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Showing results for tags 'Boy Scouts'.
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My Eagle Board of Review was last night. The board talk to me for a while and then they voted. They unanimously approved. Now National just needs to approve it and it will be official. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. All three of the board members were really nice and they didn't really ask any really hard questions.
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Sunday was the reunion for the people who went to the Jamboree with my council. It was rather fun. A bunch of people talked about what they did out at the Jamboree. The leaders talked and some of the scouts talked. We also got our 10x23 group picture that was taken in front of the capitol building. We also got a cd with some of the pictures the leaders took. There wasn't as much stuff on there as I thought there would be though. I'm giving a presentation to my troop in the beginning of December, so now I have somehow work preparation for that into my schedule.
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My Boy Scout council had their annual Fall Camporee this past weekend. It wasn't a council wide camporee though since the venue was changed from one of the council camps to a (much smaller) county park. It was a rather fun time. I got to be acting SPL for the weekend since no other older boys went. I also got to work with the Griffins patrol , which included myself and three first years. We worked on the Signaling merit badge in the morning, and I also got to shoot a black power rifle. Meals went pretty well, since the three first years knew what they doing, for the most part. The afternoon was the super troop competition. The setup they had was pretty interesting. There were ten stations, one for each decade (1910 - 2010) that scouting had been in existance. The two other patrols from my troop ended up getting the two highest scores, so we won the super troop competition. Last time that happened at a Camporee was 2004. Over all it was a fun weekend, my last at a Camporee as a scout.
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I turned in my Eagle Scout application to the local Scout council yesterday. Now I have a three to four month wait to see the Eagle Board.
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I finally back from my trip to Washington DC and the 2010 National Scout Jamboree. I officially set foot on MN soil at about 12:30 pm central time yesterday. The whole trip was amazing. I have a few regrets about not doing some stuff, but really I couldn't have avoided it. I don't have time to do a full write up now, but I have a few things to say. To those of you who were at the lunch kiosk at 12:30ish on Tuesday, I was also there, but I didn't see you. I still have some of my JSPs left left, so if there is anyone that wants to trade with me through the mail, please send me a PM or comment here, and I'll send you a PM. Pictures will be coming soon, after I decide if I want to spend $25 to upgrade to Pro on Flickr for a year.
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Thursday night is when I'm leaving for Washington DC and the Jamboree. At that point there will be no way to contact me until after I arrive at the Jamboree on July 26th. I will also be gone from BZPower the entire time of this trip. I will be turning my personal messager off-line shortly before I leave on Thursday afternoon. At that point the only way to contact me will be through the e-mail me option on my profile. I would just give out my e-mail address, but my dad had to have this wonderful idea to make my address my full name. I'll also be watching the planning topic. My subscritpion is set up so that I can see all the posts made over the previous 24 hours. This means I may or may not get any information posted there. The best way to make sure I get a message is to use the e-mail feature. If you require a response please include your e-mail address in the message.
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I finished my final merit badge last night. Now I'm just working on collecting references and the final signatures and then my Eagle Scout Application will be sent off to the local council. It feels good to finally be done with every thing. The only bad news is that it sounds like the local eagle board is swamped, so there could be a long delay before I get to be boarded. I have to be boarded before the 13th of September or I won't be able to get an Eagle Palm.
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To quote my SPL, "The only thing I learned this weekend is that none of us are really ready for Jamboree." Truthfully, I think that we're a little bit more prepared then that. I think my patrol is pretty decent. The first few meals that we cooked went okay, clean up was the worst part, although by the last meal we got that worked out somewhat. I'm really wishing now that I had been elected to one of the leadership positions. I guess it doesn't matter though, since our leaders are as good or better then me. I also got a ghost patch of which only 300 were made. I won't be trading it (or even bringing to the jamboree for that matter) because we're only allowed to have 1. We also had one boy who went missing Saturday afternoon. He was found within half an hour, but it was a good reminder that one person can shut everything down. Another thing of note for the people going to the Jamboree, there is a map of the Jamboree with bus routes in the most recent Boys Life magazine. If you don't get it, find someone that does. This may be my last Jamboree related entry until right before the Jamboree, unless I decide to do an entry listing the various tips and advice my troop leaders have given my troop.
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One month left until the Jamboree. I think I have pretty everything I need, except the centennial socks. For some reason there seems to be a huge shortage of them. I have enough right now that I'll probably be able to manage if I can't get any more, but I would like to have a few more. The precamp is also this weekend. It should go well as long as I can get everything packed up. Comments have also been set to require manual approval for the time being.
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Finished up Communications last night. Now all that's left is Family Life. That will be finished up as soon as my project is done. I'm staining the railings on the deck and it will probably take a couple weeks to get done. After that I'm done with everything. Also, Pathfinding, I'm not sure if I'll get the other three historical merit badges. I know for a fact that I won't be getting signaler, I just don't have the time to learn the codes.
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Long over due, here's what my council's shoulder patch looks like. I'm taking over 100 of them so I will be doing a lot of trading. There's also a ghost version of it, although I probably won't be trading that since I'm only guaranteed one of them. I'm also going to be a Hometown News Correspondent so I will have some perks, like the access to a bike and a computer. I may get the bzpower e-mail forwarder set up to my main e-mail. I don't want to just post it though since it uses my full name.
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This is what my troop's itinerary currently looks like. It's not final yet, but there shouldn't be any major changes. Friday July 23 Lunch at Dulles Town Center Mall Udvar-Hazy Center Pentagon Memorial Air Force Memorial National Archives July 24 Capitol Hill Arlington National Cemetery Lunch at the Pentagon City Mall Tours of the different war memorials and presidential memorials We also have an Illumination Tour of the Capital/Monuments in the evening. July 25 Mount Vernon in the Morning Lunch at the Pentagon City Mall White House National Postal Museum Ford's Theatre and Petersen House Smithsonian Institution (We can pick one of the Museums) Alexandria's "Footsteps to the Past" in the evening. July 26 No touring, just heading to the Jamboree.
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Sunday was the last regular troop meeting for my Jamboree troop. Everything is falling into place now. It looks like I might have very limited access to a computer while the troop is touring Washington DC. I'm going after a spot in the Hometown News Correspondent program and the local news paper is working with me to make that happen. I'm going to have write one article while we're touring since the first publish date is the 26 of July, and then I'll be writing two article at the Jamboree. Biggest perk to the program is I'll have access to a bike. There's also a possibility that I could be blogging, the person in charge of the program has been ignoring my e-mails so I'm not sure if that will work out. I'll also post a picture of my council's shoulder patch later. Last time I took a picture of it it didn't turn out right. Hopefully it will work today. My troop has also taken a no electronics stance. This is probably the strictest possible since anyone who somehow smuggles cell phones or mp3 players will most likely get sent home. Is everyone else's troop the same way or is their troop's policy more relaxed?
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Finally got into the Order of the Arrow this weekend. Before I just kept putting it off and saying I wasn't interested and then about a year and a half ago I decided I was interested and I got elected, but then I couldn't make it to the either of the two conclaves. I finally made it to one, after getting reelected. For those of you who don't know what the Order of the Arrow is, it's basically the Boy Scouts' honor society. It's really not that hard to get into if you're fairly active in your troop.
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I attended another weekend of Boy Scout camp over last weekend. It wasn't really camping, per say, since we slept in barracks and we didn't do any cooking, but it was a council run event. It didn't live up to expectations. It rained all saturday, and none of the other participants were really prepared for the rain, except me. They ended up pulling everyone inside from my program right after lunch. After that we basically had a huge party in the barracks. The SPL for my Jamboree Troop was also there so I got to hang out with him a bit. There's a huge difference between out home troops. They also had call outs for Order of the Arrow, and so I'm now elegible (again) to attend the conclave and finally join. So much stuff has happened lately and there's so much to blog about, It will probably be at least a week before I get caught up though. Jamboree update coming when I get a chance.
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... until the National Boy Jamboree. B)
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Last night was my troop Centennial Celebration Court of Honor. It was originally scheduled for last Monday, but the local weather conditions had other plans. To start off we had a bunch of old scouting stuff set up around the room for people to look at. One Assistant Scout Master brought in his Boy Scout Hand Book collection. He is only missing the first two editions. Another ASM brought in a bunch of old Boys Life Magazines. Old Boys Life Magazines Hand Books - The Blue one is the third edition, I don't remember what edition the green one is although it's probably the fourth. Scout Shirt Scout Hat Council Patches - All are from Minnesota although Viking Council no longer exists. It merged with another council 4 or five years ago and turned into Northern Star Council. An Eagle - I'm not sure whose these belonged to but, yeah, it's an Eagle award along with two Religious Emblems. The Ad Altare Dei is Catholic. I'm not sure what denomination the Pius XII one goes to. We also had a slide show of old pictures running before and after the Court of Honor. A couple of the big highlights were the time line, the merit badges and the ranks. We also handed out the awards from our troop Klondike Derby. Our Scout Master wood burned the winners plaque. It turned out really nice. Unfortunately, I didn't have chance to get a picture of it. Every who participated in the derby also got one of these. One of the Assistant Scout Masters also got the complete set of rank patches. Patches There's also some cool slides along the top. I know the stories that go a long with a few of them. Cake
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How many people would be interested in having a one day Boy Scout avvy and banner fad next Monday to celebrate the Boy Scouts of America's 100th Anniversary. If anyone is interested I'll put together some different avvys and sig banners.
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I was all set to do a entry covering my Boy Scout Troop's Court of Honor when we got hit by a huge snow storm. The court of honor was postponed until next Monday. On another note, I went to the local scout office and ended up spending over $100 on stuff I need for the Jamboree. I probably have another hundred of stuff I need to still get.
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On this date in 1910, the BSA was incorporated by publisher W. D. Boyce. Boyce first learned about Scouting when a Scout refused payment for helping him through a London fog. He was simply doing a Good Turn. For 100 years, Scouts across America have kept to that example. Today, we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of this great movement and begin our next 100 years of service.
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... hasn't happened yet. So I spent about two and a half hours last night planning next Monday's Court of Honor. This is going to one of the longest and most epic court of honors my troop has ever done. The fact that it fall on the exact 100th Anniversary of Scouting in America only adds to the fact. We're going to have a bunch of different displays of old Scouting memorabilia. One of the assistant scout masters is going to be bringing in his boy scout book collection, every edition except the first. There's also going to be a lot of other stuff. We're going to got through the time line and how the ranks and merit badges have changed over the years. We're also going to have a cake at the very end. This is going to be one epic court of honor.
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Yesterday was the November meeting for my Jamboree Troop. There wasn't a parents meeting so I probably could have drove my self but the e-mail we got wasn't very clear. We basically worked on team building and the patrols. We did a yurt circle. Basically every body stand in a circle and every other person leans in towards the center. Everyone else leans out. We also did a thing where everyone has to sit down with feet touching and then grabbing each other hands, stand up. The is still some changes to the troop roster happening. Two new people were added to my patrol and I think there are some people who've left. The final roster won't happen until January or February. On a side note, I added a countdown to one of my content blocks.
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I'm back from my camping trip. It went better then I expected, mainly because the weather turned out okay. We got up there last night and got the tents out. By that time the rain had pretty much let up. It was still sprinkling but it wasn't the downpour I was expecting. We did end up getting a fire started, ironically the hardest part was getting the firestarter to go, it was so windy that the matches we were using kept getting blown out. For Breakfast my patrol had breakfast burritos. After breakfast we had a map thing, basically the adults in charge of the weekend gave each patrol with a map that showed the locations of about 20 posts that were placed around camp and the patrols had to go out find as many of these posts as they could in about an hour and a half. It had finished raining during the night so it was a pretty nice day to go exploring the camp, which was pretty much what we did. There were also some LARPers (Live Action Role Players) in camp too. I don't know why they were in a Boy Scout Camp. I guess since it gives the camp money. We were the only troop there for the weekend. We didn't see too much of them, although we did pick and return plenty of evidence of their battles they had. In the afternoon we had Archery, Rifles and Shotguns. Archery was okay, the camp had really cheap bows so I didn't do to well. I didn't like the rifles they had either so I didn't do too well on that either. I did hit 2 out of 3 clay pigons with the shotgun though. At the end one of the boys who had brought their bow tried to hit a clay pigon with an arrow. He actually came within 3-4 inches of hitting which was pretty impressive. The arrow he used ended being lost to the marsh that was the down range for the shotguns. It was a pretty fun weekend, but I would have prefered to stay over tonight.
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I leaving for a camping trip later this afternoon. I'll be back Saturday night. Two reasons why it's not going to be full weekend like previous camping trips. Halloween is tomorrow night and there is a Eagle Court of honor on Sunday Afternoon. We were planning on not bringing stoves and only cooking on fires, but it's been raining since Wednesday night so that probably won't work.
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My Troop had elections last night. The only positions really elected were patrol leaders, the rest of them are appointed after people submit what positions they would like. We also rearranged the patrols. I am now a Junior Assistant Scout Master/Web Master. I get the fun job of building the troop a web site. I had one started on geocities a while ago but then they are closing down the end of this month. I think I'm going to go with Webs. It seems like my troop has been having an attendance problem. Only about 4 of the ten people in one patrol showed up last night so they're going to have to elect their patrol leader next week. Luckily I'm listed in the youngest patrol since I the older scout working with them.
