March 27, 2016

Post date: Mar 27, 2016 11:26:12 PM

Hello Troop 737,

Monday night is Advancement night. We will be offering Cooking and Personal Management merit badges. Scouts need to understand that you will need to do quite a bit of work outside of our regular meeting to earn either of these merit badges. Please remember to print out the worksheets for the merit badge that you choose to work on. Here are the links: http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/8/87/Cooking.pdf http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/f/fa/Personal_Management.pdf

We also encourage scouts who need to wrap up a merit badge that they have started at another time to call up a merit badge counselor and meet with them at this time. There is a list of merit badge counselors on the website. A list will also be available at the meeting.

New Scout Recruitment. For various reasons, we did not have very many scouts crossover to our troop this year. So we are going to place special emphasis on recruitment.

· For every scout who brings a friend to a meeting they both get a medium size candy bar.

· If that friend ends up joining our troop the recruiting scout will receive a “Recruiter” badge and a new pocket knife or a slightly use scout hoodie.

We are particularly looking for kids in the 5th – 7th grade. They do not need any previous scouting experience but if they do that might be a plus. Scouts and parents do know a friend or a family that loves to do things outside, go on awesome adventures or you would just like to hang out with some more. Please invite them to a meeting. This week’s meeting would be a good meeting to invite a potential new scout.

It is time to sign up for summer camp. Electronic Sign-Up ends this Monday, March 28th. Currently the Troop only has about one-half as many Scouts signed up for summer camp as attended last summer. We will be taking the whole troop to one camp this year. July 31 to August 6. See more information below.

Upcoming signup deadlines

Time to sign up for summer camp to Bartlett scout camp in Idaho July 31 – August 6. Electronic Sign-Up ends this Monday, March 28th See info below.

Scoutmaster Minute Review

No Scoutmaster minute, spring break.

Here is a list of upcoming events:

You can always check out the full schedule on the Troop website at: https://sites.google.com/a/themountaintroop.org/troop-737-home/troop-calendar

NO MEETING DURING SPRING BREAK

March 28 Troop Meeting 6:30 – 8pm ELC Service patrol is the Spartans. Please show up 15 minutes early to help set up. Advancement night. We will be offering Cooking and Personal Management merit badges. Scouts need to understand that you will need to do quite a bit of work outside of our regular meeting to earn either of these merit badges. Please remember to print out the worksheets for the merit badge that you choose to work on. Here are the links: http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/8/87/Cooking.pdf http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/f/fa/Personal_Management.pdf

We also encourage scouts who need to wrap up a merit badge that they have started at another time to call up a merit badge counselor and meet with them at this time. There is a list of merit badge counselors on the website. A list will also be available at the meeting.

April 4 Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) meeting 6:30 – 8pm ELC If you are a Patrol Leader or in a troop leadership position please come and help plan the upcoming Troop activities. If you are a Patrol Leader and you cannot make it to this meeting you need to talk to your assistant Patrol Leader or someone in your Patrol so that all Patrols are represented at the PLC.

April 8 - 10 New Scout Campout and Backpacking trip We will be going to Hermit Park which is just outside Estes Park. The troop will camp together on Friday night and do some new scout activities in the morning. Then the older scouts will go off on a short backpacking trip over Saturday night. Then we will all travel back together on Sunday. Stay tuned for more info.

April 14 Program Committee meeting 6:30 pm ELC All adults are welcome. We will go over the upcoming activities. We meet in the basement under the main sanctuary.

April 14 Troop Committee meeting 7:15pm ELC All adults are welcome. This is when the business of the Troop is discussed. There are quite a few open positions on the committee.

April 16 & 17 Hunter Safety Course More information to follow.

April 23 Scout Show Sign up for a shift making Troop 737’s world famous SMACOs. Make sure to make time to check out all the other cool booths at the show.

May 6 - 8 Chatfield Campout Stop in anytime during the weekend for fishing, biking and hanging out with your friends. We may have something special lined up for our older scouts so stay tuned.

SUMMER CAMP SIGN UP INFO

Electronic Sign-Up ends next Monday, March 28th. Currently the Troop only has about one-half as many Scouts signed up for summer camp as attended last summer. Also none of the New Scouts have signed up. Summer Camp costs $240 per Scout and $125 per Adult.

We will be taking the whole troop to one camp this year. July 31 to August 6 Troop 737 is going to Bartlett Scout Reservation, about 20 minutes northwest of Montpelier, ID. This camp is in the northern end of the Wasatch range, set among tall pines and quaking aspen. Bartlett offers over 50 Merit Badges, a First Year Scout program, and many free time activities.

MERIT BADGE CLASSES:

The Bartlett Owners Guide has been updated and now includes the Merit Badge Class Schedule on page 37. The new Bartlett Owners Guide is so large Google Groups will not allow me to send it out through the Troop e-mail. So please go to the Bartlett web site and download the "Leaders Guide - Scouts" at the bottom of the page:

https://www.trappertrails.org/bartlett

For new Scouts there is a Trail to First Class program. For those Scouts who have not yet completed the First Aid Merit Badge I would recommend taking this class. First Aid is a great life skill and a foundation merit badge for other merit badges.

Eagle Merit Badge Classes: First Aid, Communication, Emergency Preparedness, Lifesaving, Environmental Science, Swimming, Cooking (partial)

Class Selection Form: Also attached below is a class selection form. For each Scout attending summer camp please fill in this form and return to me by April 18th. Choose a class for each time slot (A/B/C/D/E) plus alternate classes. Choosing classes for the Open Area time slot is optional. The Merit Badges offered during this time are Cooking, Finger Printing, and Pulp & Paper. I'm guessing those Scouts taking some of the Eagle Merit Badges will need the Open Area time to work on their merit badges outside class time.

Once Bartlett opens up their computer system in May to choose Merit Badges I will attempt to get everyone their class choices. I may move some of your class time slots to arrange at least two-deep Scouts attending the classes. Remember some merit badge classes have additional costs, which will be payable by May 16th if the sign-up system requires payment, though these fees may be due at camp, I'll know more in May.

Bartlett Owners Guide also lists any pre-requistes that should be done before attending camp. Also each Scout should bring their own Merit Badge worksheets. To find out more about various Merit Badges and to print out worksheets see this web site:

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Boy_Scout_Portal

Important Dates:

March 28th Troop meeting - end of electronic sign-up; initial camp fee deposit of $200 per Scout and $100 per Adult

April 18th - Merit Badge class selection forms are due

May 16th Troop meeting - Final additional payments (remaining camp fees and some Merit Badge classes)

May 16th Troop meeting - Parents summer camp meeting

July 31 to August 6 - Summer Camp

SIGN UP INSTRUCTIONS: (ALL SCOUTS MUST HAVE THEIR PARENTS PERMISSION TO ATTEND!! - Parents please sign the permission form at the Troop meeting)

- Please go to: http://mountaintroop737.mytroop.us/node/1009 to access our Troop 737's Members Only page.

- You will then be directed to Login. To do so, hit the "Login" tab on the upper left hand side of the page.

- You will then be asked to enter your Username (which is "member") and Password (which is"camping737") then hit the "Log In" tab underneath.

- Then click on the "Register" button and type your Scout's name in the "Scouts" box and then hit the "Select Name" box.

- This takes you to a listing of the Scout and pre-registered family adult members where you select which Scouts (and family adult members) are attending by clicking the "yes" circle to the right of the attendee's name.

- This will take you to a confirmation page listing which of the Scouts (and family adult members) have chosen to attend. Once reviewed, click on the "Add to Cart" button.

Note:

If you would like to pay with a check or if you want to use your Scout account then you are all done with the signup. Contact our treasurer, Wendy Barber at a Troop meeting before the deadline and she will take your payment, then advise me that you have paid and we'll see that you are properly registered.

If you'd instead prefer to pay online with a credit card or PayPal, you can follow the directions (below). No need to pay Wendy thereafter as you already did online!

- Hit the "View Cart" tab which shows a summary of attendees and directs you to "Checkout".

- This then takes you to the page where you can pay your Scout (family adult) summer camp deposit either through PayPal or with a credit card.

For more information about Bartlett Scout Reservation: https://www.trappertrails.org/bartlett

Any questions,

Dave Kraemer - Bartlet summer camp HALO

outbackswag@yahoo.com

Service Hours Opportunities::Always wear Class B uniform or if appropriate Class A