Good evening,
We have a formal announcement on our annual Honor Patrol competition.  This is a team-building exercise through which each patrol encourages one another to show up regularly at meetings and events in complete uniform, building accountability as a unit and fostering patrol spirit.  At the end of the annual competition, the Honor Patrol and the three additional ‘wild cards’ of qualifiers from outside of the patrol are awarded a weekend trip, hosted by the adult leadership.  Preliminary results of the 2012-2013 competition have been reviewed by adult leadership, and the results have now been verified by our accounting firm of Mother Hen and the Admiral.  I stand before you virtually this evening with the official soft copy envelope in my certified, and encrypted laptop…..
And the winners are…
#1 Phoenix – 64.735
#2 Royals – 58.195
#3 Yetis – 57.277
#4 Pirates – 37.531
Phoenix Qualifiers:
- G Jeorling
- D Bowers
- B Cole
- N Murphy
- J Muzich
- W Turner
- B Gallagher
Top 3 Wild Card Qualifiers not from the Phoenix (not surprisingly, two of the top three places were held by Phoenix members):
- C Traynor
- A Demski
- K Weinhold
As advertised, all winners will be invited on a special weekend outing, likely early in November. Further details will be forthcoming.  We are generally happy with the overall effect this program had on participation in events (meetings, outings, service projects, fundraisers, etc.) and the focus on complete uniforms at every meeting. There are of course opportunities for improvement in driving additional patrol loyalty and interaction, and in lowering the cost of the award, but in general the boys enjoy the competition and would like to continue the program into the upcoming year. With that, we will look to kick off our next Honor Patrol challenge beginning with the Court of Honor meeting on October 8th.
In other news, we had a lively troop Fall Kickoff party and sugar festival at the Turners this past Friday night. Many thanks for sharing your delicious talents in dessert making, but I REALLY shouldn’t have filled that third plate. This week for our troop meeting meeting we will be undertaking a service project to build ‘cranes’ – an artistic activity that sounds like an outstanding project to benefit a local charity. This coming weekend is our annual family camp, this time in the pines south of Flagstaff – I hope your family is planning to attend. See our separate email communication for additional specifics, and reach out to Mr. Traynor or Mr. Cole with questions. Please plan to help young Mr. Dahlmann with his upcoming Eagle Project on October 5th, an excellent effort to build an irrigated, producing vegetable garden for St Vincent de Paul. Also plan ahead to join your troop family on October 8th at 6:30PM for the fall Court of Honor to be held at Scottsdale Worship Center. We are going to try something different this year, and have anyone who wishes to eat at the event bring a sack dinner or fast food and visit with other like minded troop members from 6-6:30PM. If you will be eating at home, we’d ask that you arrive by 6:30PM, as this will be a packed agenda and a school night, so we’ll want to move smartly throughout the evening and ensure that all awards are properly given the attention they deserve.  Our scouts have really outdone themselves in advancements this summer!
See you Tuesday night at the troop meeting!
Mr. Cole