BSA Troop 191

Parents Meeting is May 3rd.  At least one parent per scout family.

April 26th is a Summer Camp meeting.

May 3rd meeting: Tenderfoot requirement 7 and 4b, Second class requirement 3e, and First class requirement 7a.  We will also be doing merit badge cards.

All participants attending the Whitewater Rafting event must complete and sign the vendor Waiver and Release of Liability

Scouts must have a troop Permission Form completed and signed by a Parent or Guardian.

A few reminders that will make your day more enjoyable:

1. Eat a good breakfast.
2. Bring a lunch and plenty of non alcoholic drinks (no glass)
3. Nylon bathing suit for under the wet suit.
4. Poly -tech fleece or wool sweater (no cotton)
5. Cap or hat.
6. Protective footwear. (No Flip Flops)
7. Change of clothes.
8. Towel.

The troop will conduct a overnight camping trip to McMillan Woods in Gettysburg PA over the weekend of August 3^rd - 5^th. More details will be made available as plans are finalized. Scouts interested in this trip may signup online and check the News site and Weekly Troop Meetings for more details.

The Ockanickon website has all of the links for the merit badges up and working. You can find out when and where the MB meets, the pre-reqs that are being required, and any additional money or objects that you need to bring to complete the badge.

Important:

Eagle Badges: for the badges that are considered open (the 3 Citizenship ones, Communications and Personal Management), there are additional pre-reqs than in previous years.  Read over the page carefully to make sure you have all of the requirements done.  Also, for these badges you can complete any of the other requirements not listed as pre-reqs before summer camp and it will be less for you to do while at camp.  Theoretically, you can have your entire workbook filled out, make an appointment with the counselor right away and review your work with him for sign off.

Handicraft Badges: for the open badges most of them start every 30 minutes, but they don’t say how long they will take to complete.  Plan an hour in your schedule and if you finish early or in just a couple of day, then take another Handicraft badge.

Get your schedules decided on and get them to Mrs. Zalewski, or call on the phone or give them to me at a meeting, however she will not be at too many meetings in the next few months, so email is the best way to get her your schedule.  If you have questions about taking certain badges, ask Mrs. Zalewski.

Now that recent crossover scouts have settled into the routine we'll refrain from packing your inbox with messages and only send email for urgent matters.

Parents and Scouts can always check the troop website for news and reminder information such as this.

• Last call for Summer Camp at the current rate. We must submit our roster to OSR before April 24^th so Mr. Smith would like to get this wrapped up. Signups are online and a form may be printed and submitted with payment at the troop meeting.
• Signups for two water activities are available online, these are the whitewater rafting trip on April 29^th (last call also) and the overnight camping and canoe trip on May 18 – 19^th. Signups for both of these events has been light. Right now the canoe trip has only two individuals attending, the scout the volunteered to manage this trip and our Scoutmaster. They are going to be very lonely out there so please check your calendars and availability and consider these events. Both of these events were requested by the scouts during the troop annual planning.
• Scouts that received a troop shirt during the family dinner that did not fit should bring it to the troop meeting. Mr. Loeffler will be collecting these shirts and also the size that you need. The troop will obtain replacements and distribute as soon as possible.
• Reminder for scouts attending the Middle School Technology Design Challenge in Bridgewater this weekend; information and permission form was distributed by Mrs. Bernick via email. The permission form is also available online.

Ockanickon has updated their information regarding the Rifle Merit Badge and the lectures that a scout needs to take.  For those that have given me their schedules already, you may need to make some adjustments.  For those that still need to provide me your schedule, please take the following into account if you plan on taking this MB (this information can be found on the Ockanickon website also under the link for the Rifle Range and Rifle Merit Badge):

Monday thru Friday

Lecture 1: 10:40 am – 11:45 am

Lecture 2: 2:00 pm – 3:25 pm

Lecture 3: 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm

*Scouts only need to attend one of the three lectures each day

Rifle Shooting Times:

9:15 am – 11:00 am

3:00 pm – 4:45 pm

*Scouts choose a set shooting time that does not overlap with their lecture time.

Where: Rifle Range

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and enjoying the holiday break.

Reminder that there is no troop meeting on Thursday April 12 however swim tests are on Wednesday April 11 for any scouts that have not previously taken the BSA swim test either with our troop or at summer camp. Swim tests are required for any water activity and we have two coming up before summer camp this year. These are the White Water Rafting Trip on April 29^th and the Overnight Canoe and Camping Trip on the Delaware River taking place on the weekend of May 18^th. Signups for the Swim Tests and these two water activities are available online.

A sign up for Summer Camp 2012 in July is also available online; this reminder is especially for those recent crossover scouts where signups so far have been light. If your scout is planning to attend camp this year please visit the troop website to signup online as soon as possible.

For those scouts that attended the family dinner in February and received a troop shirt that did not fit we’ll be collecting those shirts and arranging for replacements. Please bring the shirts to the troop meeting on April 19^th where they will be collected and order the correct size that you need. The troop will order any additional necessary shirts and distribute at a future troop meeting. And speaking of shirts for those scouts attending summer camp we’ll again be providing two t-shirts free of charge for camp and parents will have the option of ordering additional shirts if they desire. Ordering information for everyone will be available on the troop website in the near future.

Thanks everyone and enjoy the rest of your holiday break.

The Middle School Technology Design Challenge or MSTDC is a springtime robotics event based on the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics platforms. It is intended to be a low key, fun filled event for Middle School aged students. Most participating teams are from Middle Schools in Hunterdon, Mercer and Somerset Counties. Other organizations/groups are welcome to participate, such as 4-H, Boys and Girls Scouts, etc.

This year’s challenges:

• Choose wisely… and quickly
• Four Square 400
• Rapid Fire Shooting
• Rube Goldberg Free Form

Scouts attending this event should coordinate with Mrs. Bernick for travel arrangements and have this Permission Form completed by a parent or guardian.