Scoutmaster's Minute - March 2010

This is the first installment in what I hope to be a periodic series of reports on some of the various happenings in our troop. I realize not everyone can make all the multitude of activities, so perhaps it will be helpful to get these little updates. As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

February Campout, Camp Mauritz

We had a great time last weekend at Camp Mauritz. This is one of our troop’s favorite campsites. It’s close, it’s pretty, and it’s uncrowded. This was the first campout for our new scouts in the Viking patrol, and they responded like seasoned veterans. Even when the coyotes started howling at night from what seemed like 100 yards away, I heard no hint of scared whimpering (from the scouts, that is -- I can’t speak for the adults!).

With the help of the troop guides and the helpful dads, we knocked off 15 requirements towards tenderfoot, second class, and first class. These included map and compass use, flag etiquette, knife and axe safety, fire building, and knots. They also learned a bit about how to make, or not to make, pancakes. Suffice it to say that they were all hungry for lunch! Our Vikings are now well on their way. For the Vikings who missed, fear not: we’ll be covering all this stuff again in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Matt Kabot entertained the older scouts by setting up a mini geocaching course, which consists of finding hidden objects using GPS coordinates. Matt had a timed competition to see who could find the 5 objects in the fastest time. The contest was won by Alexander and Hunter Kornegay, who finished in 33 minutes, edging out second and third place by less than 2 minutes.

The adults continued our tradition of good eating on campouts, with Jon Winfiele cooking up some delicious Kung Pao chicken, topped off by apple turnovers and vanilla custard. When one of the dads called his wife and told her what we were eating, she thought we had gone out to a restaurant! The Black Cobras also deserve mention for planning and cooking a worthy meal of steak and potatoes au gratin. I would like to encourage our scouts to plan more ambitious meals -- that’s part of the fun of camping.

That night the scouts built a campfire and entertained themselves with a hilarious game of Mafia, and the traditional dutch oven cobbler. I always enjoy seeing how much fun the boys can have entertaining themselves with nothing more than a fire and each other’s company.

Sunday morning I challenged the scouts to break camp in 90 minutes. To provide some motivation, I offered a bribe of ice cream at Dairy Queen if they could do it. Lo and behold, working together under some fine leadership from acting SPL Zach Saunders, they pulled it off -- with 40 seconds to spare. Unfortunately DQ was closed Sunday morning so we settled for Buc-ees in Wharton.

Thanks to all the help from our ASMs and scout leaders, we had ANOTHER GREAT CAMPOUT!

Training, Anyone?

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have never been through the training offered by the district for Scoutmaster and Assistant SM. Finally, the schedules align and I’ll be attending the class this coming Saturday. I’d love to have some company in the form of some of our ASMs that have not yet taken it. If you signed up for Philmont one of the agreed-on expectations is that you’ll take this at some point. I usually get some good insights out of the district’s classes, so it can be valuable.

March Madness

The theme for March, as planned by the scout leaders at JLT, is Sports. We’ll be working on the Sports merit badge at the next two troop meetings, and planning some sports related activities at the campout. If you make the meetings, play organized sports, and can demonstrate a month or so of a fitness regimen, you should be able to complete the badge.

Looking forward, in April the theme is Camporee Skills in conjunction with the district camporee at Bovay. In May we will be heading to Pedernales State Park for a short backpacking trek.

Spring Break - Your Own Personal Merit Badge Camp

Spring break can be a good time to earn merit badges as well. Many of the recreation-oriented badges are easy to earn on a vacation oriented around an activity, such as snow skiing or diving. Also if you are traveling you should review the requirements for the various citizenship badges as some of them require visiting historic places and so on. If you want to work on a badge, contact me to get a blue card *before* starting work on it.

Parents, please keep in mind that the scouts are responsible for their advancement. There is no reason parents should make the phone calls, emails, and inquiries on the scouts’ behalf. Instead, coach your scout to take the initiative, and follow-up with him. I would much rather get a phone call from a reluctant scout than a coddling parent. This is an important part of the many learning opportunities provided by scouting.

The Door’s Always Open

As you know, I am new at this and in many ways I am still feeling my way along. I appreciate any and all feedback, on any topic. Especially welcome are ideas for program planning, and thoughts on how we could be doing things better to make our troop a better experience for our scouts. Please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Alan Davis