For our 42 scouts attending Camp Mach, your selections for merit badge classes must be turned in at the Troop Meeting on Thursday, May 26. This is our last meeting of the school year, and the last meeting before Camp Mach. 24 scouts turned in the merit badge forms on Monday, thirteen of you needed more time to think about it, and five scouts did not attend the Camp Mach meeting.

The merit badge schedule is available here: Merit Badge Schedule – Camp Mach 2011

5th grade campers: Please sign up for the Brownsea (First-Year Camper) at 9:00 and Swimming Merit Badge at 10:30. You can then sign up for one or two merit badges of your choice in the afternoon as long as they are not water-related (which require the Swimming merit badge as a prerequisite), and not First Aid, Camping, Environmental Science, Rifle, Shotgun, Archery).

Older campers who are going to summer camp for the first time: You do not need to sign up for Brownsea, but please sign up for the Swimming Merit Badge class, as swimming is a prerequisite for many other classes, and it is an Eagle-required badge. We recommend taking swimming at 10:30 when it’s warmer. (The 9:00 swimming class can be a little chilly.)

Anyone who is unsure of your swimming level: assuming you can swim at all, we recommend you sign up for the Swimming Merit Badge. If necessary, you can switch to “Instructional Swim” while at camp. If you are definitely a non-swimmer, you can sign up for Instructional Swimming now.

Parents or scouts who have questions about which merit badges are most appropriate, please feel free to contact any of the leaders, Liz Gomorczak (Camp Mach Coordinator), or Nancy Hopkins.

If you plan to ride the bus, please turn in payment to Mrs. Gomorczak ($100 made out to Troop 24).

This week, on May 12, our Hauser scouts have an Open House. Activities at the meeting will focus on Tenderfoot requirements and helping any scout fill in missing requirements for any rank. 5th grade scouts who have attended all meetings have had the opportunity to complete every Tenderfoot requirement; however, most scouts have a few requirements that they may have missed. It is our goal to have all scouts finished with the Tenderfoot rank by our last meeting on May 26. We still have a few 6th graders working on Tenderfoot as well.

Please, be sure your scout brings his book to the meetings so the leaders can sign off on requirements.

On May 19, we will hold Boards of Review for scouts who have completed requirements for a rank advancement. We will likely hold Boards on May 26 as well. Also on May 19, Dr. Lanken will work with scouts on missing first aid requirements for the 2nd Class rank. Scouts: please check your books to see if you need 2nd Class requirements 7a, 7b, & 7c:

a. Show what to do for ‘hurry’ cases of stopped breathing, serious bleeding, and ingested poisoning.
b. Prepare a personal first-aid kit to take with you on a hike.
c. Demonstrate first aid for the following:
– Object in the eye
– Bite of a suspected rabid animal
– Puncture wounds from a splinter, nail, and fishhook
– Serious burns (partial thickness, or second degree)
– Heat exhaustion
– Shock
– Heatstroke, dehydration, hypothermia, and hyperventilation

May 26 will be another catch-up day for any missing requirements. Also on May 26, Mr. Robling will begin working with scouts who are interested in starting the Communications Merit Badge, which is an Eagle-required badge. That will give you the opportunity to work on the requirements over the summer. To start a merit badge you must have a blue card signed by a Scoutmaster. If you are interested, discuss it with a scoutmaster on May 12 or May 19. More information about merit badges is available on our website.

Scouts going to Camp Mach will be asked to sign up for merit badges classes at our Camp Mach meeting on Monday, May 23 at 7:00 p.m. at RPC. (6th grade parents–this is different than Owasippee, where the scouts chose their classes after they arrived at camp.) The Merit Badge schedule is available on the DPVC website.

First-year scouts should sign up for:

Brownsea (First Year Camper) 9:00 – 10:30
Swimming Merit Badge 10:30 – 12:00 (Scouts who do not know how to swim should, instead, sign up for Instructional Swim, which is from 11:00 – 12:00)
One other merit badge of your choice in the afternoon.

Signing up for three classes will still leave plenty of time for other open activities the camp has to offer, such as open swim, open rifle, and open archery. It also leaves you some free time to enjoy the outdoors and to completely finish those merit badges.

First year campers can not take any of the water sports/boating merit badges (Canoeing, Rowing, Motor Boating, Skiing, Small Boat Sailing, Snorkeling), because the Swimming merit badge is a prerequisite for these classes. Also not allowed for first-year campers are the shooting merit badges (Archery, Rifle, Shotgun — although scouts will have an opportunity to try these sports during “Open” times). Also not recommended for 1st year are Camping, Environmental Science, Pioneering, and Wilderness Survival. No one should sign up for First Aid, as Dr. Stephanie teaches that during the year. What’s left? For first year campers, we encourage the Cooking Merit Badge (teaches skills used on almost every camp-out, and satisfies requirements for rank advancements). Other choices are Geology, Leathercraft, Mammal Study, Reptiles & Amphibians, Soil & Water, Weather, Woodcarving. Many of the merit badges require you to have completed some requirements at home before coming to camp.

A complete list of merit badges offered at camp is included in the Camp Mach Leader’s Guide (which is helpful for scouts and parents as well as leaders). In fact, the list is so complete that it includes some badges not offered this year! Please review the prerequisites for the badges your scout plans to work on. It’s disappointing to a scout to expect to complete a badge and not do so, but items for many badges must be completed at home. (Just as an example, Requirement 7 of the Cooking merit badge requires that the Scout plan and prepare meals at home.) Ideally those requirements should be done before camp, but they can also be done after returning home.

If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s not too late! We will accept registration forms until May 23. The cost is $290. We have reserved a bus to take scouts and leaders to camp. The bus will leave from RPC early Sunday morning, July 31, returning the afternoon of August 6. The cost for the bus trip is $100 (same as last three years). Checks should be made out to Troop 24, and can be turned in at a troop meeting, or given to Mrs. Gomorczak. Also due no later than July 15 is a medical form for each scout (and each leader).

Due to Hauser’s Open House on May 12, there will be NO MEETING for the Snow Sports Merit Badge that night.

Scouts who are working on the snow sports merit badge with Mr. Robertson will meet on Thursday, May 5, at 6:00 p.m. in the Westminster Room at the church, prior to the Troop Meeting.

The merit badge counselor is a key player in the Boy Scout advancement program. Whatever your area of expertise or interest—whether it is a special craft or hobby (basketry, leatherwork, coin collecting), a profession (veterinary medicine, aviation, engineering), or perhaps a life skill (cooking, personal management, communications)—as a merit badge counselor, you can play a vital role in stirring a young man’s curiosity about that particular topic. By serving as a merit badge counselor, you offer your time, knowledge, and other resources so that Scouts can explore a topic of interest. Guide for Merit Badge Counselors

If you are interested in becoming a merit badge counselor, you would need to register with the BSA (forms available from the Council, or contact Nancy), fill out a merit badge form, and take Youth Protection Training.

Scouts who are interested in pursuing merit badges can contact those adults in our Troop who have registered to be counselors. A list of our current Troop 24 merit badge counselors is available here. The Council also has a list of counselors who are willing to work with scouts from any troop.

At the Troop meeting on April 28, Mr. Culloden will continue the Personal Management Merit Badge. Scouts should have been working on requirements since their first meeting. If you have any questions about what should be done, please contact Mr. Culloden.

Confused about merit badges? At the spring Court of Honor, Mrs. Olszewski distributed a hand-out about merit badges. If you did not pick up a copy that night, it is available on our website. It describes all the logistics of completing a merit badge. It’s very important that scouts retain the “blue cards” for merit badges. Everything you need to know can be found here: Boy Scout Merit Badges

Asst. Scoutmaster Bruce Robertson will be working with any interested scouts on the Snow Sports merit badge. The first meeting will be on Thursday, April 14, at 6:15 p.m., in the Westminster Room at RPC. Scouts should obtain a blue card in advance, and get a copy of the merit badge book from the Scout Store in LaGrange. Contact Mr. Robertson with questions.

Younger scouts (and any others who still need this) will continue working on the First Aid merit badge at the February 10 meeting. This is the same night as Hauser’s family dinner and book fair. The dinner runs from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., so scouts may want to plan to attend the dinner early.