Summer Newsletter June 17th 2008<o:p></o:p>
Events from April-June
April
Fishing trip- though the stocked stream had already been fished out we still had a lot of fun playing in the creek. The Pines campsite was very nice.
Adopt a Highway- It was another high attendance clean up of the roads in the area. For those new scouts this is a great service hour opportunity. The next one will be in August or September not July since we have so much going on that month currently.
Scout Hokie Day- For those who sold a lot of popcorn they got to go to the Virginia Tech campus Jacob went and they said it wasn’t exactly what they had hoped for.
OA conclave- Stephan, Matt, and Carl went up to Camp Shenandoah for the Section SR7A conclave. We won the Golden Arrow for the eleventh year but are sharing it with Shenandoah lodge because they tied us.
May
Spring camporee- It was a great spring camporee. If you cannot remember we hosted it. I thought it went well and four new brothers were tapped out into the OA.
Parents meeting- We had almost every parent there and we discussed DC and the equipment list among other issues.
ITT scout safety day- another great year at ITT scouts worked on several merit badges from Railroading and Radio to Crime prevention and Environmental Science.
Spring Ordeal- Three of the four who were tapped at the Spring camporee completed their ordeal and became brothers. Congrats to them!
June
Summer ordeal- this was this past weekend and Tucker got this ordeal while Nick and Matt completed their brotherhood.
Foxfire- I am not in attendance to the Court of Honor because I am at Camp Ottari taking part in Foxfire Junior leader training.
Coming Events
June 22-28th- Summer Camp; we leave this Sunday for a fun exciting week at Camp Powahtan see ya there!
July 1st- Troop elections please be in attendance to flex your voting muscles.
July 11-13th- Smith Mountain Lake trip; this is a fun relaxing trip with boating, swimming, fishing and canoeing.
July 25-27th- the BIGGEST extravaganza of the year the DC trip; we will visit some great patriotic monuments and stay at a campsite complete with pools and an arcade.
OA News
As you have already read we had four boys tapped out into the Brotherhood of service. Hopefully they will stay active and attend as many functions and meetings as possible. We are trying to start up a rotation of parents to take turns driving the boys up and back from functions. Remember that Chapter meetings will start up in September on the first Sunday at 2:30pm at the West Salem Baptist Church. Talk to Nick Lindsay if you have further questions. <o:p></o:p>
New Scouts
Two weeks ago three Webelos crossed over into the troop. Also Daniel a scout from Troop 51 transferred to our Troop. The Three Webelos are Daniel, Jacob, and Robert. Please welcome them and I hope they’ll have a great scouting experience with us. If you would like to read the Welcome Package I created for them it is on the website under documents, it contains a lot of useful information even experienced scouts could use. <o:p></o:p>
Summer Camp
It is even closer just 5 days away. I would just like to remind you to get those hawaiin shirts to serve breakfast Monday morning. Also remember to bring class A’s, swimming trunks, shower utensils and everything else you usually bring including a lawn chair which isn’t on the official list but if you want a seat in camp it’s useful. And also remember the Troop T-shirt for Troop t-shirt day which is Monday also. I will need 9 scouts ready on Sunday to take down the flags so be ready to volunteer. See you guys Sunday.
The Next Eagle
Stephan Hannabass recently started his Eagle Scout project at Mt. Pleasant UMC. Several boys came out the first and second weekend that we did work on it. I personally was there and they did a lot of good work cleaning up the picnic shelter. They still may have some work left I am not sure talk to Stephan to see if they do because you can get a lot of service hours by helping out.
DC trip
Planning for the DC trip is churning out results. We have reserved camping spots for the weekend of July 25-27th. If you change your mind and decide to go you can say at any time and will just have to pay $20 each when we get there. We have chosen and crossed off landmarks to see but it will be fun. The campsite has swimming pools and an arcade as well as a bus to the DC metro. And also an update, Jim Hartley will not need to pull the trailer we should be able to carry the small amount of cooking equipment with us in someone’s car. Also if you are an adult and are driving to DC I will need your license numbers for the local tour permit. I cannot wait! <o:p></o:p>
From the desk of Matthew Rosendahl
Through this spring quarter of 2008 I and many of the leaders have been under great stress. We hosted the District Spring Camporee which had 100+ scouts in attendance. Along with that were just the regular activities which sometimes can be a pain the butt to get together. I began to wonder to myself through this all, as I looked at the other larger troops at the spring camporee, wouldn’t it be easier to be in a troop with so many people. I thought that is success right there to have 30-40 scouts actively involved in our troop. As I thought about it though and talked to some of the other scouts in those troops I realized though their troops had the appearance of success they really were only talking the talk and not walking the walk. They told me of patrol leaders council meetings that turned into food fights and meetings with scouts running around with nothing structured to do, and then I realized that it wasn’t the quantity of scouts in the troop but the quality of the program. Our troop may have only a few members that are active by definition but those few are getting the quality program they deserve out of scouting. And as I participate in Foxfire this week I will hopefully bring back skills to make our program even better. So as we move into the time of the year where we plan next year’s activities all our troop can do is improve on the program we have in place. Start thinking of ideas but be prepared to help put them in place.
Yours in Scouting,
Matthew Rosendahl
Senior Patrol Leader
Troop 352 and proud of it!
