Scoutmaster’s Corner

Our two summer camps were great! We had 28 scouts go to Wallwood, and 15 went to Daniel Boone. Troop 23 won about every award available at Wallwood, including the marathon skill games, the volleyball tournament, and the cleanest campsite. Eric Null won the shotgun shooting competition, JW Putnal won “best environmental student”, Casey Lillibridge won “best sailing student”, and Reynolds Griner won the “wild man” award for the best wilderness survival skills. Much thanks to Larry Dennis, Earle Klay, Steven Kubiak, and James Snyder who served as adult leaders.

Daniel Boone was also a great experience. Our rafting on the Ocoee and Natahala rivers was exciting, especially to the scouts who swam through rapids rather than stay in the rafts. Special recognition goes to Todd Hatcher, Reynolds Griner, Marc “Freefall” Webb, and Jim Totten for taking rafting to new heights (or should I say depths?). We also fared very well on the “trivial pursuit” questions that were used to determine what troops would get into the mess hall first, usually being one of the first 3 troops to eat. Much thanks to Alan Null, Jim Totten, and Frank Rivers who went with me as adult leaders to Daniel Boone.

The scouts made awesome progress at camp. In total, our scouts earned almost 200 merit badges over the past month. Scouts who got partials also need to finish work on these badges quickly. We have given scouts the merit badge partials with instructions to discuss them with their parents. Please check to see if your scout has a partial and work with your scout to get these finished before school starts if possible.

Several of our scouts achieved rank advancement, during July and others are almost. Please track your son’s progress and encourage him to schedule scoutmaster conferences and boards of review ASAP when they have completed rank requirements. As a reminder, scouts are responsible for setting up these meetings. For boards of review, they should ask adults a minimum of one week ahead of time, and then call these adult leaders Sunday before the meeting to ensure that they can still do the board. Again, scouts who are under First Class rank should bring their scout handbooks to EVERY meeting and campout in order to get skills checked off.

Our troop activity for August will be a troop rocket launch on August 18. Sam Fair is teaching the Space Exploration merit badge during meetings for the next few weeks. One of the requirements of the badge is to build a model rocket. We will have a mass launch that Saturday morning, with a variety of prizes to be won. Scouts may either come to the church to ride a van to the launch site (off US 90 east of town) or can drive there (we will give out directions at meetings). The launch will start at 9 AM, and scouts wanting a ride should be at KUMC by 8:30 that morning.

In the coming months, we will be offering one eagle-required and one or two other merit badges each month, in addition to regular rank advancement. In August, we will work on the Family Life and Atomic Energy and Computers merit badges. After that, we will work on the Energy, Electricity, and Personal Management merit badges.

Troop Reunion

Troop 23 is having our 20^th year reunion on August 11^th. All scouts should attend the reunion to celebrate our history and let those who have gone before us know what the troop is doing now. All past scouts have also been invited to come, as well as all adults who have served the Troop since it was founded in 1981.

As part of the festivities, we will hold an Eagle ceremony for Chris Jensen, Allen Mathis, and James VanLandingham. These scouts have earned Eagle but thought they could escape without a formal ceremony (they can run but they can’t hide).

We will have a dinner as part of the event, for a cost of about $4 per person. Please sign-up for the reunion on the troop website. If this isn’t possible, please have your scout let us know during meetings how many will attend from your family.

Eagle Projects

Some of our scouts will be working on Eagle Scout projects this fall and will need the help of troop scouts. Matt Fair will be working in August to modify and redecorate a room at Raa Middle School to house exceptional education students, and another scout may also do a project at this school over the next two months to create an appropriate playgound for these students. Steven VanLandingham will likely do a tree-planting project in early November. We also have a couple of other scouts who are almost ready to do Eagle Projects.

A critical part of these projects is for the prospective Eagle Scout to show leadership in organizing others to get the job done. It is essential that we support these projects as a troop, meaning that scouts and some parents need to volunteer when the call for folks goes out. Due to school, most of the projects will need to be done on weekends. More information on individual projects will be forthcoming. Please encourage your scout to respond when one of our scouts calls for volunteers. When your son is ready to do an Eagle project they will need others to help them, so they need to help these scouts now. As another incentive, the scouts who help out will earn service hours that they need for rank advancement, and they will earn scholarship points for the hours they work.

Troop Schedule

August 6 – regular meeting

August 9 – Troop Committee Meeting

August 11 – Troop Reunion KUMC

August 13 – regular meeting/school starts

August 18 – Troop rocket launch

August 20 – regular meeting

August 27 – regular meeting

September 3 – NO MEETING, Labor Day September 6 - Troop Committee Meeting September 10 - Honor Court

September 8 - Usher, FSU vs. UAB

September 15 - Usher, FSU vs. GA Tech

September 17 - Meeting/Troop Election

September 21-23 -- Campout, Ginnie Springs

September 24 - PLC

September 29 - Usher, FSU vs. Wake Forest

The Trooper

August 2001

Scoutmaster’s Corner