We are offering our older scouts an opportunity to begin work on the Personal Fitness merit badge at our meeting this week (Thursday, April 7).  Troop leaders have limited the participation in this merit badge to scouts that have been with the troop for at least one year; this will permit younger scouts to focus on rank advancement.

Further, we are planning on completing this badge within the Troop, rather than at Tesomas summer camp as we previously announced.  Scouts will be working with troop leader Dr. Lanken at subsequent meetings to complete all requirements.  Keep in mind that this merit badge requires the completion of a 12-week exercise program.  Scout that begin working on the badge now will be able to complete it in July.

We will still be meeting with personal trainer Jerry Owen on Thursday so he can help the scouts prepare their 12-week exercise program.  Scouts who are planning to participate should come to the meeting with good running shoes, as they will need to complete a timed one-mile run as part of the initial fitness test.  The weather is forecast to be cold, so scouts should probably wear sweatpants or other athletic gear as well for this meeting.  After the mile run, scouts complete flexibility, strength and a body-mass index test.

Please register your scout here in advance of the meeting.

Leaders and other Troop 24 adults – please sign up if you will be able to attend Camp Tesomas this summer, July 17-23. You can go for the full week, or a half-week. There is no cost to adults to attend as leaders. The Troop pays the adult fee. Due to the ongoing success of our fundraisers we hope to continue to fund the leader cost in the future, but that depends on our budget. Please contact Carrie Staubus at carrie@staubus.net with any questions. Sign up here: http://troop24riverside.com/2016/04/camp-tesomas-2016-leader-form/

Max H’s Eagle Project involves reorganizing the RBHS band library. He needs assistance from both scouts and adults. You can sign up for multiple days, starting on April 11 and continuing throughout the month.

New parents & scouts: all scouts need to earn service hours for advancement, and working on Eagle projects counts toward those hours.

Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0545aaa62caafc1-eagle

Questions? Contact Max at maxh78@gmail.com

All new Scouts will be completing Tenderfoot Fitness requirement #6a and will work on developing the Plan required in #6b at Thursday’s Meeting. Please come dress appropriately to work on these requirements:

6a Record your best in the following tests:
Pushups ________(Record the number done correctly in 60 seconds)
Situps or curl-ups ________(Record the number done correctly in 60 seconds)
Back-saver sit-and-reach________(Record the distance stretched)
1-mile walk/run________ (Record the time)

6b Develop and describe a plan for improvement in each of the activities listed in Tenderfoot requirement 6a. Keep track of your activity for at least 30 days.

This year, for the first time Tesomas will be offering a 3-day ATV trek for scouts age 16 and older, and 1st Class and above. Participants will leave Camp Tesomas on Friday, July 22 and return on Sunday, July 24. The program will consist of day trips from Schomberg Park in Hurley, Wisconsin. This park has easy access to ATV trails and plenty of camping areas. The park includes restrooms with showers, pavilion and ATV washstation. There are lots of program options and the group will choose their own route and destinations. Our troop has reserved all 8 spots; however, soon we will have to offer the remaining spots to another troop if they are not filled by our scouts.

Scouts who are working on merit badges at camp can work hard to get them done by Friday and still go on the ATV trek. Obviously, since they will return on Sunday, the day after the bus leaves, we will need parents who are willing to pick them up. Scouts can also go on the ATV trek even if they are not attending summer camp; however, they would not then be able to ride the bus one way.

Everyone who does the ATV trek will need to complete a Wisconsin Safety course (online) prior to attending camp. Unfortunately, even those who did the ATV Rider Course at camp (in prior years) will need one since the state of Wisconsin does not recognize the ASI national course. We prefer that scouts who sign up for the ATV Trek have ATV experience through participating in Microtrek in the past. Please contact Nancy Hopkins with any questions.

The cost of this outing is $283 per scout, with full payment made online.

Register & pay for the ATV Trek

The cost for camp is $290 if paid before April 15. After April 15, the cost is $15 more.

Troop 24′s annual summer camp will be at Camp Tesomas, north of Rhinelander, Wisconsin (about 6 hours from Riverside). Traditionally, almost all of our scouts attend summer camp, and we highly recommend that new scouts attend camp. The dates for this year’s camp are July 17-23. More information about the camp is available here: http://www.tesomas.com/.

Younger scouts (current 5th, 6th, 7th graders) will take merit badge classes. For our 5th grade scouts particularly, our leaders will discuss their options with them and make recommendations. For older scouts who are 1st Class and above, several other options are available: Scuba, Microtreks, Isle Royale Backpacking (FULL), and ATV trek.

The cost for camp is $290 if paid before April 15. After April 15, the cost is $15 more. Because many scouts have popcorn credits, the camp fee will be paid by check made out to Troop 24. Checks can be turned in at a Troop meeting or delivered to Carrie Staubus’ house. Scouts with popcorn credit will receive an e-mail with the amount. If it will be a hardship to pay everything at once, you can pay $150 now, with the remainder due by May 15.

Tesomas offers a confidential “campership.” The application for this financial assistance is due to Tesomas by April 1 and can be found here: Campership Application. Some of our scouts have received funds in the past, so please apply if needed.

As in the past, we will charter a bus to take our scouts to camp. We anticipate the cost to be $100 (which is in addition to the cost of the camp). More information about the bus will be available later. The bus will leave from Hauser’s parking lot about 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, July 17, and will return mid-day on Saturday, July 23.

We will also be transporting bicycles to camp. More information will be available as we get closer to camp.

All scouts will need a BSA medical form, signed by a physician (Part C) prior to going to camp. Please make your doctors’ appointments soon. The form that you need to take to your physician can be downloaded here: BSA Medical Form

Please make it easy for us; don’t wait until the last minute to register! Register for camp here: Summer Camp Registration.

General questions about camp can be directed to our new Summer Camp Coordinator, Carrie Staubus, at carrie@staubus.net.

Scouts are invited to help Kit K’s Eagle Scout Project this Saturday, April 2, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m at 288 Gage Road in Riverside. The work is easy and will only take half an hour to an hour to complete, so please stop by to help make collection boxes for used crayons and post up flyers around Riverside. Snacks will be provided! If you plan on stopping by or have any questions, contact Kit at kit6789@att.net.

The Voyager Trace District is sponsoring its annual Adventure Day, which is a great opportunity for our scouts to work on rank advancement, service hour requirements and have fun in the great outdoors.  Here are the program specifics:

• When:  Saturday, April 16, 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Where & What:
  • Morning Session (8:00  – 11:30 a.m.):  Teason Woods Grove (SW corner IL Rt. 83 and 104th Ave).  Scouts will take a 5-mile hike through Cap Sauer’s Holding, located South of Ill Route 83 and West of Willow Springs Road (104th Ave.), part of the Sag Valley Division of the Cook County Forest Preserves. On the hike, scouts will explore woods and prairies containing glacial moraines, savannas, an esker, sloughs and streams, with interpretation by naturalists and conservation experts along the trail. This is the most remote natural area in Cook County. Scouts will be able to work on nature requirements for 2nd and 1st Class ranks, and will do service, cleaning up the trail as they hike along.
  • Afternoon Session (11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.):  Sagawau Center (12545 W 111th Street, Lemont)
    • A tour through Cook County’s only Canyon, a glacial remnant with unusual plants and animals and a waterfall, guided by naturalists from the Sagawau Center.
    • A hike to (and tour of) a fossil filled quarry (1 ½ mile round trip), guided by a local geologist, with displays of fossils from the Sag Valley and the Mazon Creek area near Morris, Illinois.
    • Presentations on bird-monitoring research done at the Sagawau Center.
    • Merit Badge work: The opportunity to work on portions of Geology and Bird Study merit badges.
    • “Scouting-in-the-Preserves” Midway, with information on camping, hiking, bicycling, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, rowing, and x/c skiing, as well as information on how to work on nature, conservation and fitness merit badges, unit service projects, Eagle projects and the B.S.A.’s prestigious William T. Hornaday Conservation Awards in the Forest Preserves.
    • Service Project, applicable to the NEW! Life Scout 3-hour conservation service requirement.
• How:  Troop 24 will be arranging car pooling for scouts to & from the event from Riverside.  Since so many of our scouts have other commitments, we will try to arrange for car pools to bring scouts to the morning and afternoon sessions.  Scouts should plan on bringing lunch, trail snacks, water bottle, small pack, spare shoes and socks, trash bags, rain gear and a personal first aid kit; field glasses and a camera are optional.  Wear “Class A” shirt, pants and footwear which can get wet and dirty (There will be mud and a small stream crossing on the trail), and additional outerwear appropriate for the weather.
• Why & Who?  Education, exercise, fun, rank advancement & service hours – ’nuff said.   This is a good opportunity for all our scouts to learn about the forest preserves of Cook County, and especially new scouts who need to work on the nature rank requirements.

The cost is $6, which includes the program fee and a patch.   Register for both, or either morning or afternoon session, as your schedule permits.  Leaders and drivers/ chaperones are always needed.  We will need to leave the RPC parking lot by 7:30 a.m. and plan on returning scouts around 4:00 p.m.

• Click here for scout registration
• Click here for adult registration