Monthly Archives: May 2008

Help needed to staff a “Scout Booth” on Discovery Day May 24

Posted on by

Hello All,

Saturday May 24 is Discovery Day in Lexington . We will be helping to staff a “Scout Booth” at the event (held in the Municipal Parking lot between Muzzey St. and Waltham St). between 10AM and 3PM.

Please reply to me if you can spend a 1 or 2 hour shift at the booth and approximately when. I will put staffing into a spreadsheet and send around. We would like to have at least 1 person from T160 at the booth over the course of the day, and preferably 2.

Main duties are to answer questions from folks who vist the booth.

Thx
John W

A Scoutmaster Minute May 15, 2008

Posted on by

I had not planned to send out another e-mail quite this quickly, but a few questions and problems have arisen which need to be addressed.

Advancement

Advancement, like everything else, is Scout-led. Moreover, it is not a race. Teaching/learning is followed by practical application on a trip is followed by a signoff. However, it doesn’t always work that way and things are missed. There is also the tricky business of scheduling Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review.

There is no need for Scouts to have to find me for such things. There is a better way becasue the Advancement Team is coordinating all of that. If they don’t notify me or the Scout, then all the Scout has to do is to visit them in their office in the Scout Room in the basement of our meeting hall. They will check to make sure everything is signed off, then print out a sheet from Troopmaster, our advancement tracking software, and then the rest just happens.

So the bottom line is that if any Scout has any questions, see somebody from the advancement team. I will make sure that they introduce themselves at the meeting tonight.

All trip coordinators, Eagle project leaders, and the SPL in case of events such as Flag Day should notify the advancement team of participants so there can be proper service hour and participation credit given. Don’t delay. Do it as soon as you get home from the event.

Next Trip

I will not be able to go on the trip this weekend. It would be helpful if any adults who are going could meet with me sometime during the regular meeting this evening to go over such things as how to light stoves and lanterns and to review the general rules of the road for Scout trips.

Early Availability for the Scoutmaster

I try to get to meetings at least half an hour early. That is not always possible, but 90% of the time I am there even if no Scout has scheduled something he wants to go over with me. If the Scout is alone and I do not yet have a second leader, somebody should stay with us until another leader arrives so that Youth Protection guidelines are followed. Scouts take Youth Protection guidelines very seriously.

Rolling in at 7:25 PM in the hopes of doing something may not be reality, however. If a Scout wants to meet early, the best way is to e-mail me in advance and then show up NLT 7:00 PM.

Equipment
I am about 80% through an inventory and cleanup of the equipment. It strikes me that we do not always take care of our equipment (like that’s big news :-) ), but more important, we don’t keep the various pieces together. There is no reason that stove tanks should be interchanged. There is no reason to have mismatched sets of tent poles. There is no reason for new tents to have old poles or bags. Keep the sets together. To that end things like stoves are now numbered to make repair tracking a little easier.

In looking at the stoves, they are actually in decent shape, but we have to get in the habit of cleaning them after each use. There is simply too much food and grease left inside and on the stoves. The residue causes the paint to peel and then the stove body rusts. It doesn’t affect operation of the stove, but it looks kind of sketchy.

Same with cook kits and chef kits. Get in the habit of cooking so that there isn’t as much to clean, actually do the cleaning after each meal, and stop interchanging parts.

Tent poles have become a serious issue. A look at the tents shows that they are good for another couple of years at least. The poles, however, are being bent. A new set of poles costs $90. Obviously we cannot afford that kind of expenditure, especially since they will just be bent again. We must stop treating the poles as toys to be used for games. In addition, I am going to ask the Guides, Instructors, and senior youth leadership to review how to put up and take down tents.

Hank Manz

Silver Beaver

Posted on by

Thank you to all who contributed to my special Silver Beaver–one that came from my father’s era.  As many of you already know, my father joined the Boy Scouts in 1920, earned his Eagle in 1923, and was awarded the Silver Beaver in the 1950s while I was a Scout.  My older brother, John, also has a Silver Beaver, but his isn’t half as neat as mine!

As I often tell players in the sports leagues I have run, awards are given to representatives of a greater effort.  So all of you own a piece of my Silver Beaver because you all were part of what earned it.  Nobody does this stuff alone!

Thanks again,
-Hank

Youth Protection Training for adults on 5/15

Posted on by

To all troop 160 adults,
Typically one of the parents per family “deals” with the boy scout stuff their son is doing.

If you are the one, pls come to the youth protection training that will be given to adults during the 5/15 troop meeting., 7:30

It is essential that all adult members who interact with scouts for meetings, trips, merit badges,etc,,,, have this training and are aware of the expected behaviors of scouts and adults who are a part of the Boy Scout Program

Your sons will receive similiar training at the 5/22/ meeting

Thx
John Woodhouse

A quick note about camp this summer from the Scoutmaster

Posted on by

If you are still wavering about whether to send your son to Camp Bell or Hidden Valley, I would say BOTH. But if you can go to only one, I would seriously think about Bell over Hidden Valley.

First, while the food at Hidden Valley is fine, the food at Bell is better. The move last year to non-prepackaged lunches was a fine move. Yes, you do have to cook it, but you will end up taking less time to make it yourself than you will trucking down to the dining hall for every meal as we do at Hidden Valley.

Second, you get to spend more time on each activity.

Third, you work as a patrol.

Last year it became clear to me that the First Year Program at Bell needs a tuneup. While still a good program, it is not as good as the one at Hidden Valley. Two years in a row we have hit a crowded week which caused some problems in the Brownsea area. That didn’t help matters so this year we are going to roll our own program. We are going to construct a program for Bell which gives all New Scouts who attend from Troop 160 a thorough grounding in patrol fundamentals, swimming, and first aid. We expect all New Scouts from Troop 160 who attend Bell to finish many of the requirements for Second and First Class and they will have earned Swimming merit badge to boot. In addition they will be at least well on their way to earning First Aid.

For those who attended Bell last year for the first time, the first year at camp is always tough. If you attend this year, though, you will have already solved the problems which seemed so difficult last year, leaving you plenty of time for full concentration on half and full-day programs. Where else can you learn about horses, participate in a logging camp, live like a Mountain Man, or learn basic blacksmithing? The answer is only at Camp Bell.

So if you are wavering at all, and if you can go to camp for just one week, think hard about going to Camp Bell.

One last thing–if money is an issue, it shouldn’t be. Get in touch with the financial aid person and let us help out. That’s a major reason we run the Pancake Breakfast–so finances won’t be a problem where Scouting is concerned. You can e-mail financial aid at 160financialaid -at- troop160 -dot- com. Use the standard address form, replacing the “-dot-” with “.” and the “-at-” with “@”. We list it the way we do to fool SPAMmers. All correspondence is absolutely confidential. There is no huge committee. There are no lists passed around. No long forms to fill out. Just let the financial aid person know.

-Hank