Troop Meeting Reminders:

·         Return cooking equipment on Tuesday night—tents will need to wait until they have dried thoroughly.

·         Permission slips for the Chocorua Hike

·         Summer Camp payments for early bird discount

·         Don’t forget Medical Forms are required for the June troop backpacking trip, Yellowstone and Summer Camp

·         Order of the Arrow Conclave registration is due to Passaconaway Lodge

This past weekend was one of the best programs we have had for a campout (thank you Nate B!).  The scouts enjoyed a variety of activities that took them all over Hidden Valley to complete.  The Amazing Race theme had scouts in teams of two competing in a variety of tasks and deciphering clues to find their next activity area.  From 9am until 3pm with a short break for lunch on the course, the scouts raced through activities such as first aid, shelter building, orienteering, kayaking, water balloon toss, mystery cookie guess, lashings, knots, three legged races, and completed a service project for the camp.  Once the activities concluded we spent the remainder of the afternoon canoeing and kayaking.  The rain held off until after dinner and by that time everyone was thoroughly exhausted from a full day and had no problem getting to sleep. 

This Saturday we do have a day hike scheduled for Mt. Chocorua.  If you are attending the Yellowstone trip, please make every effort to attend this.  If you are not going to Yellowstone, we still want you to come on the trip! It is a fun hike with some great views from a rocky summit.  The hike is similar in length and terrain to Mt. Monadnock.  Permission slips will be posted on the website by Tuesday and are due that evening.

We have a troop Court of Honor scheduled for June 21^st.  Scouts should be completing their boards of review, rank requirements and merit badges over the next 3 weeks to ensure we have the paperwork submitted on time.  

Some of our scouts that joined over one year ago (March 2010) are still not Tenderfoot or Second Class and will benefit with some encouragement.  We plan to do that at the troop meetings by meeting with these scouts, but if you son is in this group, please take some time to review his status based on his Scout Handbook and what he needs to complete.  We don’t expect you to do it for him nor will the troop leadership, but encouragement and an active interest on everyone’s part makes a difference.

Advancement is just one of the 8 methods of the scouting program yet it usually has more discussion than the other 7 methods combined.  Namely because it is more tangible than teaching values or leadership and also because of the expectations by parents vary immensely. Our goal in Troop 19 is to encourage each scout to embrace the advancement program as one of the 8 methods and for him to do his best.  Our goal is not to have 100% Eagle Scouts but for each scout to learn from his time and journey while in the troop and to become a better youth and young adult based on the ideals of living the Boy Scout Oath and Law.  Those scouts that actively engage with the program by participating at troop meetings and activities have ample opportunities to advance along the scouting trail and derive the other benefits from scouting.  With regard to the higher ranks (Star, Life and Eagle), each rank toward eagle becomes more challenging and more is expected in terms of responsibility and servant leadership.  BSA has published their timeline encouraging all scouts to be First Class in 12 months.  That is certainly attainable but taking 12-18 months has been the norm for Troop 19.  Incidentally the Eagle rank timeline on average for scouts in T19—90% of the scouts in T19 have been 16 ½-17 ½ years old)

Regards,

Greg Anthony