Good morning,
Another magnificent summer camp is officially in the books. Saturday morning our young men and adult leaders came triumphantly down the hill, bearers of memories of an excellent week of advancement, skills development, outdoors activities, fun, resiliency, and in need of a long shower and clean clothes. A special call out to the 16 young men who spent time at Geronimo this summer contributing to all the focused care and activities that went into yet another ‘Big G Award with Gold Recognition’ – the pinnacle achievement given to the top troops at camp. The troop climbed the hill to camp what seemed like dozens of times a day, performed service projects of dead wood clearing, facilities cleaning and serving lunch to 700+ in camp, went on hikes including a nature hike, a climb and a night orienteering hike, prepared a troop dinner in camp, kept our site spotless all week, smartly led a camp flag ceremony, won blue ribbons in the mighty Mogy patrol competition, and worked diligently and well on a host of merit badges throughout the week. What was most gratifying was the support and teamwork exhibited constantly by the young men as the week wore on and on, the days grew longer, the temps went higher, the fuel ran lower, and the boys began to think of home. Another special call out to Mr. Benyi, Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Barone who spent the entire week at camp with our boys, and to the additional ten adult leaders who spent a part of their week at camp. They supported a solid boy leadership team who achieved far more than might have been reasonably expected, considering the few years they have averaged living on this planet. Thank you to the parents who shared their sons with the troop for the week – it was awesome to again witness what a group of motivated and teaming young men can achieve when turned loose for a week in the woods. I couldn’t be prouder of our young men – and I wouldn’t have traded places with any other leaders in camp – we are blessed to truly have the best of the best in T648.
This week we are back to it in the heat of the valley. Tomorrow night we meet at 7PM, and the meeting schedule has a focus on first aid activities and/or games led by young Mr. Muzich and young Mr. Murphy. Looking ahead, we will have a change to our normal PLC meeting due to Mr. McFetters being out of town. PLC will be at 6PM on the 8th in July. The boys have also chosen to visit Lava Tubes up by Mt Kendrick for the outing on July 11-13, and let me tell you, a 34 degree hike underground already sounds very enticing after being back in the sweltering valley this weekend.
See you at the troop meeting!
Mr. Cole