Scoutmaster Moment

I can’t say enough about the fabulous Mission Impossible weekend we just had. We had some very promising visits from prospective scouts for both troops.  We had 6 girls come visit and were taken around our camp and the 6 activity stations.  The visitors were from local scouting units, and some have not been in BSA before – I hope we see them come by a meeting soon!  Once our scouts had finished their hard work with visitors, they had to do some hard work of enjoying the adult demo of dutch oven cooking (ideas for upcoming campouts!) and solving the Infinity Stone puzzles.  ASM Ryan Pschigoda built a fantastic set of challenging stations based on Marvel universe for the scouts to solve, and a final group puzzle that tied the puzzles to Scouting Heritage. As bonus, the Rascal Rabbits had the highest score (by a good margin) in their debut participation, way to go!  All participants received a miniature Thor’s Hammer hang tag and Eye of Agamotto sundial/compass handmade by adult leaders (many thanks to Mr. Lakie, Mr. Schuetz, Mr. Pschigoda, & Mr. Staton). Further thanks to adults who cooked, prepped, cleaned, and manned stations, this truly could not happen without you. The weather was sunny and dry, but cool and fell into the upper 20s at night – meaning all campers earned their Polar Bear patch for camping out below freezing.  Campers did great staying warm in their layers during their coldest campout yet – great job!

 

2020 Summer Camp
Troops 893 will be going to summer camp at Bechtel Summit Reserve the week of 5-11 July. A canvas of various options shows this camp has some of the most program areas and merit badge opportunities.  This is the location of the 2019 World Jamboree, and both recent and upcoming 2021 National Jamborees.  Check out this video for more information about the camp and what it offers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgefzciGZN0&feature=youtu.be 

Recharter
We are now rolling into our “recharter” period. At our last Court of Honor we presented our official charter certificate to Pastor Will.  Each year we will renew this document and pay fees (dues) to BSA National, this is our official first re-charter as a Troop. Please look out for emails from Mr. Taylor on this and what the related due dates are (and what is due).

This Week – 11/19 – PLC
Uniform: Class A
Location: CUMC Chapel

Each scout should arrive with one or more meeting plan or activity ideas.  The QM can use PLC time to coordinate with QMs from boys troop if needed.  I would also like to tag up with the Den Chiefs.

(Heavily borrowed from Mr. Morley since it is good stuff) 
Since we may have Webelos attending some of the meetings over the next several weeks, activities should be oriented with their participation in mind, and meetings should include a gathering activity as introduction. The link below can help with meeting ideas that can make for combination of scout skills and fun. The attached meeting plan template will be used by ASM Programs and SPL for all meetings. If you can bring these completed to the PLC meeting, it will improve the flow and perhaps allow us to look ahead a little further to some other events.
http://www.programresources.org/activities/

Purposes of Troop Meetings

• Prepare for outings. 

• Learn and practice Scouting skills. 

• Exercise leadership. 

• Strengthen patrols. 

• Promote advancement and personal growth. 

• Inspire Scouts. 

• Have fun. 

 

Meeting Outlook from September Planning

  • November Theme – Pets
  • December – January Theme – Klondike Skills
  • February – TBD
  • March – TBD

 

Upcoming Service Opportunities 
Providing service is a key part of Scouting, to do our daily good turn. Helping others often in turn helps ourselves with new experiences and opportunities for growth. This is built into requirements for most ranks. This section is to list any upcoming service opportunities that may help the Community, and progress in your trail to Eagle, this list is not inclusive and there are many other activities in the area that are also worthwhile.  Activities listed here are Scoutmaster approved, if you have other activities you would like to do be sure to check with me if you would like them to count towards scout service requirements.

 

  • CUMC Grace Ministries is a monthly program through our charter organization held on the 2nd Saturday of each month, with prep the Friday night before hand, help is needed at both the Friday set up and on Saturday morning to bring goods to cars
    • More info can be found under Grace Ministries on the CUMC Food Ministries page: http://centreville-umc.org/serve-outreach/food-ministries/
  • Camp Snyder Work Days – Camp Snyder is located in Haymarket and has two work crew days each month where volunteers can help with camp maintenance doing carpentry, painting, trail maintenance…  This can be done as an individual or as small groups.  Let me know if you are interested  in providing service (or if a group wants to go together) and I can provide recent announcements.

 

Key Dates (mark your calendar)
also available from Troopmaster subscription calendar

  • Dec 6 – Lock in (overnight inside)
  • Dec 15 – Klondike Sled Build completion
  • Dec 24, Jan 31 – Winter Break (no meetings)
  • Jan 17-19 – Klondike Derby
  • Apr 24-26 – New Scout Campout
  • Jul 5-11 – Summer Camp (Summit Bechtel)
  • TBD – Astronomy MB stargazing will be rescheduled