Dear Scouts,
I hope you enjoyed the Court of Honor as much as I did - I am so glad we had an opportunity to tip our caps to Cameron, Freddy and Lucien, who have meant so much to our Troop these last 7 (!) years. We all enjoy recognizing your many accomplishments but most importantly, seeing the good scouts that you are all becoming. We have a fantastic group of scouts who have strong support from your families, which make a big difference to our program. That means we can have many opportunities for scouting, camping and service projects and I know you are all involved. Next week I leave on an adventure for a couple weeks. I have the opportunity to sail onboard the SSV Cramer as part of the Sea Education Association (www.sea.edu) from St. Croix to Miami. Many of the scouts have been on board when the vessel has been in Woods Hole as we visited her while waiting for the ferry. This voyage is 0ver 1000 miles and a good eight (8) or so days at sea. I’ll be part of the crew and working with engineering and on deck. I’ll brush up on my celestial navigation and other dust off my sailing skills. This is the longest voyage for me in several years and really looking forward to it. These opportunities do not come up very often and I’m jumping at the chance! That means I’ll be leaving you in good hands with your Senior Patrol Leader(s) Lincoln and Grady, as they transition between them. I’ll also miss some events like the Scout House Clean-Up, the PLC meeting, and a couple meetings (one with Webelos). We will make sure you have all the help you need and also that we schedule some boards of review soon. A reminder, we will have another Court of Honor in June before camp; this give you a chance now to complete those requirements and get sign-off, so take advantage of this opportunity! Bring your books to all meetings and events and keep learning new scout skills (and write them down). Do your good turn daily and I’ll be back on the weekend of the April 15! Yours in Scouting, Mr. Duggan, Scoutmaster
0 Comments
Dear Scouts,
Troop 132 is off on a Ski Trip this weekend staying, skiing at Gunstock Mountain, and staying at a cabin at TL Storer camp site. Your scoutmaster is back from two trips, one to Arizona , where I attended an engineering conference. There I had the chance to visit a friend from Concord who was a scout in Troop132 and his father, David Whitney, was the scoutmaster. His son Ian is a member of troop 39 Flagstaff and I got to attend Troop 39’s Court of Honor. It was a treat visiting another troop and while some of the ceremony is different, we all share the same ranks and merit badges and food after the event! Their troop was getting ready for a trip to Carlsbad Caverns, visit Space X and Roswell New Mexico during their spring break. Sounds like a great trip. I then continued to Odense, Denmark, which is becoming a sort of Silicon Valley for robots. We are building a new robot and finishing up the engineering and manufacturing line. Scouts are there in Denmark too, and our company hosted some scouts over an open house last summer. Scouts are everywhere and we all share the same goals and aims; it’s great to be connected to the entire scout world. Troop Court of Honor Tuesday 3/23 – All welcome and scouts expected This Tuesday, we have a Court of Honor and some will earn ranks and merit badges. In our troop, we expect all the scouts and welcome all parents, siblings and relatives and friends to attend. Even if you are not earning a rank, badge or special awards support your fellow scouts and you might also learn some things about merit badges and what is required to earn a rank. All are welcome and encouraged to attend, especially our senior scouts this particular Court of Honor. See you Tuesday! Advancements After meeting with many of you to review your scout journey, I would ask that you bring your book with you on most, if not all, events and keep your records up to date. Your Patrol Leader and Senior Patrol Leader and I will be more than happy to help. Remember the four (4) ways a scout advances; they learn, are tested, are reviewed and are recognized. Many of you have learned and all you need is to be tested and reviewed and then update your books. So please bring your books to meetings and events so that as you learn and tested with your PL, SPL or other designated leader (just ask me) and we will help you. Parents, you can help your scouts by taking pictures of the advancement pages so that in the unlikely event the book is lost or pages ripped, we can carry those advancements and dates over to a new book. I know many of you have learned and fewer are tested and reviewed. Scoutmaster Conference and BOR If you need a Scoutmaster conference, just let me know and I will be happy to make some time to accomplish this. Then it’s our scouters’ (adult volunteers) job to schedule a board of review (this depends on rank and availability of our scouters). Keep up the learning pace and we will help with all advancements that you are ready to be tested. Klondike Sleds – need a summer home Congratulations again to the troop for earning 2nd place at the District’s 2023 Klondike Derby. We repaired the sleds and now have two complete units with both wheels and skis, a placeholder for flags and solid wood replaced the damaged supports. These have served you well. Now we need a scout family to store the sleds inside a garage or shelter. Frankly I’m out of space and need a scout family with some room to store them. They are not pressure treated (too heavy) and would be subject to rot if left outside. Can you let me or Ms. Flinn know if you are willing to store them. Scout Elections Congratulations to Grady for stepping up to serve as SPL. This is a tough job with lots of on the job learning. Lincoln has been doing a great job this term, and our troop strives to provide opportunities for senior leaders to both lead and also rotate to accommodate many of the sports and extracurricular activities you are involved with. Welcome Grady to this new role, which starts in April. Scout Spirit Living the scout oath and law every day is the mark of a good scout. Our aims as scouters are to provide opportunities and help develop character, provide leadership development, citizenship training and personal fitness. I am very proud of that Pijus put the scout law into action. He did his good deed. If you want to recognize a scout, look at their deeds as they stop and help others. Well done! Good morning. I hope this email finds you well.My name is Dan Keller and I am Pijus’s English teacher. I wanted to mention this positive moment to you. This morning, there was a student scurrying down the hallway. Unfortunately, his entire pencil case exploded as a result of his fast pace. As many students were side stepping around this student, there was one who stopped and helped pick up his materials. That student was Pijus. I’m sure proud of him! This small moment shows what a kind, considerate and caring individual he is. Have a great day, Dan Keller Do your good turn daily! Yours in Scouting, Mr. Duggan, Scoutmaster Dear Scouts,
As you know, I am still away this week. I just wanted to say how proud I was to see the troop in action at this year's Klondike Derby. Great results come from leadership and teamwork. Well done Lincoln and Grady and Troop 132! Mr. Verlander provided the following trip report:
See you on Tuesday. Remember we have elections for positions of responsibility. If you want to stand, don't forget to fill out the POR Application Form and get it back to me and Lincoln before the Troop meeting. In the meantime, do your good turn daily! Yours in Scouting, Mr. Duggan Dear Scouts,
I hope you all enjoyed a good winter break. I spent some time up north, near and actually on the Canadian border on snowmobiles. There was well over 2 feet in the mountains, which was terrific. We have a busy few months ahead of us the Klondike, ski trip, Scout House cleanup and many other events are planned. It will be a busy and fun spring and early summer, including Iceland, surfing and the bike trip to Nantucket. There are more details to come but we are a busy and active troop. The Troop Committee met last week and we have an upcoming PLC. Due to work travel schedules I will be away for two weeks in a row starting this Sunday. One trip to sunny and warm Phoenix and then back to the Klondike and a Sunday afternoon, early evening trip to our cobot factory in Denmark. So please be patient with some scheduling and communications, as I’ll be in a couple different time zones and delays getting back to everyone. Next week we need to focus on Klondike planning and tuning up our skills to compete and test our skills against other troops. This year, we will have two sleds with either ski or tire setup if we want to run two sleds we can. I also had some time to clean up the two-person saws. They are now waxed and ready to cut wood like new and put on an old fire hose as a sheath. That should make it easier to transport. Let’s focus on knots (bowline and timber-hitch), first aid (hypothermia), and fire building. These are all good basic scout skills. Remember with this snow coming this weekend, there are opportunities to do good deeds so get out and shovel your house, your neighbor’s house, and fire hydrants. Put scouting to good practice. Do your good turn daily! Yours in Scouting, Mr. Duggan |
Blog ...This blog is a weekly message from the Scoutmaster. Archives
November 2023
Categories |