2015 - Troop 4 Year in Review

A photo retrospective of Troop 4's 2015.

2015 is done and it was a fantastic year.  Looking back on 2015 I see several highlights that make me proud of our Scouts and Troop 4.

• In 2015 we  welcomed six new fantastic young men as Scouts bringing the Troop total to 20, both the new Scouts and the old Scouts very quickly became a single group creating friendships and working relationships across different ages and grades.
• In 2015 the Patrols were beginning to work well together as teams.  
• In 2015 the Scout leadership was transitioned from the original Troop 4 Scouts to a new generation of leaders.  The new leaders worked very hard at learning to manage a large group and the old leaders continued to exert a quiet influence on the Troop while they focused on their own personal scouting goals.

So what's left to do in 2016?  Fortunately we have plenty we can focus on to make the Troop better and provide more personal growth for our Scouts in the coming year.

In forming Troop 4 our goal was to create a program as close to Baden Powel's vision of scouting as possible, where the young men are in charge, learn responsibility, and all can share in the managing of the Troop.

With that vision as a goal our 2016 focus will be on increasing the responsibility of the Scouts in our Scout led Troop.

• At the Patrol level we will focus on making the Patrols take more responsibility and building more independent Patrol activities.  I have several ideas on how to make this work I will be sharing with the Troop during the Spring.
• At the Troop level our goal in 2016 will be to push more of the management oversight responsability to the Scout leaders.  Early on in the life of Troop 4 the Scouts sat me down and asked that I do less and allow them to do more.  I think we are at a point where we can ask the Scouts to do even more, to truly make this Troop theirs.  This process may not be pretty but it will be educational.
• Our last goal for 2016 is to be more creative in our activity planning and not do things just because that's what we do.  Even if we liked certain activities lets not just redo them, I would like the Scouts to be a bit uncomfortable and try new things instead of falling back on what they know.

I look forward to seeing everyone in 2016 and having another terrific year.

American Red Cross First Aid App

First, thanks to everyone who helped kick off our First Aid Kit fundraiser today at the PQ harvest Fair.

While first aid kits are something everyone should have, it is as important to know how to use them.  Troop 4 makes first aid skills a top priority but not everyone has access to the training our scouts get. 

A good second option is the American Red Cross First Aid App, a remarkably consise and easy to use tool you can carry around on your phone.

Please "Be Prepared" and download the app.  

http://www.redcross.org/mobile-apps/first-aid-app

Troop 4 Purdys

Behind the Scenes Work to get ready for Camping

Our SPL and the three Quartmaster spent their Saturday afternoon waterproofing and applying UV protection to the new Troop tents as well as the older ones and making sure they were all in good working order.

Then when they were done the Quartermasters split up and took possession of their Patrols equipment for the Spring camping season.  The Quartermasters job is to make sure that all equipment is cared for properly and is available for use on each campout.  Not the most glamorous leadership role but during a campout you know if you have a good Quartermaster or not.

If they do their jobs well you will never remember who your Quartermaster was.

Good job today guys.

Klondike Derby

Great weather, great event, and great scouts.

Finally a perfect weather day for a Troop 4 outing.  The sun shone, the temperature was just right, and the wind was calm - all making for perfect conditions for a Klondike.  There was more than enough snow for the sleds and for building a Quinzee Hut for shelter.

The event went off without a hitch and our three senior scouts from the Batmen Patrol did a fantastic job putting together the stations and running them by themselves.

Chris ran the firebuilding contest.

William worked the shelter building.

And Henry held down the knot tieing. 

I hope all the scouts walked away feeling confident that as a group each patrol has the skills to do basic survival camping.  Both groups were able to: quickly boil water proving that when you venture outside properly prepared with matches, tinder and kindling you will always have heat; build simple winter shelters to protect themselves from the elements; and knew the basic knots that would allow them to set up a tarp or shelter, anchor a rescue rope, or build from scratch some useful wood gadget.

They also were able to come up with the correct answers to common first aid problems encountered with firebuilding, being out in the cold, and in hiking/climbing.

Most impressively they worked as a team with all members of each Patrol contributing to the competition and their Patrol's success.

Our next step is to make sure that all members of the Patrols know all the skills and knowledge used this weekend and then begin the process of expanding on that basic information with ever more complicated and challenging sets of wilderness skills.

Finally, I was extremely happy to see 17 young men having fun together and still being respectful of their surroundings and the other people using the preserve.  They were courteous, kind, and cheerful all day.

I can't wait to go camping with this crew.

For a full photographic record of the day please check out our online photo album at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114081196567743974684/TroopKlondikeDerby2015

If anyone got any good shots please email them to me and I'll add to the photo album.

Board of Review update

5 Scouts completed their Board of Review last night and earned their next rank.  Troop 4 promoted two scouts to 2nd Class, two scouts to Star, and one to Life.  Congratulations all.  We look forward to presenting their ranks next week and celebrating these accomplishments together at our Court of Honor and Holiday Dinner.

Troop 4 in the Journal News 11/20/14

Not sure how this ended up in the paper but Troop 4 made today's Journal News.

A handsome looking crew!

Catamount Ropes Course

Last Saturday the Troop visited the Catamount Ropes Course and spent 3 hours climbing through the trees and another 30 minutes zip lining back to the base lodge.

For those of you who have never done a ropes course, it is a set of challenges in the forest canopy made up of various configurations of cable, wood, rope and zip lines to form bridges between trees that need to be navigated.

Catamount has 5 different levels of courses through the trees that become progressively less stable under your feet and requiring more balance, agility focus and arm strength as you progress through more challenging courses.

There is no right or wrong way to go about getting from platform to platform, each scout had to find the way that worked best for him.

All in all a perfect scouting day.  We were outside the whole day, we were physically and mentally challenged, and got to work together in teams to figure out the course.

 

As you can see from the looks on their faces they were tired when we were done.  I also hope they walked away with a feeling that they can conquer any challenges if they set their mind to it and work together.

Updates to Troop Calendar

With the decision on activities the Scouts made on Monday I have some updates to the Troop Calendar.  The full updated calendar can be found on the Troop resource page here: 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxIHiLq40PiGNy1xT3YyUUZjaW8/edit?usp=docslist_api

And on our online Google calendar 

The additions are:

Church Tag Sale set up 9/28

Church Tag Sale break down 10/4

Fall Camporee dates 10/24-10/26

Owl Prowl 11/1

The New Scout Year Is Almost Here - September Updates

We are almost ready to start the new year.  As a reminder here are the dates that should be on your calendar for September:

Troop Meetings

9/8

9/15

9/29

Patrol Meeting

9/22

Outings

Webelo Campout (William O/Tyler) 9/12-9/14

Housatonic Canoe Trip (Will I/Tony) 9/20-9/21

Orienteering event practice Mt Kisco 9/27

Leadership

Greenbar meeting 9/2 (1st Tuesday of every month) - SPL, Troop Quartermaster, and Patrol Leaders

Committee meeting 9/9 (2nd Tuesday of every month)

Our full calander is on-line and can be found on our web page:

http://troop4purdys.blogspot.com/

A hard copy of the calendar can be found on our Troop reference info pages on Google Drive at:

https://docs.google.com/folderview?id=0BxIHiLq40PiGRUQ4dUllSTE1cVU&usp=docslist_api

You can also subscribe to the calendar if your calendar supports iCal with this URL:

https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/troop4purdys%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

Looking forward to seeing some of you on the 2nd and the rest of you on the 8th.

Memorial Day Parade

Had a great turnout for the parade yesterday.  We had a beautiful day and all our scouts marched well and were appropriately reverent during the ceremony.  Thanks to all of the scouts and other marchers who helped our town remember. 

For all our photos please check out our Troop album at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114081196567743974684/MemorialDayParade2014?noredirect=1

Just one more reminder on summer camp checks.  I am heading down to the council office tomorrow and if your scout is going to camp I need your check.  After this week the cost goes up from $385 to $425.

March Update

While it doesn't yet feel like spring, Troop 4 is getting ready to start our spring program.  Last Monday we crossed over 7 new boys and welcomed them and their families into the Troop 4 family.

We have two outings planned this month.  The first is our ongoing community service project to help cut vines at the open land Foundation's Baxter South Preserve next Saturday 3/8.  This is a community event sponsored by Troop 4 so if your scouts have any friends or family who would like to help out for part of the day please make sure your scouts invite them.  The scouts wil be on site from 10am to 3pm and community members are welcome to drop by anytime between 10:30 and 2:30.  We will share more details with the new scouts at Monday's meeting.

On 3/22 we plan on taking our first hike at Minnewaska State Park.  We will be away most of the day but returning before dinner.  William, the scout in charge of planning this activity will have more details for the scouts during our 3/17 Troop meeting.  We will also use that meeting to to start teaching the new scouts some of the basics that all scouts need to safety take part in our outdoor activities (first aid, map reading).

Our Troop meeting calander for March is 3/3, 3/17, and 3/31.

The leadership Greenbar meeting is 3/24.

Looking into April our first campout is scheduled for the weekend of 4/4.  We will need to know who is going by our 3/17 meeting.  Will, our scout in charge of planning this event, will use part of the 3/17 meeting and all of the 3/31 meeting helping the scouts prepare for their first campout with us.

Looking forward to seeing everyone Monday night.  Please remember to bring your Scout handbooks.

Klondike Derby 2014

The Batmen Patrol competed in their second Klondike derby and did really well.  Improvement in both firebuilding and knot tying increased their scores over last year.  They were only 23 seconds off from scoring a perfect 10 on the firebuilding which is a massive improvement.  Most importantly they worked together as team through all the events and had a great time.  For the full picture gallery please go here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114081196567743974684/KlondikeDerby2014?noredirect=1

We will see everyone at Monday's meeting.  Stay warm.

Klondike Derby Sled Progress

Finally, progress on the sled.  The frames are attached to each runner and ready for the cross braches and sled shelf for gear.

Troop Activity Planning

Last week the scouts worked with Chris to decide who was going to be on each planning team for the rest of the Troop activities between now and the end of the year.  Part of what we are trying to do is let the scouts feel they own the Troop so they not only decided on these activities as a group but will also have the responsibility to help plan them as well.  

Wanted to let everyone know who the planning teams are.  The Scoutmasters and I will work with the Scouts during the meetings to help guide them along and Chris will include in his meeting agendas time for the teams to present to the Troop on their progress when appropriate, but we are going to ask that they work with their partners independently on some of their efforts and not confine the effort solely to Troop meetings.  Our goal is to help the Scouts learn to plan and organize which is a key component of the Scout Leadership training effort.

Cabin Camping 1/10-12 (Will I/Henry J)

Klondike Derby 1/25 (Henry B/Quinn)

Ski Trip 2/7-9 (William O/Chris)

March Hike 3/22 (William O/Cole)

Lean To Camping 4/4-6 (Will I/Quinn)

Camporee 5/2-4 (Chris/Cole)

Backpacking 6/6-8 (HenryB/Michael)

Summer Mini Venture - TBD

At the next meeting the Scoutmasters will start the process with the first two teams.  If your scouts are part of the 1st two efforts please remind them to think about those events and what they would like to do prior to our meeting on Monday.

Winter/Spring Troop Schedule updated

An updated Winter/Spring schedule for the Troop has been placed in the resource section of this site or can be directly accessed here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxIHiLq40PiGWHBUTVg0bmRQZ3c/edit?usp=docslist_api

Tonight's Meeting Canceled

We are canceling tonight because of the threatening weather.

No Troop meeting on Monday

We have no Troop meeting on Monday but we do have a Greenbar leadership meeting.  

Agenda for the Greenbar:

* Plan October meeting agendas (Chris) 

* Quartermaster report (Will)

* Presentation of completed draft plan for Orienteering event (William)

* Update on Vine Cutting planning (Henry)

* Committee to help complete draft plan for Hike-O-Ree with Cole (Cole+Committee)

Please remind your scouts what they have on the meeting agenda.  If your scouts have any questions on what they need to prepare or bring please have them give me a call. 

We also need to know who is in/out for our October events.

Troop 4 Has a Facebook Page

In order to better increase our visibility in the community and share all of the great things our Scouts are doing we have created a Facebook page to post highlights of our events and community projects.  The page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/troop4purdys

Please like us and spread the word.  

The blog site will remain the main communication mechanism for the Troop and will contain the most up to date and complete info on our activities for the Troop families.

Troop 4 Welcome Back

As the new school year nears I wanted to welcome everyone back to Troop 4 and update you on our calendar, our new web presence, and give a reminder that Monday is our first meeting.

First, we are going online to provide an easier way for me to communicate out and for you to get pertinent information in a single place.  Our address is: http://troop4purdys.blogspot.com/ and I have already added everyone's email to the mail list.  Please feel free to add additional addresses.  On this one page you will find our up to date calendar, a resource file area where all Troop 4 documentation will be available.  You can currently find the personal camping packing list, this years renewal form, and our proposed calendar for the entire school year ready for download.  All updates and reminders will be posted here and when a post goes up everyone will receive an email with the contents of the post so you don't have to remember to check the site.

If you want to sync your calendar with our public calendar the URL is:

https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/troop4purdys%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

By clicking on this link your personal calendar will get all updates to the Troop calendar.

Next, our first meeting of the year is this coming Monday at 7:30 in the Purdys UMC.  Same time and place as last year.  I expect the meetings to take between 75-90 minutes each week.  For our first meeting I would like to see everyone in uniform.

We have a busy calendar and our Patrol Leader and Quartermaster have already been meeting to make sure the plans for the early part of the year are in place and under way, so thanks to Chris and Will for the work they have already started.

Our first event is a campout with the Webelos from 9/20-9/22.  Will Isler will review the details with the scouts on Monday.  Please let your scouts know if they will be able to attend.  Will needs to know who is going so he can work out on Monday who will lead which activities with the Webelos.

We also have two community events planned for October and November and the scouts will fill in the gaps on our outings during the first meeting when they decide on what they want to do over the next 3-4 months.

Looking forward to another great year.

Trip Balch

Scoutmaster

Troop 4 Purdys