Troop 131,
I hope you had a good weekend! While it was a little cold, we had a great winter hike today! From Linden VA, we hiked the AT up to the Jim and Molly Denton shelter.
The scouts (and adults) had a buffet of different trail foods, we held tent races, and we practiced setting up bear bags. On the tent races, the average time to both set them up and take them down was only 6 minutes! So in the future it is totally doable to set up camp in less than 15 minutes!
All scouts who went on the trip, please be sure to bring back the troop gear … clean AND dry!
Thank you to Mr. Grocki for planning the hike and to all the scouts who came out, see image below!
I gave away a bunch of gear that had been left at the church. If I gave you an orange and grey fleece, please return it to me, the owner has been found!
TROOP MEETING – 7:30 PM
We will have a Troop meeting at 7:30PM this Monday at Immanuel Church on the Hill! Your new leadership group is going to have a meeting that is focused on knots! For the scouts who received a 6’ section of climbing rope earlier in the year, please be sure to bring it to the meeting!
For the scouts who went on the backpacking trip before Thanksgiving, I have a special woggle for those that attended! In addition for any scouts who don’t yet have name tapes, a t131 woggle, or a t131 neckerchief – the new ones are in and we will have them at the meeting!
Only two more meetings before winter break!
ELECTIONS
Thank you to all the scouts who came to the meeting and participated in the elections. I was impressed by the questions and how respectful you all were. I am pleased to announce that Thomas Grocki is the new SPL! I expect you all to give him the respect and attention that he deserves!
Here is the final tally of the elections. There are a few scouts who currently hold two leadership positions. We are going to ask them to pick the one they want and let someone else take on the other role:
● SPL: Thomas Grocki
● ASPL: Andy Devlin
● ASPL: Jonathan Nguyen
● Mustachios
○ PL: Tadgh Devlin
○ APL: Theo Ramirez
● Snapping Turtles
○ PL: Ozzie Springer
○ APL: Francis Gress (also Troop Guide)
● GOATS
○ PL: Greyson
○ APL: Anjan Patel
● Penguin Raiders
○ PL: Elias Carpio
○ APL: Simon Macek
● Brazilian Bananas
○ PL: Andrew Gross
○ APL: Kellen Burnett (also Den Chief)
● Royal Pickles
○ PL: Ben Niss
○ APL: Nathanael Baldwin
● Other Leadership Positions
○ Troop Guide: Karsten Gross
○ Troop Guide: Talis Saulski
○ Troop Guide: Francis Gress
○ Troop Guide: George Pica
○ Troop Guide: Rylan McDonald
○ Quartermaster: Jack Norris
○ Scribe: Henry Mills
○ Librarian (report to the Advancement chair for work): Finn Smith
○ Chaplains Aid: JP Reading
○ Historian: Gavin Niss
○ Bugler: Charlie Mills
○ Order of the Arrow rep: Arthur Dalton
○ Den Chief: Kellen Burnett
○ Outdoor Ethics Guide: John Grocki
RICKY WARD EAGLE
All, see note below from Mrs. Farmer and let me offer Ricky a very big congratulations!
Hello Troop 131!
We are very pleased to announce Troop 131’s newest Eagle Scout – Ricky Ward!! Ricky joined our troop in October 2024 after having previously spent time in another local Troop, Troop 1515, and Troop 1 in Edmond, Oklahoma. Ricky joined our Mustachios patrol and was able to share his wisdom as a past SPL and high adventure scout. He capped his path to Eagle with a project at Winkler Botanical Preserve, creating a fossil sand pit for children to play in.
Many congratulations, Ricky!
Kathryn Farmer
Advancement Chair, Troop 131
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 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
