Learning Morse Code
There is a morse code requirement for the Signaling merit badge. While there are many morse code keys around, and several iPhone apps that will help you learn morse code; here is a graphic image of why the dots and dashes are used for each letter.
We hope it helps.
Thank you to Mr. Hadden for providing.
Cubs Can Play Video Games for Badges
Among the newer awards available to Tigers, Cubs or Webelos is the belt loop for Video Games. Yep, you read that correctly.
Of course the games must be approved and played with an adult.
Geocaching Merit Badge
It seems that there’s a new Geocaching Merit Badge in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Scouting.
Motely Crew?
Troop picture was taken today. Everyone decked out in their Class A’s.
Buckskin Graduation
Foxfire and Buckskin graduation was Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010. Congratulations to the following Scouts:
Foxfire Mountain Men: Robert & Alec
Buckskin Men: Chase, Taylor, Dalton, Aiden, David, Killian, Chester, & Jack.
Boy Scout Relevancy After 100 Years
Today I saw an article in Wired Magazine by Dave Banks entitled After 100 Years, Are The Boy Scouts Still Relevant?
I think the answer lies in the last paragraph.
I asked some of my friends from my Scouting experience if they still believed in the Boy Scouts’ mission. “Kids are surrounded by plenty of opportunities to make the wrong decisions; to experience the negative. Scouting stacks the deck for a positive experience - adults who are interested in providing kids a safe environment to learn and have fun, exposure to new things, to the outdoors & hopefully a set of experiences that they’ll use for the rest of their lives whether that manifests itself in good friends, valuable skills, a first shot at leading a team or just a good memory or two,” says Troy Trybom, an Eagle Scout and father in Stilwell, Kansas. “Probably most important to me was that my Dad was there with through my entire time in Scouting. We spoke about and reminisced about Scouts until the day he passed away. I wouldn’t trade my time & memories of scouting for anything.”
A better case for relevancy is difficult to make.
Be sure to read the whole article. It’s quite good.
Buckskin: National Youth Leadership Training
Buckskin: National Youth Leadership Training
TWO Course Dates in 2010: (Online registration and flyers will be available soon throught the Council website)
The dates are: June 13 - 19, 2010 and August 8 - 14, 2010
New name, new program. But the mission is still the same: Give motivated Scouts the training to become effective leaders in their troops. The council’s premier youth leader training course undergoes an extreme make-over with a new program from the Boy Scouts of America. Buckskin National Youth Leadership Training Course is an intense seven-day leadership training experience for youths. The course models a month in the life of a troop all leading up to a big outdoor experience (an overnight outpost camp). The course uses the patrol method. Patrols are challenged early in the week to present to the troop at the end of the week their “Quest for the Meaning of Leadership.” While the challenge is designed to have them go through the four stages of team development, it will help patrols and individual Scouts internalize the leadership skills and concepts being presented to them along the way. The focus of each session is not only knowledge but giving the youth a “Toolbox of Skills” that equips them with the “how.” To be eligible for this course Scouts must:
- Hold at least First Class rank
- Be 13 years old by the start of the course
- Hold or will hold a leadership position in the troop
- Have experienced a weeklong Boy Scout campout
- Have Scoutmaster’s recommendation
- Have attended Cedar Badge
- Be mature to properly experience the intense training
Foxfire: Youth Leadership Training
Dates for Summer 2010: June 12 - 19, 2010 (Saturday Morning - Saturday Morning) - Online registration form and flyer are available soon on the Council website. Or you can call the council office and register by phone.
Foxfire will take what a Scout learned at Buckskin and bring it to a whole new level. Building on the skills learned at Buckskin, Scouts will work as a Crew to complete many challenges put before them, including Dutch Oven Cooking, Tomahawk Throwing, Black Powder Rifle Shooting, Forging, and other team building games and activities. Beyond developing a better understanding of the Leadership skills taught at Buckskin, Scouts will gain knowledge that will help them in the “real world” including resume writing and interview skills. Scouts that have completed Foxfire are sought after for positions on camp and event staffs due to Foxfire’s emphasis on Staff Development. Foxfire is a unique experience that should be the goal of any youth in our Council.
Requirements to Attend: To attend Foxfire, a youth must be 14 years old, have completed their Buckskin Commitment (or Ticket), and have completed Star rank. There is only one course of Foxfire available, so sign up early.
In Honor of the 100 Years of Scouting…
Cameron S. is trying to collect 100 new/unused receiving blankets to present to Desert Regional Medical Center’s N.I.C.U. (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and Maternity Wards by February, in honor of the 100 year anniversary of Scouting. No, this is not part of an Eagle Project, this is a good deed in keeping with the Boy Scout Slogan, “Do a good turn daily.” Any donations would be greatly appreciated by Cameron S. so that he can succeed in this worthy endeavor.
If you are interested in helping and are a member of Troop 262, please call Cameron at his phone number on the phone list.
If you are not a member of Troop 262 and would like to do a good deed by making a donation, please email Christina McCulloch, Assistant Scoutmaster at: mcculloch_christina@msn.com. I will make sure your email is forwarded promptly.
Eagle Ceremony
Congrats to our newest Eagle Scouts — Joe, Chase, Stephen, James.
Especially congratulations to their families.
