Do Your Good Turn Daily

Well done Ben, Christian and Lucas for hosting the Troop Court of Honor. Also congratulations to all of our scouts on the many achievements that you earned and were recognized. I would also encourage more family members to attend and we are working to keep the speeches short and focus on the boys. I don’t have the count, but there were many advancements in rank and many merit badges earned. I understand that there were are a couple of discrepancies which we will sort out. On any discrepancies or anything earned, please always go to Mr. O’Neil (Advancement Chair) so we can correct it. Specifically for these discrepancies, please also let me know.

One discrepancy was that some scouts were awarded an Eagle-required merit badge from camp (camp indicated all requirements met, but they weren’t met according to the scout). A couple of scouts brought this to my attention (and said “I didn’t earn this”). Bravo: What a great example of living the Scout Law. We will work together to fix any of these and I’m really proud that you brought this up!

Congratulations to our former SPL Nick Higgins who will be leaving us on September 30 for National Guard Basic Training. We enjoyed the camo-cake in his honor at the Court of Honor. Good Luck Nick, we know you will do well.

For those of you who earned various Fishing and/or Small Boat merit badge requirements, please contact Mr. Cancio and get a merit badge Blue Card from Mr. Sprague or me if you want to pursue those badges.

Star to Life Scouts; One requirement is performing 6 hours of service, 3 hours of which need to be conservation-related. I have been working with Mr. Jared Green, Superintendent of the Wildlife Refuge, so scouts can meet this requirement and continue to build our relationship with the Wildlife Refuge. Here is a note from Mr. Green on what is needed:  

Conservation Minded Troop Service Projects:
Over the past several years we have been putting in a number of pollinator gardens for butterflies and bees in front of the refuge Visitor Center. Due to some staff/volunteer shortages, the gardens have fallen into disrepair. Weeds are starting to crowd out some of the native plants, erosion has popped up in some spots that are now in need of placement of river rock, the edging has collapsed in other spots, and the stone edging around the gardens needs to be installed in some places and fixed in others. This is a huge project that could definitely fill several of the scouts' 3-hour service requirements. The gardens themselves are in a high-visibility area with lots of foot traffic, so getting them back into top shape would really improve the visitor experience. Creating pollinator habitats is also a really big priority for the USFWS, so ensuring that the plants we plant don’t get crowded out by weeds/washed away by erosion is a big goal for our biological department. If you have an interest, please contact Mr. Duggan and he will put you in contact with us.

Next week, Sunday, October 6, is Luke Pautler’s Eagle Court of Honor and I encourage all to attend.