Good morning T648!
It was a fantastic weekend to be a part of T648! Those couple dozen of us with ice water running through their veins awoke early Saturday, braced themselves for temps in the low teens, and then had a glorious day bombing down the White Mountains uncorking various feats of derring do! Eddie the Eagle, the once upon a time British ski jumping champion (?) had nothing on our boys! From the ruddy cheeks of the returning winter sports stars, it was clear that the snow was excellent, and the sky was brilliant, and even with long lines and a most excellent BBQ lunch in the parking lot prepared by our own Mr. Parizek, a dozen or so monster runs from top to bottom were completed before the mountain closed for the day. Thankfully everyone remembered their Safety Aboard training, and no major tweaks or crack-ups occurred. Also on Saturday night back in Scottsdale, a different crew of scouts worked the kitchen for a massive social dinner held by our Knights of Columbus friends. The hall was filled to overflowing, and despite the dish washer breaking down, our scouts hung in there and cleaned every plate, fork and pot with a terrific can-do attitude. I think it is likely that a large portion of our troop collapsed in a heap on their beds this weekend.  I continue to marvel at the wonderful experiences our boys have at an early age – ones I most certainly missed out on in my teen-aged years….
This is a very important week for our troop. Tuesday is Patrol Leaders Council – all boy leaders should attend at 6PM to plan the upcoming meetings and events. At 7PM we have a parent and committee meeting to provide additional support for the events the boys have selected, as well as to continue to develop the structure to make us more organized in such things as health forms, communications and fundraising. We will also have an adult leader meeting a week from today at 7PM, with a focus on continued boy leadership development and supporting our troop traditions. But the highlight of the week will most definitely be next Saturday morning, as we honor two of our most capable young men in their achievements as Eagles. This is a terrific opportunity for all of our boys and the troop family to show their support and appreciation to Mr. Andrews and Mr. Frank for their leadership and their achievement. But it is also an outstanding way for the younger boys to see what is possible in their own scouting career. Those things which you can visualize become more tangible as goals, and I would hope that for most of our young scouts, their goal is to join the ranks of leaders and Eagles in T648. Please RSVP to the Andrews family to let them know that you will be able to attend. It will be completed in under two hours, beginning next Saturday at 10AM at the church.
See you tomorrow! Please bring a deposit for summer camp, if you have not already do so. Geronimo awaits!!
Mr. Cole