Trail Talk – 6/15/26

Good afternoon 244!

SUMMER CAMP 2026 NEXT SUNDAY!!, 2026 PIONEER SCOUT RESERVATION. I am going to be sending even more reminder emails about Summer Camp in this entire next week ! We are now 1 week away from camp! Next Sunday morning, we will be gathering at PORTAGE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL parking lot, off of Centre St. to prepare to leave Portage and head to Pioneer for a week of excitement and fun! If you want that week to be a great week, then you need to be using THIS week to prepare for it! A Scout always follows the Scout Motto…Be Prepared! Get those prerequisites done! They are attached to this email! Pack that bag with all of the essentials. Plan for all kinds of weather! Make sure you lay your Class A and neckerchief out the night before so you can put that on the next morning and arrive in Uniform! Be ready to learn, listen, follow directions and make some awesome memories!

IF YOU STILL HAVE NOT TURNED IN ALL OF YOUR PAPERWORK, MOST ESPECIALLY YOUR SCOUTING AMERICA MEDICAL FORM, I WILL BE CONTACTING YOU SEPARATELY! We have to have that medical form or your scout CANNOT go to camp.

IMPORTANT NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK:

Ryan Maslanka’s Eagle Project

  •  Objective: To maximize storage space in the Schoolcraft Band Trailer, we will be building custom shelving to go inside. It will take place at the Schoolcraft Transportation Facility/the old Middle School parking lot. Meet us in the back parking lot. Starts at 10:00a.m. and we will provide a small breakfast of bagels and donuts. Water will also be provided.

MINI-HIGH ADVENTURE MAMMOTH CAVE – July 26 – 30! Cost is $250 per person. You can sign up for this adventure starting this Tuesday!  You will be going to Mammoth Cave National Park and exploring the wonders there. You will also have time in the schedule to choose certain activities to do. This sounds like it is going to be a blast! There will be a short informational meeting for this trip on July 7th at 6:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall before the scout meeting! Make sure you start thinking about this now and sign up as soon as possible! The Permission slip for this adventure is attached!
PATROL LEADER’S COUNCIL Meeting change – Our next PLC meeting will be on Tuesday, June 30th at 6:15 p.m. I would like to meet the Tuesday after summer camp to debrief on Summer Camp and get everyone’s feedback!  Instead of meeting the first Tuesday in July, we will meet the last Tuesday of June at 6:15 p.m. Put it on your calendar!
POPCORN!! POPCORN! POPCORN! – Do you like popcorn? I know I do. We have some popcorn leftover in the scout room from last year’s popcorn sale. We would sure like to get rid of it. You can purchase popcorn from the troop at a reduced cost of just $10 per bag! That is a 50% discount! Stop in on a Tuesday night and help us get rid of the leftover popcorn so we can clean the clutter in the scout room! You can see Sherry to pay the $10 and get the popcorn!
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES AT SUMMER CAMP – Ready to take your outdoor skills to the next level at summer camp this year? Troop 244 is looking for Scouts to step up and lead the way in conservation and woodsman skills!
Whether you want to master the art of the axe or become a guardian of our wild places, we have two awesome opportunities for you:

  • Leave No Trace & Tread Lightly: Conservation is at the heart of Scouting. Get trained in these essential ethics to ensure our favorite trails and campsites stay pristine for years to come. Please note: Completing this training is a key requirement for earning the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award!  We will work on the remaining requirements after summer camp.
  • Paul Bunyan Woodsman: Ready to move beyond the basic hatchet and Totin’ Chip? Learn advanced woodsman skills, tool care, and safety while earning this historic mark of a true outdoorsman.  A Paul Bunyan Woodsman card will be issued upon successful completion of this training.   Please note: Completing this training is a key requirement for earning the Paul Bunyan Award!  If the requirements for the award are not completed at camp, we will work on the remaining requirements after summer camp.
  • Leveling up these skills doesn’t just earn you a patch once all the requirements are met—it makes you a better leader and a more capable Scout. The Tread Lightly/Leave No Trace training is highly encouraged for scouts who are an Outdoor Ethics Guide.

Scouting America PHYSICAL FORMS! – There is a new printing of the Scouting America Medical Form for 2026. It is attached to this email. Chances are this printing will be required for NEXT year. If you haven’t filled out your physical form for this year yet and you don’t want to have to worry about doing it again for next year, use the attached copy of the new Scouting Americal Medical Form now. If you have already done your medical form, I am pretty sure the 2024 form is still good for now, however you may have to switch over next year. There is really no difference between the forms except for some formatting. It is really just a new “printing” of the form.

Pictured Rocks Backpacking Trip – We will be having a last meeting for Pictured Rocks on Tuesday, June 30th during the Troop Meeting, starting at about 7:15 p.m.  This meeting will be to go over a few gear items, last minute details, questions and so on. I am asking you to bring, if you are able, your backpack, packed as if you were ready to hit the trail that day! At a bare minimum I want to see everyone’s backpacks, boots/trail shoes, tents, and rain gear. THERE IS ALSO A TROOP PERMISSION SLIP THAT MUST BE FILLED OUT AND TURNED BACK IN. F

 SWAMPBASE – We will be having a last meeting for Swamp Base on Tuesday, June 30th during the troop meeting starting around 7:15 p.m. This will be for last minute details, questions and anything else that needs to be covered.  THERE IS ALSO A TROOP PERMISSION SLIP THAT MUST BE FILLED OUT AND TURNED BACK IN.tHIS CAN BE FOUND IN THE SCOUT ROOM AND FILLED OUT!

 Scoutmaster Minute  – EAGLE REQUIREMENTS –Last week I started talking about the Eagle Scout Service Project and I focused on the very first step in doing the project – picking your project. This week I want to focus on the next step which is getting that project approved to be done. We call this the Eagle Scout Project Proposal. Once you have your idea, you must now get it approved. Your project must be approved by 4 people; the organization you are doing the project for, myself, Mrs. Baldwin(Our committee chair) and our local scout council. When and ONLY WHEN you have all 4 of these approvals can you actually work on the project. You cannot do any of your project accept to prepare the proposal before it is approved. Some projects have been rejected for one reason or another on the proposal phase and then you have gone and done the work for nothing. How does the Proposal work? When you are ready, you let me know and I send you a copy of the Eagle Scout Project Workbook. The copy I send you already has some of the information that you need filled out for you, so don’t go downloading your own copy and doing this. It will resut in more work for you. Get the copy directly from me. The Eagle Project Workbook is divided into 3 parts – Proposal, Plan and Report. You only need to worry about the Proposal part of the workbook during your proposal phase. Treat this sort of like you would in school. In English class, you write papers and typically you start by writing a “rough draft” of a paper. You then make corrections, perhaps several times, until you make a final draft. With the Eagle Proposal, you will fill in your Proposal in the workbook and once you are done you will send it to me. I will read it over and I will make comments on it that might include things to add/subtract/edit or fix. I send it back to you. You do the edits and you send it back to me. Once we get to a final draft, you will print it out, you will put it in a 3-ring binder with each page in sheet protectors and then you are ready to present it to the 4 people that need to sign it. You will start gathering those signatures. First, the organization, second, you will bring it to a scout meeting where Mrs. Baldwin and myself will sign it. Lastly, I will give you instructions on how to get council approval from Mr. Bowman. Once he signs it, you are good to go to work on your project.

“What Troop Does More!!” – 244!!!