Troop 131,
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Week! Now the final push to winter break!
Parents, Mrs. Farmer, sent out an email looking for volunteers for an upcoming Eagle Board of Review on Tuesday night. If you can help with this, please email her directly!
See note below concerning the Wreath Sale!
See information below concerning the hike coming this weekend … Please sign up if you intend to hike with the troop! The hike is open to all troop members, however Philmont hikers are expected to attend!
TROOP MEETING – 7:30 PM
We will have a Troop meeting at 7:30PM this Monday at Immanuel Church on the Hill!
The main part of the meeting will focus on Elections! It is not too late to run for SPL, please let me know if you are interested!
The remainder of the meeting will include patrol time, pulling gear from the shed (for the hiking trip- see below) and of course games!
ELECTIONS
Let me start by sending out a big thank you to our current SPL, Owen Farmer. Serving as the SPL is a tough job and I would like all of you to thank him for his efforts and service.
He could not have done it without the help, energy and participation of our two ASPLs, so we are fortunate that one of them is running for SPL. Leadership continuity is important, and I am grateful for the continued service to the troop!
The troop is Scout led and not adult led, so this is your time to select the leaders. Please attend and take this seriously!
· Our candidates for Sr. Patrol Leader are:
o Andrew Devlin
o Thomas Grocki
· We will start the meeting by asking the SPL candidate(s) to give a short speech on why they should be elected and what they want to accomplish during this term.
· All scouts in the troop are then free to ask them questions concerning this. Only one question per scout – so make it count!
· We will then vote for SPL!
· Following the vote, any scout who would like to have an appointed leadership position (scribe, quartermaster, troop guide, etc) to also stand up and indicate what specific position they would like and to speak as to why the new SPL should select them.
· We will then break into patrols and elect Patrol Leaders.
· Patrol Leaders will then appoint their APL.
· The new SPL will then appoint the ASPL(s) and other leadership positions.
· There are plenty of other leadership positions available, see list below of the roles that we commonly fill. For the older scouts, I would like to see at least two (2) Troop Guides, so please consider that position. The younger patrols will benefit from your experience and wisdom! If we don’t have enough then I will appoint them in consultation with the new SPL.
o The patrols elect the Patrol Leader. The Patrol Leader appoints the Assistant Patrol Leader.
o The troop elects the Sr. Patrol Leader. The Sr. Patrol Leader appoints the Assistant Sr. Patrol Leader(s) and the other leadership positions:
§ Assistant Sr. Patrol Leader:
§ Quartermaster:
§ Historian:
§ Librarian:
§ Bugler:
§ Scribe:
§ Troop Guides:
§ Chaplain’s Aide:
§ Order of the Arrow Rep:
PHILMONT TRAINING HIKE
See note below from Mr. Grocki, Outdoor Chair, concerning the upcoming training hike next Sunday. Please sign up if you have not already done so. It will be a full day activity, including the preparation of a hot lunch on the trail. We purchased some oversupply of food items from Philmont (identical to what we will get on the trail) so we can practice preparing what we will encounter when we are there. Therefore, we will not need to do any meal planning this Monday. It is a random assortment of meals, so you get what you get, however, each scout should bring plenty of water with them and some personal snacks.
Any scout or adult in the troop may join this hike!
All,
Philmont training continues on Sunday December 7th with a 10-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail carrying backpacks with tents and cooking gear. All scouts signed up for Philmont should attend unless they have a conflict, but anyone can join.
We’ll be hiking south on the AT from where it intersects with 66 near Linden, VA to the closest shelter (Jim & Molly Denton). Here we’ll practice setting up and breaking down tents then continue to the next shelter (Mosby). We’ll cook a hot lunch and then hike back out the way we came. This will be a long day so we’ll meet early at the church before the hour drive to the trailhead.
We should have enough drivers among the adults who are joining the hike, but I’ll be looking for volunteers if we’re short. Please sign up so we can track participation and progress toward the hiking merit badge and let me know if you’re able to provide road support.
https://forms.gle/DqaMnuMmm63b8FUp6
What: 10 Mile Hike
When: Sunday 7 Dec. 0730 (meet at church)
Where: Appalachian Trail
– Bring your pack with your 10 essentials and a tent (non-Philmont scouts can bring a daypack)
– Bring snacks and plenty of water.
– Hiking boots preferred
– Wear your green T-131 Class B shirts.
Thanks,
Chris Grocki
Outings Coordinator
Boy Scout Troop 131
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WREATH SALE
More information to come on this, however, the Wreaths arrived this weekend! Mr. Green and Mr. Mills will need a few days to organize the 137 items that were delivered, but the hope is that they will be ready to pick up later this week! Stay tuned …
CLIMBING MERIT BADGE
See information below from Mr. Saulski!
Scouts:
I will be holding short sessions to go over the knowledge requirements of the Climbing Merit Badge during the Troop meetings over the next few weeks. This is a perfect opportunity for those who attended the Climboree, and who completed the active requirements (climbing, rappelling, belaying, etc.) to complete the remaining knowledge requirements. I also encourage those who didn’t attend the Climboree, but are interested in getting this merit badge, to join this class as well. There will be future climbing opportunities, and this will give you a jump on completing the MB quickly at that time by allowing you to knock out the knowledge requirements in advance.
We will break out after patrol time and cover a few of the requirements each week. My plan is to keep each individual session short and concise, so it doesn’t take you away from the other meeting activities for too long.
The requirements for the Climbing Merit Badge can be found at the link here.
The Climbing Merit Badge booklet can be found here.
Please review the requirements and look over the discussion of those topics in the book. Please also practice your knots. I have provided links to institutional websites/videos for the knots you are required to know below. You like don’t have webbing or a full-length climbing rope and so won’t be able to practice the water knot or butterfly coils at home, but please review the links so you have an understanding of what
- Figure eight knot https://www.animatedknots.com/figure-8-knot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyUTlPpLVPw&list=PLTPdtAohMC61V93eZVhVgRKlmgdStfGd-&index=5
- Figure eight on a bight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8jRok7Kofw
- Figure eight follow-through https://www.animatedknots.com/figure-8-follow-through-loop-knot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFlwrvggas0
- Double fisherman’s knot https://www.animatedknots.com/double-fishermans-bend-knot
- Prusik hitch applied to rope. https://www.animatedknots.com/prusik-knot
- Water knot https://www.animatedknots.com/water-knot
- Rope management/butterfly coil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqt1ntSVjJA
If you have any questions, feel free to email me (Scouts please copy your parents or another adult). My email address is: psaulski@gmail.com
Regards,
Paul Saulski
SCHEDULE: One Month(ish) Look Ahead
Monday, December 1st – Troop Meeting – ELECTIONS – 7:30 PM – Immanuel Church on the Hill
Saturday, December 6th – Scottish Walk – Old Town Alexandria
Sunday, December 7th – Day Trip – Linden to Jim and Molly Denton Shelter – Linden VA
Monday, December 8th – Troop Meeting – 7:30 PM – Immanuel Church on the Hill
Monday, December 15th – Troop Meeting (BoR)(PLC) – 7:30 PM – Immanuel Church on the Hill
Monday, December 22nd – No Troop Meeting – Winter Break
Monday, December 29th – No Troop Meeting – Winter Break
