Do a Good Turn!

Welcome new scouts and families to Troop 132. The Troop had a great week at TL Storer in the Cheyenne campsite. Nine other troops were present with over 110 scouts in attendance and 30 scouts were from Troop 132. As promised to the camp, we left our particular site, Cheyenne, a better place than we found it. Cleaner, tents staked, and some limbs removed that were hanging over tents. All the Troop scout leaders were present, which included Senior Patrol Leader (JJ), Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders (Logan and Xander), and Patrol Leaders Ben, Simon and Nick. Will (now my assistant scoutmaster because he aged out 7/7/18) and I attended camp for the week and we were joined by Assistant Scout Masters Mike Sprague, Ed Prewitt, and Peter Reed for parts of the week. Mr. Carter and Mr. Green also helped with parts of the week. Later in the week, we were also joined by Luke, Alex and John Rzepczynski. Many thanks to Mr. Carter's persistence and diligence with getting the med forms, signup's, merit badges, and coordinating all the logistics with camp. He did an exceptional job making sure our scouts get the options, campsite, and merit badges that they wanted. A big Thank You DAVID CARTER!
My son Will asked me, now that he is an ASM, what does a SM do when we are at camp? Well, after breakfast I have one hour to check in with work, take a shower, organize my tent, and/or fill out blue cards. Then there is a daily one hour SM meeting until 11AM followed by going back to camp and seeing what needs to be done to help with any scout needs or just to ensure that we have 2 deep leadership in the camp. Then I muster for lunch, help coordinate the duty rooster and/or suggest any improvements we need to make with the Senior Scout leadership. The afternoon is spent shuttling back and forth between Wah-Tuc-ca (18 miles round trip twice a day for transport) or rotating through the patrol activities.  The time flies. Will spent his time helping the shooting sports councilors and he assisted the Troop wherever needed. So I think he realizes that camp is also fun, but busy for the adults. I would encourage any adult to join us on any trip this coming school year. There is always room for more tents.
The TL Storer staff was very helpful, friendly and open to making adjustments when possible to accommodate any of our requests  Our troop camp experience has been strengthened with very active senior scouts who really take their jobs seriously in helping the troop and other scouts. A number of our scouts (like JJ, Logan, Xander, Nick, Ben, Simon, Alex, Luke, John and Will) have spent the last 4 to 7 summers at TL Storer. They are a big asset to the troop and I thank them for volunteering their time. Storer offers many merit badges and many Eagle required merit badges. If you attend Storer for several years, you will have the opportunity to earn most, if not all the Eagle required merit badges. So instead of hosting MB classes, summer camp is the answer. Camp is also a time to try new things. Logan Prewitt, who never rode a horse, tried Horsemanship and earned his merit badge. Great Job Logan!
The boys earned over 43 merit badges and 12 partials in things like Chess, Swimming, Sculpture, Art, Painting, Leatherwork, Geocaching, Climbing, Archery, Rifle, Shotgun, Search and Rescue, First Aid, Salesmanship, Wood Carving, Animal Science, Cooking, Emergency Prep, Veterinary Medicine, Kayaking, and Pioneering, just to name a few.
You will be happy to know, and I'm proud to say, the troop lived by the scout oath and law and we all had a great time at camp.  My advice for younger scouts is to plan ahead and learn scouting through doing at summer camp and our monthly outings. Learn new skills and try new things. My advice for older scouts is to come to camp, put your leadership into practice and take the opportunity to earn your Eagle required merit badges.  
Remember a scout is helpful. Sometimes scouts used to put their shirt collars up at the beginning of the day and when they did their good deed, they turned it down. Think of ways to remind yourself to do a good turn daily. As helpful scouts, Troop 132 recently refurbished a bench for the Great Meadows. Check out the Facebook page.

Some thoughts for our scouts: 

• Bring your scout books to the summer meetings (for that matter, every meeting) 
• Meet with me or any ASM to review what you covered and get items signed-off. 
• For non-trailblazer advancement, ask your Patrol Leader to review and sign off only.
• Set your goals to earn Scout Rank soon. September is one of our 3 Courts of Honor and a great time to recognized for earning the Scout Rank.
• My humble advice is to focus on earning 1st class in less than 2 years and don't get distracted with merit badges. You will have plenty of time to earn merit badges. Your initial focus should be to learn the skills required to earn the ranks up to 1st class. It takes time to earn rank. 
• Plan your year ahead with your parents so you can attend the upcoming trips.
• Finally, the scout journey is individual and is not the same as Cub Scouts. All our scouts and scouters (adults) are here to help (we are helpful). Don't wait for a Scoutmaster conference to ask questions. Ask your patrol leader or any scout at any time. Live by the scout law and oath. While we don't post a lot of rules for our troop, we use and live by the scout law to set the guidelines in all we do.