The weekend of February 20-21, we have a ski trip planned specifically for our First Class & above scouts who are intermediate or experienced skiers.  Scouts will ski in a buddy system with other scouts and there is no plan to partake in ski lessons.  We will spend Saturday skiing (snowboards also available) and tubing at Cascade Mt. and stay at a nearby Days Inn in Portage, WI  (4 per room). Lunch will be on your own. We’ll have pizza for supper at Cascade’s chalet and a breakfast buffet at the hotel, returning home by early afternoon on Sunday.

Cost per person
The BSA requires scouts to wear helmets while skiing/snowboarding, so you must include the cost of a helmet unless you bring your own.

• Youth (17 & under) unlimited day/night lift ticket $45
• Adult unlimited day/night lift ticket $55
• Tubing (optional) $10
• Ski/Board rental – $37
• Helmet (REQUIRED) – $8
• Accommodations & meals* = $55

* Meals include Pizza dinner and breakfast buffet. Participants will need to bring either money or sack lunch for Saturday.

Our leader for this outing will be John Flaherty.  We will need additional leaders/drivers – adults can ski as well!  Leaders and adults will need to pay for their lift/tubing tickets and equipment rentals, but meals and accommodations are gratis.

Sign up here: http://troop24riverside.com/2016/01/cascade-mountain-ski-trip-2016/

There is a limit of 20 for this event (leaders & scouts). The deadline for sign-up is Sunday, February 14, 2016

Our Council is sponsoring Wilderness First Aid Training on February 27 & 28. The class is open to adults and to scouts whose birthdates are BEFORE 2/27/2002.

The course is the American Red Cross Wilderness and Remote First Aid. It has been developed in conjunction with the BSA and is based on the 2010 BSA Wilderness First Aid Curriculum and Doctrine Guidelines. This is THE course for those who work, live, or play in remote areas, away from the usual EMS service. Most high adventure trips require that at least one person (preferably two) in each crew is certified in WRFA.

More information, and to register, go to:
http://pathwaytoadventure.doubleknot.com/event/1815973

Mr. Jerz will be at meeting tonight in his capacity as Family Life MB counselor to sign off on any process scouts have made since last fall.

All scouts who are not yet First Class should bring their scout books to the meeting tonight so that we can enter their progress into our database.

Troop 24 is offering a Nuclear Science merit badge workshop at Fermi Lab in Batavia, on Friday, Feb 12 from 1-3 pm during the long President’s Day weekend when the boys are off from school. The cost of the workshop is $6 per scout. The Nuclear Science badge is not an Eagle-required badge, but it is very popular and the Fermi Lab is booked for their weekend workshops all through 2016, so this date was among the very few still available. For more information, please contact Linda Sanduski at lsanduski@gmail.com

Some scouts signed up before year-end; if so, the parent registering the scout has received an e-mail asking for payment. If you are one of those families, you don’t need to register again–just pay!

The registration deadline is February 1. We have a limited number of spots.

Register here: http://troop24riverside.com/2015/10/nuclear-science-mb-form-2122015/

It is that time again: New Boy Scout requirements! However, there are major changes for this year and all scouts will have to abide by these new requirements, no matter how long you have been a scout. This is different from most requirement changes where scouts could continue with requirements in the book that they started in. For this change, all scouts have to convert to the new requirements sooner or later. Here are the major items to be wary of:

• There is a new Boy Scout Requirements book and a new Boy Scout Handbook. You can buy these at the Scout Store for our council at 811 W. Hillgrove Ave., La Grange, IL
• All scouts joining on or after January 1^st, 2016 MUST use the new requirements
• Scouts who joined before January 1^st, 2016 have some rules as well:
  • Scouts working on the Scout badge MAY continue to work on the existing requirements, but MUST convert to the new requirements upon completion of the Scout badge.
  • Scouts working on Tenderfoot through First Class MAY continue to work on the existing requirements, but MUST convert to the new requirements upon attaining First Class.
    • So if you are a Tenderfoot scout, you CAN use the old requirements to attain Second Class rank and First Class rank, but once you receive First Class you must switch to the new stuff.
  • Scouts that have completed First Class MAY complete the rank they are currently working on in the existing requirements, but then MUST convert to the new requirements for subsequent ranks.
    • So if you are a First Class scout, you CAN use the old requirements for Star, but once you attain the Star rank you must use the new requirements for Life.
  • HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE: All Scouts MUST use the new requirements, regardless of rank, starting on January 1^st, 2017.

Most of the changes affect the Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks. These new requirements can be found at:

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/boyscouts/pdf/524-012_BS_Requirements.pdf

Kit K