It is now the calm after the storm and I hope everyone is safe and sound. My thoughts and prayers go out to anyone you know in Florida.
Now that the storm is over, we are looking at a gorgeous weekend which is perfect to go door to door and sell that popcorn or continue to share that Trail End’s link with your friends and family. Please note that all door to door sales and cash are due by 10/24.
Tomorrow we are doing flag sorting and cutting as we have an overwhelming number of bags to go thru. Also, as you read the list below of upcoming events, please note that the last 3 months of the year are all about fundraising and giving back to our community; which means that PARTICIPATION IS HEAVILY NEEDED for these events to occurred. Finally, as a reminder, if you’re paying for anything (t-shirts, events, popcorn, etc..), please note that all checks are made to Troop 275; we also accept cash, but it has to be exact change.
Looking ahead: 1. Roadside Cleanup is next Saturday. Sign up sheet is up and I currently have less Scouts than the last time. Please sign up, this will only take a few hours of your Saturday morning. 2. October 15th is Clemson’s Fall Merit Badge university. All participants need to sign the Clemson Liability Form which is attached to this email. PARENTS, note that Clemson will NOT accept your Scout without this form. The form is due on 10/10. 3. The North Carolina Museum of Transportation’s Railroad merit badge event is from October 14th thru the 16th. Registration is now closed. Pre-event email will go out next week. Monitor the weather so that you can plan your clothing accordingly. 4. Recently announced was an opportunity to take an in-person class for the Nuclear Science merit badge at Duke Energy’s EnergyExplorium at McGuire Nuclear Station. I have 3 Scouts that quickly jumped at this FREE opportunity. I will be providing transportation along with another parent. Please note that the event is on 10/20 AND you MUST do the prerequisite work before attending. See attachment. 5. October 29th is our annual Haunted Trail event. We ask all Scouts AND Leaders to come help set up in the morning and then return at night to give the Troop & Pack families a howling experience. Sign up sheet is up with 2 columns: one for set up and another for the night event. 6. The Brunswick Stew fundraiser is from November 4th to the 5th; sign up sheet is up as well. David recently send the spreadsheet where you can mark which items you wish to donate. Here’s the link in case you missed it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13pnrDfIre0mfHWE9JsYrk9gpS2OuD_Q4pCle6xZRBYs/edit#gid=614639066 7. The Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show tickets are still on sale. Interested families that want to join us for the November 12th event, please purchase your tickets here: https://www.eventsprout.com/event/warbirds-over-monroe-air-show-2022 8. I’ve recently asked a selective group of Scouts who have mastered the art of knots and lashes to join me on Webelos weekend, as Troop 275 was asked to conduct a quick lesson to the next generation of Scouts that will be crossing over in 2023. The event is on November 19th. I want to thank the 3 Scouts that stepped up to help.
In summary: – We have 3 merit badge events (Railroad, Clemson, and Duke Energy). – We are participating in 2 fundraisers (popcorn and stew). – We are giving back to our community by retiring flags, cleaning our roads, putting up a Halloween event for our Troop and Pack families, honoring our Veterans at the air show, and helping out the youth at the Webelos event. – Note that there are 3 sign up sheets: Roadside, Halloween Trail, and Brunswick Stew. Parents and Scouts, please talk about these events with one another and sign up in person TOMORROW.
As always, you can reach out to Mr. Otto at [email protected] or (917) 856-1720 if you have any questions or concerns.
I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler temperatures. The timing of this weather is perfect for the long awaited new batch of t-shirts which just recently arrived. We now have the following in stock:
– Short Sleeve Cotton T-Shirt: Sizes Youth Small thru Adult XL for $9 and 2X thru 4X for $10. – Long Sleeve Cotton T-Shirt: Sizes Youth Small thru Adult XL for $13 and 2X thru 4X for $14. – Short Sleeve Microfiber T-Shirt: Sizes Youth Small thru Adult XL for $12 and 2X thru 3X for $13.
Tomorrow we will be learning how to do backpack cooking in preparation for our upcoming October trip. If you have a backpack meal you want to try out, as well as any camping pots, and portable camping stoves, you’re welcome to bring it. Don’t worry if you don’t have one, we will likely be sharing. Just to give you all an idea, the equipment will look something like this:
Looking ahead:
1. Roadside Cleanup has now been rescheduled for 10/08. New sign up sheet will be up at the Scout Hut tomorrow. 2. October 15 is Clemson’s Fall Merit Badge university. The cost is $20. Last day to register and bring payment is TOMORROW. 3. The North Carolina Museum of Transportation’s Railroad merit badge event is from October 14th thru the 16th. The cost is $35 per person. Last day to register and bring payment is also TOMORROW. 4. October 29 is our annual Haunted Trail event. We ask all Scouts to come help set up in the morning and then return at night to give the Troop & Pack families a howling experience. 5. The Brunswick Stew fundraiser is from November 4th to the 5th. Details to come. 6. The Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show tickets are on sale. Interested families that want to join us for the November 12th event, please purchase your tickets here: https://www.eventsprout.com/event/warbirds-over-monroe-air-show-2022
As always, you can reach out to Mr. Otto at [email protected] or (917) 856-1720 if you have any questions or concerns.
Last weekend we had an amazing campout at Myrtle Beach. We went there to pick up trash from a state park and got greeted with a ton of rain for the first half of the campout. After the trash pickup and after the rain stopped we had free time to go have a ton of fun. We got to go to the beach and there was a waterpark in the campsite.
Minigolf
Through the rain and wind, we still were able to push through and have a great campout and great service hours opportunity.
This weekend was another eventful one as we welcome 3 new members into the Order of the Arrow after completing their Ordeal. I want to extend my congratulations to Jackson H., Miles, and Rich.
For tomorrow, we will be doing part 1 of the Patrol Flag design challenge. If you were instructed to bring any materials, please remember to do so.
Looking ahead: 1. This was an oversight on my behalf, but due to the early start of the school year for rising 5th, 7th, and 9th graders, I will be cancelling this upcoming Friday’s trip to the Lancaster Police Department and the Fort Mill Fire Department. Read further below for rescheduling details. 2. On Saturday August 20th our Troop leaders will be collaborating with the Charlotte Pistol and Rifle Club to host a Rifle Fun Shoot day. All Scouts interested in participating can register here: https://scoutingevent.com/549-rifleshoot 3. The next Troop Campout at the Scout Hut is schedule for Aug 26th to Aug 28th. It will be on this weekend that we will be tackling 2 key things: a) We will visit the Lancaster Police Department AND b) Scouts that came out of summer camp with an incomplete on their cooking merit badge can continue to work on it. 4. The Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show tickets are on sale. Interested families that want to join us for the the November 12th event, please purchase your tickets here: https://www.eventsprout.com/event/warbirds-over-monroe-air-show-2022 5. Our annual Beach Sweep trip at Lakewood Campground in Myrtle Beach is schedule for Sep. 9th thru the 11th. Online registration already open. The cost is $30 for each person attending, family is welcome to attend. If you’re bringing a camper that will be an extra $100. Registration will close on Aug. 30th. 6. The North Carolina Museum of Transportation sign up sheet for the Railroad merit badge event from October 14th thru the 16th is also open. The cost is $35 per person. 7. Our next Roadside Cleanup will need to be moved to 9/17 due to Labor Day and Beach Sweep.
You’ll notice that I did not state anything about the Fort Mill Fire Department, this is because I am still working out a new date which I will later inform you all about.
Please note that for items 3, 5, and 6 above, I already have a sign up sheet at the Scout Hut which is very low on participation. For items 2 and 4, I have provided you with the links for you to register yourself. Also note, that you do not have to give me a separate check for all events, 1 check with a detailed description will also work.
As always, reach out to me at [email protected] or (917) 856-1720 with all your questions and concerns. I will see you all tomorrow.
This weekend, me and 11 other boys went on a campout to Tennessee’s Craighead Cavern, which is a registered national landmark. After a 5 hour drive we arrived to the Lost Sea Adventure where we hiked a small distance in order to get to the natural cave entrance, within which we had to go down 132 carved out stairs.
Going down the stairs.
Once we got down the stairs we entered the main area where we would be camping, which had three layers with small height differences. Then we went on a tour and learned about the cave. One of the things we learned is that it is one of the 3 caves in the U.S.A. to have anthodite formations, also known as cave flowers.
Anthodites.
We then went on a boat ride through the underground lake. While on the boat we learned that the rainbow trout in the lake weren’t there when the lake was first discovered because they can’t reproduce due to the absence of flowing water, so the staff have to restock the fish in the lake about every 2-3 years.
The boat.
After the tour was done we proceeded to the crawls, everyone had to do the easiest 3, and only about half of the troop did all 4 hard crawls afterwards.
Carson at the end of a crawl.
On our way to the cave we visited the world largest knife store, Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Almost everyone was able to get something there, from simple pocket knives to katanas.
An example of swords that were once for sale.
All in all, the cave rocked! Everyone had a great time and it was fun to learn about the cave’s history.
This weekend was another multi-event weekend as we had one group of scouts take the Stamp Collecting merit badge at Charlotte’s Philatelic Society Annual Stamp Show while another group took the Tennessee caving challenge at The Lost Sea Adventure. Check out pictures from our Tennessee trip in our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ILTroop275
For tomorrow, please have your knifes sharpen and bring a bar of soap as we will be working on knife safety and soap carving.
Looking ahead: 1. All Arrowmen and inductees into the Order of the Arrow, please note that the Summer Ordeal is next weekend from August 5th thru the 7th at GOLS. If you haven’t register, please go to the attached link now (tonight is the last night to register): https://palmettocouncil.org/oa-registrati 2. For those that want to participate in the Friday August 12 field trip to the Lancaster Police Department and the Fort Mill Fire Department, please let me know THIS WEEK if you’re impacted by either the 7th grade orientation at Indian Land Intermediate School or by the 9th grade meeting at Indian Land High School, both of which are held on the same day. If it turns out that the majority of you are unable to attend, then I will work on rescheduling this event to another date. Again, only if it impacts that majority of the attendees. 3. On Saturday August 20th our Troop leaders will be collaborating with the Charlotte Pistol and Rifle Club to host a Rifle Fun Shoot day. All Scouts interested in participating can register here: https://scoutingevent.com/549-rifleshoot 4. The next Troop Campout at the Scout Hut is schedule for Aug 26th to Aug 28th. More details to come. 5. The Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show tickets are on sale. Interested families that want to join us for the the November 12th event, please purchase your tickets here: https://www.eventsprout.com/event/warbirds-over-monroe-air-show-2022 6. Our annual Beach Sweep trip at Lakewood Campground in Myrtle Beach is schedule for Sep. 9th thru the 11th. Online registration is opening this week. Details to come. 7. The North Carolina Museum of Transportation is happy to announce that they brought back the Railroad merit badge program this year as a camping event from October 14th thru the 16th. The cost is $35 per person. Sign up sheet is already up.
As always, reach out to me at [email protected] or (917) 856-1720 with all your questions and concerns. See you all tomorrow.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. For tomorrow we’re going to do a revision of topic that comes up quite often mainly because Scouts forget the lesson, I am talking about knot tying. Interesting enough, less than 10% of our Scouts have mastered it, while the rest learn enough of it just to rank up. This is an essential lesson to learn because of the various usages you can get out of it. That being said, take a look at the attached sheet which every Scout will get tomorrow. Use it as a study guide and practice at home. Wondering why there’s a picture of a dice next to it? Well come on over tomorrow and find out.
We will also be having a Patrol Leaders’ Council (PLC) meeting as we need to plan out the rest of our weekly activities leading up to Beach Sweep in September. All patrol leaders need to be present and come ready with ideas.
Looking ahead: 1. Registration for the Tennessee Caving Trip on 7/30 is officially closed as I locked in the headcount to reserved our spot. The cost is $75 per person which will cover admission, overnight stay, and transportation. The $75 is due by 7/25. I will release further details later on. 2. All Arrowmen and inductees into the Order of the Arrow, please note that the Summer Ordeal is from August 5th thru the 7th at GOLS. If you haven’t register, please go here now (note that parents will have to transport their own Scout AND attendees need to have their medical form with them): https://palmettocouncil.org/oa-registrati 3. Friday August 12 we will be doing a field trip to the Lancaster Police Department and the Fort Mill Fire Department with the intention of helping Scouts with incomplete requirements on the Crime Prevention and/or Fire Safety merit badges. Sign up sheet will be up tomorrow. I will share more details when we’re closer to the date. 4. We will look to see if we can do a campout at the Scout Hut in mid to late August. We have a few logistics to work out so we will keep you posted. 5. For those of you whom have seen the annual calendar, you will notice that on November 6th (which is an estimated date) I have what is call Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show. The idea of the 1-day event is for us to go and celebrate Veterans Day in a unique manner. Information about the 2022 air show just came out this week and they have announced that the show dates will actually be on Nov 12th and 13th. Tickets for this event will soon become available this month, when they do, you’re welcome to purchase them yourself for either your Scout or the whole family as this is first come first serve. When the tickets become available, please select Nov 12th and DO NOT select the box seats. If the 11/12 show sells out by the time you visit the site, you’re welcome to go on 11/13, but the Troop is only going on 11/12. For further details you can visit this website: https://www.monroenc.org/Departments/Tourism/Warbirds-Over-Monroe-Air-Show/Air-Show-Tickets 6. As I have stated in previous emails, take advantage of the various online merit badge opportunities I have shared with you all. No one has an excuse at the next Court of Honor (in mid September) to not have earned a merit badge or two.
I will see you all tomorrow. We’re back to wearing red t-shirts again, please reach out to me at [email protected] or (917) 856-1720 if you have any questions or concerns.
Our Super Bowl that is better known to us as summer camp is now over. We met with 35 troops composed of 103 leaders and 325 scouts from Florida, Tennessee, and Texas (to name a few) and had a fantastic time.
Now that this is over, we now jump into our typical post-summer camp process: 1. Leaders already reviewed the reports pertaining to merit badge and provided feedback to the camp staff. We’re now waiting on a revised report which will eventually make it into Scoutbook. This will take some time, so please be patient. 2. If your Scout already knows that they earned a partial on a merit badge AND we have a leader in our troop that can bring everything to a close, then start working with that person. If we do not have a leader in the Troop, then we can help with finding one. The Scout has to take the initiative to follow up on this as the thought process has always been that they need to learn to speak up if they want anything.
As for tomorrow, we will NOT be meeting in observance of Independence Day. We will resume our weekly meetings on 7/11.
Hard to believe folks, but we’re just half way thru the year with more to come in the months ahead. At this point, I only want to address the our next event which is the Tennessee Caving Trip from 7/30 to 7/31. My goal is to have at least 20 people (Scouts + Leaders) so that we can get a good rate. I am currently up to 7 Scouts & 2 Leaders:
Scouts: Owen, Camden, Jackson M., Ivan, Aidan, Cannon, and Carson Leaders: Shane and myself
My apologies if I missed anyone whom has already replied, but if you do not see your name up there, please respond within the next 12 hours as I will be making the reservation later this evening. If I find that this is already fully booked by the time I log in, I will get back to you all and restart the sign up process with an August timeframe, for now we will stick to 7/30 to 7/31.as the days of the trip. As stated in previous emails, the cost is going to be around $70 – $75 depending on how many go. This cost will only cover admission and transportation.
On behalf of everyone at Troop 275 I would like to wish you all a safe and wonderful 4th of July.
Here we are wrapping up another exciting week. As many of you will see in our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ILTroop275), 2 of our Scouts (Ivan & Jake) as well one of our leaders (Luke) and myself were able to join the Brotherhood in the Order of the Arrow this weekend. I want to congratulate them all for their hard work and achievements.
Tomorrow, in preparation for Memorial Day, we will have a few Scouts walk across to the cemetery and place flags on each of the graves of our veterans. After this is done will have an Orienteering session for everyone.
Lets see what we have coming up: – Summer camp fees will be finalize this week, those that are attending, please look for a separate email from me. – Monday 5/30 is Memorial Day, there will be no Troop meeting. – Lets keep those summer camp forms coming in as we’re just 5 weeks away from heading out to what will be an exciting trip. Again, the deadline for ALL the forms is June 13th. – Speaking of June, our 2nd Roadside Cleanup of the year is schedule for Saturday June 4th. Sign up sheet is already our and we need more people. – Daniel Boone is wrapping up their 22 week online merit badge program. For this final week, they’re opening registration for the Safety merit badges. Visit their site to see other opportunities and register. https://www.danielboonecouncil.org/Virtual?fbclid=IwAR2JbckMkaCvB8ACcIyqmE81cf_n0isCywWdRrIyLxkthfmZMXnSm3wTbSU – Daniel Boone is also kicking off a new 12 week summer online merit badge program which will run from Jun 6 to Aug 27th. Registration is already open and you can take start off with week 1 for which they will be teaching the Emergency Preparedness merit badge. You can use the same link above.
It is funny how sometimes things just line up the way that they do. Yesterday was National Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day which is observed in over 10,000 cities and towns across the U.S. (you can read more about it here: https://nationaltoday.com/stamp-out-hunger-food-drive-day/). Coincidentally, we were out there running our first ever Sun City Scouting for Food Drive for which we collected 900 pounds of food and received $151 in cash donations. I want to thank all leaders and Scouts for coming our yesterday to help out and we are equally thankful to the American Legion Post 250 for not just partnering up for this effort, but also looking to see how else can we come together to support future Scouting events.
For tomorrow we’re going to be working on building skits and showing Scout spirit. Both skits and Scout spirit are great means for us to entertain one another during campouts and it further strengthens the bond within the troop. I am certainly looking forward to the entertainment.
Lets see what we have coming up: – Next weekend (May 20th thru 22nd) is the OA Spring Fellowship (this is for eligible Scouts ONLY). If you have not done so, register here: https://scoutingevent.com/549-oaspringfellowship. I will personally be attending and can provide transportation. – Lets keep those summer camp forms coming in as we’re just 6 weeks away from heading out to what will be an exciting trip. Again, the deadline for ALL the forms is June 13th. – Speaking of June, our 2nd Roadside Cleanup of the year is schedule for Saturday June 4th. So please mark your calendars. Sign up sheet will be out tomorrow. – I know this is a bit far away, but I do have in the calendar that we are looking to do the Tennessee Caving Trip from Sat. Jul 23rd to Sun. Jul 24th. Like many events, this will get full really fast and we need to start getting a headcount and collecting payment. More details to come. – Daniel Boone is continuing with their 22 week online merit badge program which you’re welcome to participate in. This week, they’re opening registration for week 21 in which they will be offering the First Aid and the Sign, Signals and Codes merit badges. Visit their site to see other opportunities and register. https://www.danielboonecouncil.org/Virtual?fbclid=IwAR2JbckMkaCvB8ACcIyqmE81cf_n0isCywWdRrIyLxkthfmZMXnSm3wTbSU
