Good morning,
This week we are thrilled to announce that T648 added our fortieth scout to our Eagle’s Nest. Young Mr. McFetters developed, planned, executed, and followed-up on one of the most memorable Eagle projects with his Board of Review this past week, and has joined the ranks of the Eagle Scout. Of all the wonderful benefits of the BSA program that I witness weekly – from social, to skill, to leadership, to service, to fun – it remains a highlight for me to witness select young men reaching the pinnacle of scouting. Congratulations on a job extremely well done, and we look forward with anticipation to his Court of Honor in the spring.
This week begins the home stretch of our race toward finals, Christmas, New Years and Webelos weekend. In between studying and Christmas shopping, please try to attend tomorrow night’s meeting. All patrols should be working on pulling together the materials needed for their Webelos weekend activities, as this will be the final meeting of 2012. That will give us only one more meeting on January 8th to finalize the scout skills events and skits, which will be delivered during the weekend on January 11-13. Each patrol will be responsible for taking a group of the 15-20 cub scouts attending for 45 minutes, and working with them on a chosen scout skill (fire building, search & rescue, first aid). Troop Guides and Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders are needed tomorrow to lend their guidance and experience on ways to make the skills event more fun / exciting for the cubbies. There are also 237 million (or so) campfire skits available online – search ‘boy scout campfire skits’ to start – and young Mr. Dahlmann has suggested that each patrol have over a half dozen that they can refine and develop over the next month. We will have more than a dozen cub scouts with us the afternoon of the 12th – let’s give each of them a traditional T648 weekend welcome!
Please remember that the first payment of $50 for summer camp was due to Mr. Benyi on 12/1 – this is a Colorado adventure July 20-28 that no one will want to miss!  As you prepare for the holidays with your family, please consider attending the troop Christmas party at the Turner home if you are in town and available. It will be a time for your entire family to share your favorite dessert with your troop family, and spend some quality after-Christmas social time. The event will be from 6-9PM on 12/27/12, and the Turner’s address and phone number can be found from the troop roster on the website. Please RSVP if you can join us.
Looking ahead to January, we have Mr. Finnegan’s Eagle COH on 1/5 at 2PM, followed by Webelos Weekend the following week. As described Tuesday by Pam, we will be supporting Team in Training on the afternoon of the 20th by cheering them on at the finish line, and then helping them to food and/or medical attention as they complete the Rock ‘N Roll marathon. The weekend of 2/2/13 will be our annual ski outing to the White Mountains, so begin planning (and praying) for snow!
As Christmas arrives, may this be a time of family joy for each and every one of you. You are all very important to our T648 family, and we are blessed to have all of the unique personalities and skills in our most excellent troop.
Mr. Cole