Troop 132

Our on-line meetings continue to be informative and focused on scout related skills that benefit the entire Troop. This week we learned more about signals and codes as well as one knot we should know, called the taut-line hitch. Two Troop merit badges, Public Health and Family life are in progress. Each week I am really pleased by how skilled and mature the scouts are organizing and running the meetings. You are learning life lessons and adapting with enthusiasm. Keep up the good work.

Virtual Boards of review are happening. Our congratulations to our newest Life Scout, Christian Perrotta.
Some scouts attended the district Life to Eagle seminar. While this focuses on the process and steps, I just want to remind scouts that thinking about a project that you would like to do with the beneficiary (someone who needs it) can never start too early. This is an opportunity to do something on your own, that you would like to do and feel proud for years to come, but it takes time. Often what you think you want to do will change and that has to be in sync with the beneficiary. Some of our alumni scouts who come back can describe the ebb and flow of early planning. If you have an idea, share it with your parents, Mr. Rzepczynski, or me to get some feedback.

This week, be prepared to talk about your good deeds. Let’s see; with about 30 scouts times 7 days that’s 210 good deeds in a week. Let’s hear about some of them.

Another good, informative and fun meeting this past Tuesday. Nice job again to the leaders, who met on Monday night (PLC) to conduct detailed planning. The Troop meeting consisted of learning about morse code, knife safety, and we listened to one of our Troop alum, Private Nick Higgins. Welcome back, Nick! Nick described his basic training and mechanics training with the National Guard and how he had an edge up over other candidates because of his scouting background. We also heard from scouts about their good deeds over the last week. This was a good exchange of kind acts.

Use your time wisely. At the Troop meeting, I showed a site called www.Windy.com. If you like weather, use this site. It’s used by mariners and pilots and is very comprehensive and world-wide. Another site that was interesting and brought up in Public Health was the John Hopkins COVID 19 site; https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html  The amount of data science and analytics is interesting and powerful.

Congratulations to our newest Life Scout Christian Perrotta who passed his board of review last week.
Remember to go your good turn daily and keep up the good scouting.  Be prepared to share your good deed on Tuesday.

It’s been great to see all you scouts in Class A gathered for our Zoom meetings and I encourage you to stay engaged and invite your parents to join in too if they are willing and able. We had our second on-line meeting this week led by your SPL Simon with help from all of the leaders as we use this new format to advance our scouting program. Alex Cancio joined to talk about school and Navy ROTC as part of our Scout Alum program. Lincoln led a section on knife sharpening and Ben led a survey to get some feedback on topics of interest for future meetings. Lucien gave a short presentation on climate change and Ben completed the meeting with another Kahoot game.

Mr Rzepczynski followed the meeting with the on-line Public Health Merit Badge and he will be joining me as co-councilor for the Family Life Merit Badge. For Family Life, this is a great opportunity to do this merit badge now since you are home. Please drop me an email and I’ll sign you up (virtual blue card) and get back to you with some dates and times.

This time of year is a good time to put into practice the 12 points of the Scout Law; Reverent - A Scout is reverent. A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others. Baden-Powell believed that Scouting should be independent of any single faith or religion, but still a belief in spirituality and a belief in a higher power are key to the development of young people.

Maybe at mealtimes, you could start with grace or simple prayer/reflection. There are many forms and many prayers, especially during these times of pandemic. Go online and find one that is special to you and your family and offer that up before a meal. Let us also offer a special reflection for our healthcare workers who are on the front line. Especial thanks to Mr. Sprague who is helping patients battle this disease locally at Emerson Hospital.

Here is The Philmont Grace.
For food, for raiment,
For life, for opportunities,
For friendship and fellowship,
We thank Thee, O Lord. Amen.
 
Have you done a good turn? If you have done a good turn, please send it to Simon and me can describe or highlight one each week.

Nice job with the on-line meetings. We’ve had 4 online meetings so far, 2 Troop meetings and 2 PLC meetings. The senior scouts have really done a great job putting in extra time to prepare and run the meetings which can be effective for the Troop. Great job Simon, Christian, Lucas, Lucien, and Ben for organizing and running a meeting that has instruction and fun.

Alumni John Rzepczynski kicked off the meeting. John was our first alumni speaker and he was a former SPL. John joined us from Santa Clara and talked to the scouts about how scouting has helped him in school, his job (intern with the Water Department), and extracurricular activities (President of the sailing club).

Christian described the steps in advancement and then Lucien presented a short history of scouting. Ben put together a Kahoot game on name that scout, knots, and merit badges. Lucien won and it was a fun game for all. You have to be fast and accurate. I placed second because I paused on the answer! It was a fun way to learn together. We also learned that our Troop cannot recognize the taut-line hitch. We need to work on that.

The meeting ended and Mr. Rzepczynski kicked off the Public Health Merit Badge.  I’m looking forward to the kick-off of the Family Life Merit Badge as this is a good time for you to do a family project coupled with 90 days of chores that need to be logged. You will benefit and your family will too.

I’ve put some guidelines in place for our Troop as we make some adjustments on our policies to accommodate the on-line format. Please see attached.

This is a great opportunity to work on your advancements and merit badged. Don't forget, you might have elderly neighbors or health care works who need babysitting assistance, their yards cleaned out, or etc.  Please look for opportunities to help.  If you have done a good turn, please send it to Simon and we can describe one each week.