Parents & Scouts: Please put our annual Waterfall Glen Orienteering outing on your calendar for November 7. The is the only opportunity we have, outside of summer camp, for scouts to earn First Class requirement 2: Using a map and compass, complete an orienteering course that covers at least one mile and requires measuring the height and/or width of designated items (tree, tower, canyon, ditch, etc.). It’s very important for scouts who need this requirement to attend this outing.

During the outing scouts will also be able to finish First Class requirement 1: Demonstrate how to find directions during the day and at night without using a compass.

Scouts who are working on the Cooking Merit Badge may also have a chance to complete Cooking MB requirement 7: Using the MyPlate food guide or the current USDA nutrition model, plan a menu for trail hiking or backpacking that includes one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, and one snack. These meals must not require refrigeration and are to be consumed by three to five people (including you). List the equipment and utensils needed to prepare and serve these meals. Then do the following:

• Create a shopping list for your meals, showing the amount of food needed to prepare and serve each meal, and the cost for each meal.
• Share and discuss your meal plan and shopping list with your counselor. Your plan must include how to repackage foods for your hike or backpacking trip to eliminate as much bulk, weight, and garbage as possible.
• While on a trail hike or backpacking trip, prepare and serve two meals and a snack from the menu planned for requirement 7. At least one of those meals must be cooked over a fire, or an approved trail stove (with proper supervision).
• For each meal prepared in requirement 7c, use safe food-handling practices. Explain how you kept foods safe and free from cross-contamination. Clean up equipment, utensils, and the site thoroughly after each meal. Properly dispose of dishwater, and pack out all garbage.
• After each meal, have those you served evaluate the meal on presentation and taste, then evaluate your own meal. Discuss what you learned with your counselor, including any adjustments that could have improved or enhanced your meals. Tell how better planning and preparation help ensure successful trail hiking or backpacking meals.

An official sign-up will be available soon. We’ll also need leaders & drivers!

Troop 24 has two openings for upcoming merit badge classes, as scouts who already signed up can’t attend now. There is one slot open for Insect Study on Saturday, October 3, from 10:00 to 4:00 at the Field Museum. There is another spot open for Mammal Study at the Willowbrook Forest Preserve (Glen Ellyn) next Saturday, October 10 (during Camp Inferno).

Interested scouts should contact Linda Sanduski for more information.

The DuPage County Airport in West Chicago is offering an upcoming Aviation Merit Badge event during which Boy Scouts can attend the classroom training, followed by an airplane flight with a certified/volunteer pilot (front seats are offered to older Scouts first), after which the boys will receive their signed blue cards. Scout who have already earned the Aviation Merit Badge should not sign up.

Troop 24 has 12 spots available on Sunday, November 15, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with a break for lunch. Scouts should bring a sack lunch. The cost is $25, which covers airplane fuel expenses. Parents of scouts attending will need to provide transportation, and at least two parents will need to stay with the scouts. Questions? Contact Linda Sanduski.

More information about the Aviation Merit Badge can be found at https://www.meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Aviation

All scouts attending must have a Parent Consent Form turned in to Linda Sanduski BEFORE November 15. The form can be downloaded here:
Parent Consent Form

Sign up here

The PAV YMCA in Berwyn is offering two merit badges classes:

Swimming – Monday, October 19
Lifesaving – Wednesday, October 21

The cost is $20, and both classes meet from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Eagle Scout requirements are 21 merit badges, with 13 of them being required badges. A scout can earn:

• Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling, with Swimming being the easiest
• Lifesaving OR Emergency Preparedness, and a scout has to earn Swimming before taking Lifesaving

To sign up for the merit badges classes, contact:
PAV YMCA
2947 South Oak Park Avenue
Berwyn, Illinois 60402
(708) 749-0606

Scouts who are not swimmers may want to sign up for swim classes. Some of the Troop outings require scouts to have earned the Swimming Merit Badge (canoeing & kayaking for example).

Our scouts earned 91 merit badges at Camp Tesomas. An additional 58 merit badges were partially completed. The blue cards for the partial merit badges will be given to the scouts at the fall Court of Honor. Ten scouts advanced in rank while at camp. Congratulations to all!

Scouts & Parents: The Oak Park Arts League is offering an Art Merit Badge workshop this Thursday, August 20, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost is $20 per person. The class can be taken by non-scout siblings as well. Each participant should bring an old T-shirt or art smock. (They will get messy.) Interested scouts should contact Linda Sanduski at lsanduski@gmail.com.

For our 49 scouts who are going to Tesomas, we need to know what merit badges you plan to take. It appears that over half the scouts have not selected merit badge classes. Please review the list of merit badges offered (2015 Tesomas Advancement Schedule), and send your choices to Liz Gomorczak at jecggomo@gmail.com ASAP. If you can’t remember if you sent it, send it again, please.

We will begin work on the Family Life merit badge at our troop meeting this week. This merit badge is required for the rank of Eagle Scout and is not offered at Camp Tesomas, so we encourage all scouts who are First Class or above to attend this meeting, especially those who have partial progress.

Scout parents: please note that this merit badge requires the scout to track completion of home duties or chores over a 90-day period, undertake a special project for the family, and coordinate family meetings. We’ll provide the scouts with ideas for these activities, but all of these will be subject to parental approval and acknowledgement of completion. We’ll also provide scouts with access to outside resources to aid in the completion of the merit badge requirements.

We will also be finishing up the 1st Aid merit badge.

Due to lack of response, we will be postponing the skating outing originally scheduled for tomorrow. Although you can earn the Skating Merit Badge using this outing, ANYONE can come–siblings, parents, friends. This will be “open skate” at Fleetwood Roller Rink. Reminders will be sent later, but please mark the date on your calendars!

Scouts will NOT be working on the First Aid Merit Badge week. We will be working on it again at the meeting on March 26.