Scoutmaster’s Corner

Our campout to Ochlocknee River State Park went very well. We had 26 scouts and 8 adults attend. The scouts earned their Canoeing merit badge, and we did all of the swimming requirements needed for rank advancements. The weather was great, but the bugs were hungry. Nobody tipped over their canoe and everybody remembered to put on at least some (but maybe not enough…) sunscreen. We will do more canoeing in the future, particularly before we go to Northern Tier canoe base in 2003. Mr. Dennis collected a large bag of wet clothes that scouts left behind when they got picked up after the campout. If you are missing something, pick it up at the next meeting.

Our next campout is May 18-20, when we will camp at St. Andrews State Park. This is always a great trip. We will do the Athletics and Cooking merit badges, and scouts will also have free time to hang out at the beach as well as the ever-popular deer stalking competition.

As a reminder, it is very important for new scouts to take their scout books on campouts in order to get skills checked off. Several scouts could have had Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review to complete rank advancements at last weekend’s campout but could not because they didn’t have their books to show that they had completed requirements.

Some parents have asked me if I can better predict when scouts will be ready to go when we get back from campouts. Yes and no. I clearly blew the estimate on when we would get back from Olustee, due mostly to the change to daylight savings time that I forgot about. However, please remember that this time estimate is based on several things that are difficult to predict. We cannot leave camp on Sunday morning until the scouts have cooked, cleaned up, and packed up tents and gear. We aren’t going to do this for them, and they have to do it right. If they turn in a cooking set that is dirty, they will have to wash it again. You wouldn’t want them to put the dinner dishes away at home without washing them, and we don’t want this either. If tents are wet, we must either wait for them to dry before packing them if feasible (otherwise they will mildew) or send them home for scouts to put up and dry out.

Breaking camp has been slow lately with the large number of new scouts who have to learn how to do it right. However, it is starting to get smoother, and we were ready to leave an hour earlier last campout than the one before. When we get back, we must unpack the trailer and clean the vans before the scouts can leave. All scouts must help out in this, as it wouldn’t be fair to dump this work on others.

The estimate of when we will get back is a best guess and we will usually get back within 30 minutes of this estimate. I know it is a pain to wait for scouts, and I don’t want this to happen. As most scouts live within 15 minutes of the church, I recommend that you have them call home when we get back to the church (phones are always available there) and they will be ready to be picked up by the time you can get to the church.

Our flock of Troop 23 Eagles has grown. Congratulations to Chris Rivers and Danny Pelligrino, who had their Eagle ceremonies on April 29. It was well attended by our scouts, and hopefully it inspired all the scouts to work to achieve this rank.

More Eagles are coming! Alan Johnson will have his Eagle ceremony at 2 PM on Sunday, May 29 at KUMC, and James VanLandingham and Chris Jenson (and hopefully Raju Vyas) will have a joint ceremony over the summer.

Summer Camp

An important parent meeting for scouts attending the Wallwood and Daniel Boone summer camps will be held during the PLC on May 21. This will give parents information on the camps, what scouts should/should not bring to camp, answer any questions, and sign the scouts up for merit badge classes. Camping physicals will also be done free of charge during this meeting by Dr. Totten, one of our scout parents. All scouts MUST have a camp physical done in order to attend camp! (So come and get one free or pay to have one at your regular doctor.) We have 15 scouts signed up to go to Daniel Boone, and 28 Scouts going to Wallwood. Final payments for both camps should have been made.

Van Drivers

We still need more adults to take the test and become licensed “Class D” drivers. This isn’t hard and requires an hour or so of studying and taking a multiple-choice written test at a driver’s license office. The troop will pay the expense of the new license. At recent campouts, we have barely had enough adults who could drive the vans, and would have been in real trouble if one had been unable to go. If you have or will go on campouts with the troop, please support us by getting this license.

High Adventure

Sue Griner needs other adults to help plan for our Florida Keys/Bahamas high adventure trip next summer. If you are interested, please call Sue at 385-8945.

Scholarship Points

Scouts earn scholarship points in many ways.

Attending meetings in full uniform – up to 3 points per meeting based on how much of the uniform they wear.
Rank advancement – From 5 to 25 points based on each rank, with more points awarded for higher ranks.
Merit badges – 10 points each.
Campouts and other troop activities– 10 points each.
Summer camp – 25 points.
Service hours – 1 point per hour, with a limit on the number of hours credited.
Serving in a patrol or troop leadership position – 6 points for each 6-month term.

Last year, each point equated to about $0.60.

Troop Schedule

April 30 – PLC

May 3 – Troop Committee Meeting

May 7 – regular meeting

May 14 – regular meeting

May 18-20 camping, St. Andrews State Park

May 21 – PLC – troop physicals

May 28 – NO MEETING; Memorial Day

June 4 – regular meeting

June 7 – Troop Committee Meeting

June 11 – Honor Court (bring a snack or 2-liter drink.) I will talk about my Nigeria trip and show slides at this meeting.

June 17 – 23 Wallwood Summer Camp (no meeting)

June 25 – regular meeting

The Trooper

May 2001

Scoutmaster’s Corner