Troop 401 Newsletter February 2004

Committee Chair’s Corner

Happy Birthday Boy Scouts!

On February 8, 1910, William Boyce and a group of businessmen, educators and political leaders founded the Boy Scouts of America. To learn how this came to be, I strongly recommend you borrow your Scouts handbook and read about the scouting history on page 431. There are many interesting facts to be learned.

I would like to welcome the Webelos and their families who have recently joined Troop 401. They have bridged from Webelos to Boy Scouts. Some have earned their Arrow of Light Award. On behalf of the Troop, I would like to congratulate them on their accomplishment and encourage them to continue on the scouting path. Every scout will help them along the way. The adventure has just begun.

The Scouting adventure is not only for the Scouts. The adults are encouraged to join in the adventure with their sons. Do you have a skill you would like to share, you can teach a Merit Badge. How about teaching scouting skills, you can become an Assistant Scoutmaster. Do you just enjoy being involved? You can become a member of the committee. There is something for everyone.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at rdhetal@yahoo.com or 429-0794.

Marsha Kofman, Committee Chair

Scoutmaster Minutes

Spring is around the corner and Troop 401 has many things going on. First of all, you should have noticed that the troop has grown in size. Welcome to the new scouts who have joined us from the Webelos. I'm sure that you will soon be having all kinds of fun doing many things with the troop. Mrs. Petrovic will be helping them earn their Scout Badge and Tenderfoot Rank.

Very soon we will be receiving some info from Council on Summer Camp. This will include what merit badges and activities they will be offering at both Hidden Valley and Camp Bell. Don't forget that the deposit needs to be in to us soon. Sometime in April or May we will be having a meeting for camp. At this time we will be going over what you need to do to prepare for camp and what to bring. At this time your merit badges will also be picked. This info needs to go to Hidden Valley or Camp Bell so they can set up the schedule.

If there is any activity that you would like to have Troop 401 partake in please let us know. Very shortly we will be having our planning session for next year calendar. This includes any trips, hikes, campouts, or activities you want to partake in. We have had some very interesting events this past year and I'm sure that we can have many more in the next year. So if there was an event you would like to do over again let us know. Remember this is your troop not the adult leaders who are there to help. We will try to get just about everything you want the troop to do on the schedule.

At the March 8th troop meeting we will be viewing the Youth Protection video. Parents please read the letter that went home a few weeks back. This explains what will be on the video and the times it will be shown. The troop meeting will end at 8 PM on March 8th only. This is the time that the video will be shown. If you feel you do not want your son to watch this please be there at 8 PM to pick him up. We will be viewing this with everyone who is there at that time. You are also welcome and encouraged to come at 8 PM and watch it yourself. There will be no discussion afterwards. That we are leaving to you. If anyone has any questions on this or anything else please contact Mrs. Kofman (429-0794) or myself.

YIS

Bill Courtemanche, Scoutmaster Troop 401,

a76eagle@aol.com, 424-5968

Upcoming Events

March

3/1 Board of Review

3/1 Summer Camp Deposits are due

3/6 NLE/Leader Specific Training

3/6 Snow-tubing at Gunstock

3/8 Youth Protection Training

3/10 PLC

3/11 Troop Committee Meeting

3/17 Roundtable

3/27 Lowell Textile Museum

3/22 Scoutmaster Conference

3/29 Court of Honor

April

4/2 District Recognition Dinner

4/3 District Hike-a-thon

4/5 Board of Review

4/8 Troop Committee Meeting

4/14 PLC

4/16-18 District Spring Camporee

4/18-19 Isaac Davis Campout

4/19 Scoutmaster Conferences

4/21 Roundtable

4/22 Outdoor Leader Skills Instruction

4/23-25 Six Flags over NJ Camporee

May

5/3 Board of Review

5/7 St. James Cleanup (tentative)

5/7 Adopt-A-Road (tentative)

5/12 PLC

5/13 Troop Committee Meeting

5/14-16 OA Spring Fellowship Weekend

5/19 Roundtable

5/22-23 50 Mile Bike Ride on Cape Cod

5/24 Scoutmaster Conference

Patrol Assignments

Below are the patrol assignments for the next month. Each patrol should use this schedule to prepare for the weekly Troop meetings.

Mar 1 Set-up Badgers

Open/Close Lizards

Skill Instruction Dragons

Sports (Merit Badge Introduction)

Clean up Vipers

Mar 8 Set-up Lizards

Open/Close Dragons

Skill Instruction Vipers

Sports: Ice Climbing

Clean up Badgers

Mar 15 Set-up Dragons

Open/Close Vipers

Skill Instruction Badgers

Sports: Model Airplanes

Clean up Lizards

Mar 22 Set-up Vipers

Open/Close Badgers

Skill Instruction Lizards

Sports: Model Airplanes

Clean up Dragons

Mar 29 Set-up Badgers

Open/Close Lizards

Court of Honor

Clean up Vipers

Merit Badges

Mr. Becker will be holding merit badge classes for Electronics on Monday evenings at 6 PM at St. James beginning on March 1. If you are interested, please call Mr. Becker at 424-2954.

Mrs. Collette is starting the Citizenship in the World merit badge. If you have not signed up, please contact her as soon as possible at 429-1045.

Mrs. Kofman offers Family Life merit badge as an on-going class. If you are interested in completing this Eagle required badge, please contact her at rdhetal@yahoo.com or 429-0794.

Announcements

Scouts Please assist the new scouts that have joined the Troop. Make them feel welcome. Help them learn the scouting skills they need to have fun. Remember, you were once just like them.

Reminder!!!

It’s time to talk with your son, consult the calendar, and make a decision regarding summer camp this year! The first deposit is due at the Monday, March 1 meeting! Letters and permission slips have been mailed out to all. If you have any questions, please call Mrs. Collette at 429-1045.

Isaac Davis Campout and Hike

Troop 401 will attend the wonderful Isaac Davis Patriots Day event this year, come rain or shine, on April 18-19 (Sunday-Monday). This Massachusetts holiday marks the start of the American Revolution against the British. A full costume period reenactment at the Old North Bridge in Concord marks the “shot heard round the world.” The event includes a one way 7 mile hike across easy ground early Monday morning. We are registered as a Troop, but we will need an accurate total headcount by April 9^th to avoid penalty fees. There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board at the church. The cost per participant is $5.50 (this includes the event itself and an Isaac Davis patch). Troop food will run around an additional $5-6 per participant. We will depart Sunday early afternoon from the church and return Monday at a similar time. We will need to provide Merrimack schools with a “permission slip” for their approval as Monday is a school day in NH. As this event is very educational the schools have never denied permission in the past. This is a great event…don’t miss it! See Mr. Collette with questions.

Cape Cod 50 Mike Bike Ride and Campout

On May 21 to the 23^rd we will travel to Cape Cod to camp, swim in the frigid Atlantic, and bicycle the full length of the Cape Cod Rail Trail (25 miles each way).

We will camp Friday night near the start of the trail in Dennis and bicycle the trail R/T on Saturday. There is a bike rental shop at the head of the trail so those who do not own bicycles can rent one (the shop has all types of bikes including two to four person versions). We will depart Sunday AM and return to the church by early PM. This event will be weather dependent. Excessive rain and cold weather could be an issue. Hopefully Mother Nature will work with us. This event will qualify as the 50 mile hike required for the bicycling Merit Badge. Once again a sign up sheet is on the bulletin board. See Mr. Collette with questions or call him at 429-1045.

Various Meetings

Committee meetings are open to all Troop adults. They are on the second Thursday of each month at St. James Church, at 7 PM. Hope to see you there.

District Roundtable is on the third Wednesday of each month. They take place at the Church of the Latter Day Saints in Nashua, at 7 PM. All leaders and troop adults are encouraged to attend.

Permission Slips

Permission slips are now posted to the web site. If you miss a meeting, you can still pick up a permission slip electronically.

Training

New Leaders Essentials and Scoutmaster Training will be offered on March 6. If you have not been trained for the position you hold in the troop, you should consider attending this training session. Outdoor leader skills training will be offered on April 22 and the weekend of May 1 and 2.

For more information or registration forms, please see Mrs. Rich, r-rich@comcast.net, 880-8222.

Advancements

Over the past month, several boys have worked hard to earn a new badge of rank and/or a variety of merit badges. Congratulations to all who have completed the work required for your advancement.

Service Projects

Troop 401 has several scouts either currently working on Eagle projects, or who will be working on their projects in the coming months. Please consider helping them in any way you can.

Spring service projects, including St. James cleanup and Adopt-A-Road on Pearson Road will be coming soon as the weather permits. Check the newsletter and/or the website for more information on these upcoming events. Service projects completed outside of Scouting may be used for service hours, so keep records!!

Patrol News Briefs

Troop 401 Klondike Adventure!

Camp Carpenter: February 7, 2003

Our day began bright and early at 5:30 in the morning. We all gathered at St. James Church by 6:30, and left for Camp Carpenter by 7 AM. It was one of those cold days in which the roads were iced over by the constant downfall of sleet and rain. The latter soon began to seep its way into our boots, bones and sled. We had packed our sled the night before and had loaded it into Mr. Frost’s truck. We had also honed our skills in the basement of the Church the two Saturdays before so that we could “dominate” the competition at the Klondike. We would like to thank Mr. Courtemanche, Mr. Milton and all of our other adult leaders that helped us to refresh our skills.

The Troop 401 sled was pulled by eight scouts. They were Scott Shidlovsky, Scott Rich, Derek Trippet, Robert Frost, Dan Petrovic, Jeff Tretheway, Ryan Collette and Shawn Collette. We checked in at the old cafeteria and then moved to the weigh-in station. We guessed our sled’s weight at roughly 210 lbs, but it turned out to be 235 lbs. We scored 19 of 20 points in the “readiness” category.

The competition began at 8:30 AM. Our first station was Height and Distance Estimation. We started slow and scored 15 out of 20 possible points. Our second station was Search and Rescue. Here we thought we did a great job, but we ran into a tough judge that scored us very low. We only received 12 of 20 points! That turned out to be our lowest score. After that we were on a roll and over the next seven stations we never scored less than 18 of 20 points per station! We completed the course at 1:30 PM with plenty of time to spare.

At the award meeting, the station mayors presented ribbons to the top three scoring teams from each of the eight stations. Unfortunately, we did not finish in the top three at any of these stations. We did, however, finish very high at all of the stations. When the scores finally came out at 5:30 PM we were all amazed to find out that we had finished 3^rd out of 37 teams. We finished only one point behind the second place team from Troop 19 in Nashua. That particular team was made up of all Life and Eagle scouts. Over all, we had a great day and really enjoyed each others company and the retesting of our scouting skills. Next year we should try to have 2 or 3 sleds at the Klondike.

Submitted by: Designated Shawn Collette

Klondike Patrol Leader, Troop 401

Newsletter Deadline

I would really like to see an article (of any length) from each Patrol next month. Everyone would like to know what happens during your Patrol meetings.

Life Scouts: When you are ready to work on fundraising for your project or need to recruit help with your Eagle project, don’t forget to send me the information so I can include it in the newsletter.

The deadline for articles to be included in the next newsletter is March 22. You may submit articles at the Troop meeting or by contacting Mrs. Becker at 424-2954.