Good afternoon everyone,

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.

Good morning everyone,

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.

Good afternoon everyone,

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.

Good morning everyone,

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

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone had a fantastic time at the Fishing Rodeo yesterday. The boys caught about 15 catfish in total. Definitely something we can look forward to doing again.

Tomorrow we are going over rank advancements. We will be particularly looking at group of Scouts with alike unfinished requirements and focus on teaching them and helping them thru it.

Lets look ahead at what is coming up:
– Next Saturday is our first ever Sun City Scouting for Food drive. I am 3 Scouts short of volunteers, so I’ll be looking for a few more names tomorrow. This will only run from around 8am to 2pm and the Scouts will be split into 2 shifts. More details to come.
– 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
– Forms needed for summer camp went out to all attendees, please work on providing me with that by June 13th.
– 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 20 in which they will be offering the Search & Rescue and Traffic Safety merit badges. Visit their site to see other opportunities and register.
https://www.danielboonecouncil.org/Virtual?fbclid=IwAR2JbckMkaCvB8ACcIyqmE81cf_n0isCywWdRrIyLxkthfmZMXnSm3wTbSU

To close let me just say this, our Troop is incredibly fortunate to have one of the largest leadership teams I have seen across our council/district. Within that leadership team are 2 very special female leaders whom are hard working dedicated mothers that add a much needed degree of warmth, comfort, and guidance to our Troop.

So to Vicky, Anne, and the rest of the mothers out there (on behalf of the Troop) let me just say THANK YOU for all that you do and have a wonderful Mother’s Day.

June 19th, Trevor Lynch and Luke Shannon had an Eagle Ceremony, a ceremony were you are given the rank of Eagle after fulfilling all the requirements for Eagle Scout. These two scouts have put in so much hard work over the past years to get to this point and we should all appreciate the hard and awesome work they did! The ceremony was held at Andrew Jackson State Park, located past the Van Wyck Elementary School. Thank you to everyone that went as it truly shows support to these amazing Eagle Scouts. Once again, congratulations to Luke and Trevor for achieving the rank of Eagle!

June 5th, our troop cleaned 521 highway again to show our support and service to the community. If those who don’t know what Roadside Clean-Up is, it is when our troop goes to clean up the road. Our portion is from the Faith Presbyterian Church (its after the Harris Teeter) to Walnut Creek. For those who attended you earn 4 service hours, which are need for all ranks above Scout. Thank you everyone who went as it was a massive success!

May 15, 5 scouts went to the graveyard across Belair United Methodist Church to place flags on the graves of our fallen veterans. Please as you are reading this, take a moment of silence for the veterans and others around the world and remember them on Memorial Day.

Last Weekend (5/22/21-5/23/21), two scouts, Jackson Hillard and Ivan Mercado, completed the S.E.A.L.S. training course. For those who don’t know what S.E.A.L.S. is, it stands for Scouts Excited About Leadership Skills, which teaches scouts basic leadership skills as well as how to lead a group, and to effectively communicate with others. As part of this course, scouts must create a contract that will improve their troop. As a reward for completing their contract, scouts permanently get to wear a strip on their uniform that says S.E.A.L.S. Again, congratulations to Jackson and Ivan for passing the S.E.A.L.S. course.

Last weekend (5/22/21), Drew Reinert made a deck in the back of the scout hut with a some of the leaders and scouts. The deck is a huge upgrade from what was originally there, a small staircase. Congratulations to Drew on his amazing project!