This Tuesday night we have a troop presentation on backpacking equipment at 8:15.   What equipment do I need to backpack overnight for a few days?  How do I pack light?  How do I distribute the weight in my pack to make it comfortable for hiking?  What are the ten essentials for backpacking? What type of sleeping bag do I need?  How big of a pack? Answers to these questions and more on Tuesday night. This will help those preparing for the Tetons trip this summer by learning what they might need for equipment.  It will also benefit those of you not going to the Tetons because Troop 19 has some late spring and early summer hikes planned for all of us. 

If you have signed up for the USS Salem Trip, money is now due. 

Our trip aboard the USS Salem is less than a month away (Saturday March 19), but it is now time for our final payment (the Troop has made two deposits already). Please have your portion of the fee at this Tuesday's meeting. If you know of one of our Scouts who is not attending, encourage them to go - we still have a few spots left!

Scouts in good standing (sold 20+ wreaths and current with dues) - ONLY $25!

Adults registered with the Troop (ASM & Committee Members) - ONLY $25!

Non-registered adults - $45

For more information, contact Mr. Guertin.

Troop Ski Trip

The troop ski trip information is posted on the website.  Now is the time to bring in your payment and permission slip.  You can plan to attend both days or just one day.  Scouts and leaders are all required to wear helmets (BSA policy)—you can rent if necessary.

Scouting’s National Honor Society

For more than 90 years, the Order of the Arrow (OA) has recognized Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives.  This recognition provides encouragement for others to live these ideals as well.  Arrowmen are known for maintaining camping traditions and spirit, promoting year-round and long term resident camping, and providing cheerful service to others.  OA service, activities, adventures, and training for youth and adults are models of quality leadership development and programming that enrich and help to extend Scouting to America's youth. 

Congratulations to Spencer R. and Nate B.!  Spencer and Nate have been elected by the scouts of Troop 19 to attend the Spring Ordeal and Fellowship Meeting of the Order of the Arrow.  Nate and Spencer will benefit in having interesting opportunities to participate in special events such as the National Order of the Arrow Conferences (10,000 scouts convening on a college campus), National OA Leadership Seminars, SummitCorps (opportunity to work with the US Forest Service in our National Parks) and a whole bunch of local activities including winter fun weekends, fellowship meetings and a OA conclave scheduled at Hidden Valley this June.  One of the benefits in being an OA member is that you are with scouts your own age, much like a Venture Crew with a lot of interesting programs and opportunities to do things you might not get to do with a scout troop.

Fighting Irish Win Troop 19 Point System!

Congratulations to the Fighting Irish Patrol in besting out the other patrols in our troop to win the point system for the first half of the year.  Patrol Leader, Ethan Paulsen and the patrol will be deciding on how to spend their reward money for a patrol activity.

Welcome New Scout Michael P.

Michael has earned his Arrow of Light with Pack 253 and has crossed over to Troop 19. 

Troop 19 Wants You!

We do not have a lot of new scouts from Webelos joining this year.  The troop can use more new members and this is an ideal time to reach out to anyone that might be interested to visit the troop. According to the BSA, the number one reason why a boy does not join scouts is because he is not asked.  Scouts can be encouraging their friends to visit on a troop meeting night.  Parents, please talk to your neighbors, friends at work, church or elsewhere and help us grow our troop. You do not have to be a former scout to join Boy Scouts.

Troop Meeting Changes

We are reformatting our Tuesday night troop meetings to provide a different approach to advancement and skill practice.  Our Assistant Scoutmasters will be working closely with scouts based on their current rank.  As a benchmark, if you joined the troop one year ago, you should be at least a Second Class Scout by now.  This is a shortcoming for us and we plan to improve our instruction techniques and want to encourage each scout to arrive at the troop meeting prepared with his Scout Handbook and ready to either learn/refresh/practice a skill or be prepared for getting a requirement signed off.

Patrol Leader Jon B. – Happy Birthday! Jon is aging out as Patrol Leader at the youthful age of 18.  We will be realigning those scouts into the three remaining patrols.  

Honoring Commitments and Teaching Good Habits

Scouting enables us to teach values and life skills through a variety of healthy and wholesome activities.  Recently, Troop 19 participated in the Scout Sunday Service at Pilgrim Church.  We only had about 1/3 of the troop’s scouts in attendance for one of three annual required activities (Klondike Derby and Wreath Sales).  It is disappointing that we did not have better attendance and naturally we don’t expect everyone to make it as things do come up.  What is more troublesome is that only two scouts notified the Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmaster in charge that they were unable to attend.  I am not questioning the reasons given for not attending a required event.   If you have a commitment it is important to follow through.  If you can’t make a commitment, you need to deal with it appropriately by notifying your leader(s).  Commitments are part of everyday life whether it is for school, work, social engagements and it is important to develop good habits in managing and dealing with situations where there is an expectancy on the part of the scout (not parent) to inform his leader(s).  The same can be said about the wreath sales, an overwhelming majority of scouts in the troop met the goal to sell at least 20 wreaths.  There were a few that did not which is disappointing.  The troop committee has written to those families requesting that they purchase a number of undecorated wreaths to help fulfill the obligation the troop had in purchasing those unsold wreaths in advance. 

Troop Calendar from March – August 2011

Regards,

Greg Anthony