Scout and recognize that I must be a very hard and determined worker. Although most of the ties in the BSA organization are weak ties, there are also many very strong ties. These ties occur mainly at the troop level. My troop, which is located in my home town, consists of under thirty members, all of which are on a first name basis and are friends. Furthermore, the scouts of about the same age have very strong ties to eachother and some of my best friends are fellow scouts. In fact, when i was awarded my Eagle rank at my Eagle Court of Honor, three of my friends were also there being awarded the rank. Furthermore, many of the activites that the troop organizes, such as camping and hiking trips, are geared towards not only developing outdoor skills but also strengthening the bonds between scouts.
Although most of the interactions within the BSA organization, such as weekly troop meeting, Board of Reviews (the place where scouts go to be reviewed for advancement to the next rank), Court of Honors (the special meeting in which awards are given out to scouts), and meetings with merit badge counselors, take place face-to-face, there are many aspects of the program that take place via CMC. Some of the CMC aspects of the BSA organization and individual troops are the use of email to make announcements about upcoming meetings and events. Also, the BSA publishes many online documets that are geared towards helping scouts and their parents. One of these documents that i use frequently was located at meritbadge.org but has since been moved. This document contains a link to merit badge pamphlets fro every merit badge curently available to be earned. Merit badge pamphlets are essentially worksheets that are very useful for organizing information and meeting the requirements of merit badges.
The BSA also encourages people to seek support with any type of problem that scouts may have either at home, at work, or in school. They emphasize that Scout leaders are there to help resolve problems and give andvice and encourage scouts to not only speak with them but also with their peers in the program. If the problem cannot or should not be solved by a scout leader then the leaders are capable of referring scouts to other people that can help, both within the BSA and from outside organizations.