Trail Talk – 7/7/25

Happy Monday afternoon!

Good afternoon, Troop 244!! I hope that you all had a great 4th of July weekend! I hope you got outside, enjoyed the weather, enjoyed some fireworks and enjoyed what a great nation we live in! I know that my neighborhood sounded like a combat zone on Friday night and this was the first time my dog showed apprehension about fireworks! It was crazy loud all around us, but I chose to think of those fireworks going off as a reminder that I am a citizen of a country that allows us a lot of freedoms that others don’t have. It is something to never forget.

IMPORTANT NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK:

Troop Leadership Training – Please join us TOMORROW NIGHT for Round 3 of our ILST course! This is a Troop Leadership training course that we want to have as many scouts go through as possible!! This is the third and final round. Mr. King did Round 1 two weeks ago, Christy did round 2 last week and I AM DOING ROUND 3 TOMORROW NIGHT!! Hahahaha!! (think evil laugh). You are in my clutches tomorrow! No, I sat down and looked at the material this weekend and I think we can have some fun with it! I am really looking forward to going over this part of the Leadership Training with you! PLAN TO BRING SOME ACTING SKILLS WITH YOU AND A DESIRE TO BE A TEAM PLAYER!! We will NOT BE DOING MERIT BADGES OR RANK ADVANCEMENT this week!! Merit badge counselors, if you can come to help supervise, that would be great! We will start merit badges and such back up on July 22nd.

NO TROOP MEETING Tuesday July 15th – We will not be having a troop meeting the week of Boundary Waters. NO Troop Meeting on Tuesday, July 15th. Plan on Meeting THIS week, no troop meeting on the 15th and resume troop meetings on the 22nd.

Summer Merit Badges – On July 22nd, we will start up with merit badges and rank advancement work again and resume our normal meetings. If you are a T21 Scout, you will continue to work on rank advancement. If you are 1st Class or above, you will have 2 options: 1. To work on a NON-Required merit badge being offered. OR 2. To work on Partial merit badges, specifically Eagle Required partials, if your counselor is present and willing to work on them. If your counselor is not present, we will figure something out. I sent out an email last week to all adults asking for NON-Required merit badges that you might be willing to teach starting on July 22nd. Do not worry if you are currently not a registered merit badge counselor for that badge. You can get registered very easily. Just go to this link: https://michiganscouting.org/unit-resources/merit-badge-counselors/ and follow the instructions. If you are already a registered leader, this is very easy. If you are not a registered leader, then you will have to complete the Safeguard Youth Training protection training online, pay a $25 fee and submit an adult application. All of that can be done right online. When you sign up, sign up for all the merit badges that you feel you are qualified to teach! So far, I have only heard back from 2 adults concerning non-required merit badges they would be willing to teach starting on July 22nd.

Boundary Waters – Please make sure you are getting yourself prepared! I am getting excited about this trip! We just got our permits paid for this week by the troop through Williams and Hall! I got a bunch of emails yesterday about those permits as well as a reminder about our reservation at Van Riper State Park on Friday night! It is getting real! Remember, we are meeting at the church at 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning with the hope of leaving no later than 8:00 a.m. I will hand out your Boundary Waters shirts that morning and give some final instructions before we get under way. Make sure that you bring money for lunch on the way there, both Friday and Saturday, as well as for the way home. Make sure you also bring money for lunch/breakfast on the way home for two days. We will have pizza for dinner on Friday night and on the way home. BRING MONEY FOR SOUVENIRS! When we get off the water on Friday, July 18th, it is tradition that we go into the town of Ely and “shop” around. We also, often, go to the actual Scout High Adventure Base, Norther Tier and to their scout shop. Make sure you are ready for this trip! Get packing, if you haven’t yet. I packed this weekend! Have you?!

Mini-High Adventure – I am excited to share that after a little hiccup last week with signups and numbers, the mini-high adventure to Gettysburg is a GO!! However, we need final numbers so that Abby can plan food and transportation appropriately. If you haven’t signed up for this trip yet, sign up on Tuesday night with Sherry and PAY! This trip is not like a regular weekend campout where often you can wait until the Tuesday before to sign up and pay. We need this done sooner rather than later! Abby is geeked about this trip and so that means it is going to be a TON OF FUN!! Sign up now!

EAGLE SCOUT COURT OF HONOR – Sunday, August 17th at 2:00 p.m .at Pathfinder Church. Please put this on your Calendars now! We will be celebrating 5 of our scouts earning the rank of Eagle Scout! These include Ivan Kwigzile, Ethan Wadsworth, Elliott Anderson, Ryan Greene and Ash Cowne!! That’s right, Ash is going to come all the way back here from North Carolina to participate in an Eagle Court of Honor with his old troop, the best troop around! Troop 244!! Let’s make sure as many of you come out to celebrate these scouts as possible! Let’s make it an afternoon to remember. I will need scouts to help participate and set up for the ceremony to arrive by 12:30 p.m. Thank you!

ANNUAL PLANNING MEETING – On Tuesday, August 19th, we will NOT have a regular troop meeting. Instead, we will be having our Annual Planning Meeting for the year. Adult leaders and Youth Leaders(any member of the PLC), put this on your calendar now! We will start as close to 6:00 p.m. as we can! THE TROOP WILL PROVIDE HAMBURGERS, BRATS AND HOT DOGS! We ask everyone else bring a side dish to pass! The goal of this meeting will be to look ahead at the next scout year, plan out troop meetings, merit badges, and activities including campouts and such. I severely need the input of the YOUTH. I need Senior Patrol Leaders, Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders, Patrol Leaders, Assistant Patrol Leaders, Troop Scribes, Quartermasters, and so on to be present as well as all our absolutely wonderful adult leaders who give so much to the troop!

Scoutmaster Minute – ACTIVE PARTICIPATION – I was doing some thinking this last weekend as I was working on a variety of things for scouting, mostly on Boundary Waters stuff but also on Eagle Court of Honor stuff and so on. One of the things that struck me as I was thinking about the Eagle Court were the requirements as they are written for each of the different ranks. For instance, for Second Class, it says, “Since joining Scouts BSA, participate in five separate troop/patrol activities” and for First Class it says, “Since joining Scouts BSA, participate in 10 separate troop/patrol activities”. You will notice that I did not start off by citing a requirement from Scout or Tenderfoot. Scouting uses a growth model when it comes to participation. As you first join a Scout Troop, you start off slow, you are getting used to how things work, you are learning what participation even means in the troop that you are in. As you progress, you have definite metrics or measures that you are being asked to meet for your participation, such as attending several activities. Once you have reached the rank of 1st Class, the requirements change a little bit. For the rank of Star, it says “Be active in your troop for at least four months as a 1st Class Scout”. Now instead of being told “how” to be active, the requirement is letting you decide what “active” participation is. Notice it doesn’t say “be a member of your troop for four months”. That is easy to do. It says “Be active” in your troop. To earn the rank of Life Scout, the requirement says, “Be active in your troop for at least 6 months as a Star Scout”. Notice, now the length of “active participation” is lengthened from 4 to 6 months. Do you notice how the reflection of the requirement for participation reflects the idea of growth as a member of scouting? At first, you are told specifically what you must do. However, as you grow older and move on in the rank YOU get to decide what being active means, if you are active for the period of time indicated. This is all so that when you are working towards your Eagle and you see the requirement “Be active in your troop for at least 6 months as a Life Scout”. Most of the time, scouts don’t even think about this requirement because by the time they are working towards Eagle, being “active” is not even a second thought, it is just something they know and do because they have been guided through the process all the way from the time they join to the time they are working on their Eagle.

However, there is one thing I have noticed and become acutely more aware of in recent years. The idea of “active participation” has changed for many scouts. A lot of the time now that idea has changed to “active when I am able” instead of “active as much as I can”. Young people are busy these days. There is so much the world has to offer them through school and other outside organizations. I don’t fault anyone who wants to participate in a sport or in theatre or whatever else it is that you are a part of. However, I do have a problem when scouting gets moved to the bottom of the priority list. To me, moving an organization that you have committed yourself to, to the bottom of your list is NOT “active participation”. It is “active MEMBERSHIP” and there is a difference. I ask everyone give this some thought. Scouting is something that can always be there. Participation doesn’t have to stop at 18 years old. It certainly didn’t for me. If you are going to be a part of something, then be a PART of it! Don’t move it to the bottom of your list. Part of growing up is learning to balance your time and activities because guess what…being busy, never stops. Keep this in mind folks, to earn the Eagle Scout Rank means to be “ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING” in your troop. That is a requirement for the Eagle Scout Rank. If you are not actively participating, you are not fulfilling that requirement and cannot be granted the rank of Eagle. Ask yourself this, are you actively participating in your troop? Better yet, ask yourself this, where does your commitment to your troop fall? At the bottom of the list? If so, I would suggest you reevaluate your priorities. Is Scouting something you really want to be a part of or is your heart tugging you elsewhere? I hope your heart is tugging you to scouting and if it isn’t, I would love to know more! Please come and talk to me to see how we can do better for you!

 “What Troop Does More!!” – 244