5 mile hike, Sunday October 4, Pigeon River Bridge Campground

If you are a new scout, or need the requirement 1b of Second Class, please plan to attend the 5 mile hike on Sunday, October 4. Meet at Pigeon River Bridge Campground at 2:30 pm on Sunday. The hike will leave promptly at 3:00pm. Do not be late. Wear weather appropriate clothes and appropriate socks and hiking or athletic shoes. Bring a compass if you have one. Leaders, Mr. Savoie, Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Lake will be supervising. Please email me at troop1.gaylord@gmail.com if you have questions or need to get together to carpool.  This is a great opportunity to get this requirement, and we have scouts who need to be here if they want to advance in rank before the Court of Honor on October 15.  Don't miss this chance.

1b Second Class: Using a compass and a map together, take a five-mile hike (or 10 miles by bike) approved by your adult leader and your parent or guardian.**

Service Opportunity

If you need some service time, here's a great opportunity to earn it plus help out the Cub Scouts. They are looking for boy scouts to assist, or even set up a mock campsite (with a tent and a mock campfire) just for fun so that the Cub Scouts could hang out with the older scouts. Saturday October 10, 2015 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Perch Lake.  4331 E. Vail Lane, Gaylord.

Need to complete requirement 5 of the First Class Rank? Here's your opportunity!

If your scout needs to complete requirement 5 of the First Class Rank (and about 6-8 of our scouts do) then please take advantage of this opportunity.

Judge Mertz has agreed to meet with the scouts on Monday Oct 5th at 3:30 pm at the county courthouse.  He has court scheduled to run until 3:30 and will meet with the scouts after that.  The scouts are welcome to sit in the court room and quietly observe until the session is completed.  Mr. Reynolds will meet the scouts at the courthouse at approx. 3:15. Please wear your Class A uniform and be on your best behavior.  Plan to shake hands, introduce yourself and during the meeting ask the Judge a question.  It does not meet the requirement if your scout simply is an observer, he must be a part of the conversation. Notice the word "discuss" in the description.

The requirement is as follows: Visit and discuss with a selected individual approved by your leader (elected official, judge, attorney, civil servant, principal, teacher) your constitutional rights and obligations as a U.S. citizen.

Please make sure to thank Mr. Reynolds for this opportunity.

If you are unable to attend on this date, you may schedule your own meeting.  Please make sure it is someone you haven’t met before, so that you can learn and grow from this meeting.  Make sure your scoutmaster approves your choice before you meet. 

The recommended process for earning merit badges in Troop 1

We have a lot of new scouts in our troop and we cannot cover everything in our initial troop meetings. Today I saw a similar post on Facebook posted by The Trails District.  I edited their comments and customized them to inform parents and scouts how the merit badge process works within our troop.

The recommended process for earning merit badges in Troop 1.

1. The Scout develops an interest in a merit badge and discusses his interest in the merit badge with his unit leader.

2. The Scoutmaster signs a blue card and provides the Scout with at least one counselor contact.

3. The Scout contacts the counselor.

4. The Scout and the counselor meet in a public place to discuss requirements, or bring a buddy or parent if you meet at a home. Depending on the merit badge, scout and counselor may meet several times to complete it. The scout should do the work.

5. The Scout finishes the requirements.

6. The counselor approves completion.

7. The Scout returns the signed blue card to his unit leader, who signs the applicant record section of the blue card.

8. The unit leader gives the Scout the applicant record.

9. The unit reports the merit badge to the council.

10. The Scout receives his merit badge, generally at a Court of Honor.

There are times that a scout may have to complete a merit badge with a different counselor due to many reasons.  That is acceptable.  There are other times that you may start a merit badge at summer camp or at merit badge tech day and then you finish it with a local counselor.  That is also acceptable.  Additionally, if there are only 1-2 requirements left to be signed off and there is no available counselor, the Scoutmaster has the discretion to sign off remaining requirements.

Service time opportunity... And a free lunch! This Saturday at Otsego County Park.

Spooky! Looking for scouts and a couple parents to volunteer at the Otsego County Park for their annual Halloween in the park. Sept 26th this Saturday they are asking for 1 adult assisting with the grilling of hot dogs and burgers and 4 scouts to assist with serving. They have all the supplies including gloves and utensils. They suggest it would be best to have two people assisting with serving either hot dogs or burgers to people, 1 to serve baked beans and 1 to serve chips.

There is no charge for you to come in or for the parents if you are dropping your scouts off. Please have them let the ranger know when they arrive. The lunch runs from 12:00-1:00pm. If possible can the scouts be here at 11:00 – 1:00.

You are welcome to have some lunch as well.   Please email the scoutmaster if you are planning to help. This is for service time for rank advancement.

Wednesday Sept 23 Recruit Night and Scout meeting

This Wednesday (Sept 23) 6:00 pm is recruit night for the Cub Scouts at Gaylord Intermediate School.  They asked if we could have a couple Boy Scout representatives there because occasionally they get older boys attending the sign up.  If you can attend the recruit night prior to our meeting, please comment below.  Plan to leave early to attend our meeting as usual at 7:00 pm, their recruit night goes until 8pm.

Additionally, one of the topics that we will discuss at our meeting will be the meal planning results from our recent camp out at Wilwin Lodge.  We'd like to discuss what worked well and what didn't about the menu plan, the shopping, the duty roster, the cooking and the clean up.  If you attended this camp out, please be prepared to discuss constructively.

Lastly do not forget your books!  Let's get everyone updated in advancement to prepare for our Court of Honor on October 18.

Popcorn Sales Sign up!

Here is an opportunity to earn money for your scout account! Sign up here to work a table in Tractor Supply or Jays. A percentage of the profit from these sales goes directly into your scout account to pay for summer camp, camping adventures, and scout related items. 

Thank you to the Popcorn Chair Tabitha for organizing this opportunity. 

Popcorn Sales Sign up

Committee Meeting Sunday!

Don't forget to attend our Committee Meeting tomorrow! 6:00 pm for scouts and 7:00 pm for leaders and parents. We also need to know who is going to chaperone for the Hessel International Scout Rally held at Wilwin Lodge in Trout Lake on Sept 18-20. See you tomorrow evening at Bagley Hall!f

Boy Scout Meeting tonight 7:00 pm!

Guess what day it is?  It's the first Troop 1 Scout Meeting of the new year!  Meet you all at Bagley Township hall at 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm.  Let's get down to business!  Bring your scout books for the advancement chair to record.  The October Court of Honor will be here before you know it.  Turn in completed merit badges, work on rank advancement and last but not least, let's welcome any new scouts that come to our meeting tonight!

Weekly Choice prints article of Adult Leader Recognition

Thank you to the Weekly Choice for printing the article about the Adult Leader Recognition Dinner that was held this spring.  How lucky our scouts are to have leaders as dedicated and talented as you all are!   I am so grateful to all of our adult leaders for giving their time to scouting and helping to make our scout program a special place to be.   Next January, recognition forms will again be made available for your input.  If you know a leader that deserves recognition please make sure to fill out a recognition form with your input. 

Thanks!

Aaron's Eagle Article in the paper

Check out Aaron Smith's Eagle article in the Gaylord Herald Times newspaper today, 9/1/2015

Julia Bushong, Scoutmaster Troop 1