Spring Break week | Upcoming events

Hello all - reminder that Minneapolis Schools is on Spring Break this week. We do not have a troop meeting on Monday. We will see you at MUMC on April 8!

Reminders:

• We have limited space available for Boundary Waters trips this summer: Currently looking like 1 open slot for Crew A (June 17-23, Fall Lake) and 1 open slot for Crew B (August 7-13, Magnetic Lake). If you are interested in joining please contact Nixon and Needleman.
• We have ONE space open for Philmont 2025 (on trail 7/16-7/28, this does not include travel days there/back!). If interested please contact Nixon and Needleman.
• Spring Camporee registration is open (May 17-19). We have a group of 6 scouts and 2 adults currently registered. If you plan to attend, please fill the form soon - registration closes in 40 days but slots for specific activities fill up fast.
• Don't forget to fill out the form for Tomahawk 2024! Program registration for older scouts opens April 2, if I don't have your preferred sessions you may not get your first choices.

Coin Collecting MB | Court of Honor | Service Hours Opportunity

Hello Troop 1!

Reminder to those who are attending that we will meet at 8:15 AM at MUMC to carpool to the Northwest Coin and Money Show for the Coin Collecting Merit Badge. I sent an email to participants earlier this week - please refer to that message for details and remember - wear your uniform, and bring your paperwork and collection!

Court of Honor is Monday March 25, at MUMC, 6:30 PM. Please try to arrive a little early and wear your best uniform! It's your opportunity to be recognized for your hard work and to congratulate your fellow scouts on their own accomplishments. Invite your family members and please consider bringing a treat to share with the Troop! Due to dietary restrictions, treats should have a label indicating any ingredients that may be an issue or are common allergens (nuts, dairy, wheat, etc.)

Looking for Service Hours? Mother Nature has your back! We have a snowstorm coming. Grab a shovel this weekend, and save your NEIGHBOR'S back by doing some snow clearing for those in need. Hard work feels good, and helping others is the Scouting way!

Good Scouting!

Summer Camp Sign-Up

Hey Troop 1! It's that time again - time to register for Tomahawk!

This year we are back in the Sioux subcamp, July 21-27, at Quapaw campsite. Get a 360° view of the site here!

Summer Camp is a "choose your own adventure" program. We need your input now to ensure that you have the best chance possible to secure the activities you want to do. The full registration opens in April, on a rolling basis by age (see below). The sooner you complete the registration form below, the better chance you have of getting the programs you want!

You have a chance to sign up for Brownsea Island (first year camper program), Merit Badges, additional activities for older scouts, and vote on whole troop activities. You'll also have a chance to vote on your preferred T-shirt color - this year's choices are lime, orange, pink, and navy blue. We all get whichever color the troop selects!

I recommend that you review the program catalog and use the program interests form to help plan your preferred activities to ensure you don't have schedule conflicts between your choices.

Summer Camp costs more than our weekend camps but is a great deal compared to the cost of week-long camps in other programs. It's the highlight of the year for most scouts. Hope to see you there!

• Register here | See who else is registered

Program requests open April 2 for scouts 16+, April 9 for scouts 14+, and April 16 for everyone. Make sure you have completed the registration form BEFORE the due date for your age group. We cannot submit your request unless you have completed the form!

Meeting Plans | Court of Honor | Upcoming Camps

Hello Scouts! Looking forward to the meeting tomorrow. 6:30PM, Minnehaha United Methodist Church.

Meeting plans:

February 26: Knot Relay - patrol challenge! We'll work on basic knots, then have a relay to determine which patrol is "top knot-ch!" In case of a tie, well, that's how you get a knot! Winner will earn a knot emblem for their patrol flag!

We may have a guest at the Feb 26 meeting to discuss Coin Collecting Merit Badge. If interested, please plan to attend.

March 4: Camp planning + Knots and Lashings. We'll continue our adventures in ropes to learn about lashings. We'll hold a lashing relay, and scouts can use what they learned to finish the 1st Class knots and lashings requirements at the March camp.

Court of Honor: March 25. If you will need a Board of Review, you will need to contact our advancement committee to arrange this on or before March 11. Any Merit Badge completions need to be turned in by the cutoff date.

Upcoming camps:

March 8-10: Dutch Oven Challenge weekend, Kiwanis Scout Camp! We're asking patrols to create their best Dutch oven recipes, goal is to cook ONLY in the Dutch ovens for the whole weekend. Most impressive feat of Dutch oven cooking will earn the winning patrol a cast iron pan emblem for their patrol flag!

There was a weird glitch with the registration form - it was not submitting responses if filled out on a mobile device. If you THINK you registered but do not see your response recorded in the "see who else is going" link, please resubmit your registration.

• Register here | See who else is going

April 12-14 (date not yet finalized): Leadership Challenge lock-in, planned for Base Camp. Your PLC discussed this activity but we need more scout participation to finalize plans.

May 17-19: Spring Camporee, Stearns Scout Camp: Camporee theme is "American Heroes" (opportunity for Citizenship in the Nation and American Heritage Merit Badges).

• Register here | See who else is going

Philmont 2025 | BWCA 2024 | Upcoming camps | Meeting Plans | Court of Honor

Hello Scouts!

Philmont 2025: We have good news, we were selected for a 12 day Philmont trek, July 16-28 2025!

Action item 1: 8 scouts, 3 adults 21+, and one youth leader 18+ are on the list as interested. All attendees will need to make a $150 deposit by March 15, 2024 to save our reservation. Maximum number in our crew is 12 persons, so we have a full crew assuming all on the list now confirm intent to go.

• See who is registered

Action item 2: We need at least two attendees to be trained in Wilderness First Aid and CPR. I am encouraging both youth and adult training for this. There is a weekend training open on April 20-21 and another on May 4-5. Please email me (mr.nixon@gmail.com) if interested in attending this training.

Boundary Waters 2024: We have one full 8-person crew interested (potential June/July trip). One adult and 3 youths have indicated interest in a 2nd crew (with main availability in August). For a 2nd crew to happen we need one more adult (and up to 3 more scouts). Mr. Needleman is checking on permits now, hopefully we can lock in a date soon!

• Register here | See who is registered

Upcoming camps:

March 8-10: Dutch Oven Challenge weekend, Kiwanis Scout Camp! We're asking patrols to create their best Dutch oven recipes, goal is to cook ONLY in the Dutch ovens for the whole weekend. Most impressive feat of Dutch oven cooking will earn the winning patrol a cast iron pan emblem for their patrol flag!

• Register here | See who else is going

April 12-14 (date not yet finalized): Leadership Challenge lock-in, planned for Base Camp. More info to come!

May 17-19: Spring Camporee, Stearns Scout Camp: Camporee theme is "American Heroes" (opportunity for Citizenship in the Nation and American Heritage Merit Badges).

• Register here | See who else is going

Meeting plans:

February 19: No meeting. "No school, no scouts" is our general rule. We will not meet on the 19th due to President's Day holiday. (And happy birthday to Scoutmasters Nixon and Needleman!)

February 26: Knot Relay - patrol challenge! We'll work on basic knots, then have a relay to determine which patrol is "top knot-ch!" In case of a tie, well, that's how you get a knot! Winner will earn a knot emblem for their patrol flag!

We may have a guest at the Feb 26 meeting to discuss Coin Collecting Merit Badge. If interested, please plan to attend.

March 4: Camp planning + Knots and Lashings. We'll continue our adventures in ropes to learn about lashings. We'll hold a lashing relay, and scouts can use what they learned to finish the 1st Class knots and lashings requirements at the March camp.

Court of Honor: March 25. If you will need a Board of Review, you will need to contact our advancement committee to arrange this on or before March 11.

That's a lot of updates. We'll see you all on Feb 26!

Good Scouting!

High Adventure registration | Ski Camp

Happy February Troop 1! I hope you all enjoyed Groundhog Day, one of our greatest holidays (and the only American holiday celebrating a rodent)! Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow, so it's time to start thinking about warmer weather - and warmer weather means Summer high adventure!

Summer 2024 - Boundary Waters: Week-long canoe trip, open to ALL scouts in Troop 1. We'll discuss details in upcoming meetings, but we need to lock in our interest quickly to obtain a permit. We need both scouts AND adult leaders to register if we are to make this trip happen.

• Register your interest here | See who else has signed up

Summer 2025 - Philmont: Backpacking trek at Philmont Scout Ranch, perhaps the "gold standard" of Scouts BSA high adventure. Because this is a national BSA High Adventure base, Philmont has age restrictions. Philmont can include 7, 9, or 12-day treks in New Mexico wilderness. Scouts must be at least 13 years old and have graduated 8th grade by June 1, 2025 to participate. As with Boundary, we need both scouts AND adult leaders to register if we are to make this trip happen. Treks are assigned by lottery, so we want our crews signed up ASAP.

• Register your interest here | See who else has signed up

Ski Camp update: We're closing registration SUNDAY NIGHT. Trollhaugen reports that they still have snow ("wet packed" snow, but snow nonetheless!). For any last minute registrations please email me directly. We're hosting at least 4 Arrow of Light scouts - I am looking forward to a weekend of fun as these new scouts get to know the troop. I know that you will all be awesome hosts for our guests!

• See who is attending

On Monday we will be finalizing Ski Camp plans and discussing high adventure opportunities. Scouts who have gone to BWCA or Philmont with Troop 1 in the past, please be prepared to share your experiences!

Good Scouting - and I'll see you all Monday!

Meeting next Monday | OA Elections | Upcoming camps

Hi Troop One! Hope all are staying warm.

Monday January 22 meeting plans - we'll start Snow Sports Merit Badge for those interested (print out workbook here). Please come ready to learn about ski/snowboard/snowshoe care, safety, and etiquette in advance of our trip to Ski Camp in February. For those not working on the merit badge, please plan to work on OTHER advancement, such as:

• Anyone not yet at 1st Class can work on any requirements with another scout.
• We started Genealogy Merit Badge in November, and will be scheduling time for our MB counselor Val Mayer to review the work for those who completed it at a future meeting. If you didn't start in November, you can work on it with a buddy this coming Monday.
• Those working on other MBs can talk to your counselor, if they are present!

Order of the Arrow Elections will be held at our meeting on Monday January 9. OA is the BSA honor society, dedicated to service and  brotherhood. To be eligible, you must be 1st class or above (or be a registered adult leader) and have logged at least 15 nights camping within the last two years. Members are elected by the Troop - all scouts get a vote.

• Scouts who show as eligible for this cycle are Del, Sam, and Finn.
• Scouts who were previously elected but have not completed their ordeal weekend are Alex, Andy, Mason, Cullan, Ami, Soren, Oliver, Lucien, and Henry R. (Yes, even scouts who aged out are eligible - OA youth members run through age 21.)
• OA report I ran through Internet Advancement did not show any other scouts or adults as eligible. If you think you SHOULD be eligible, but were not listed, please let me know ASAP!

Completing your OA ordeal weekend is the first step - completing a Brotherhood weekend is next. I've been in OA since 1990 but never did the Brotherhood weekend. If we can get a good contingent of Troop 1 scouts to complete the ordeal weekend, I'm totally up for joining you for Brotherhood!

Upcoming camps: Ski Camp, February 9-11 (register here | see who's going) is planned, but we have not solidified plans for March or April camps. We need to discuss what the troop wants to do and determine locations. For May, our plan is to join other troops at the Spring Camporee.

• March - tentative March 8-10
• April - tentative April 12-14
• May - Spring Camporee, Stearns Scout Camp, May 17-19. Program offerings: Citizenship in the Nation and American Heritage Merit Badges. More info here

See you all on Monday!