Boy Scout Troop 648 Scottsdale, Arizona

Greetings!

This is a reminder that we will be holding our quarterly parent and committee meeting this coming Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 7pm. We will be meeting in the CCC Conference Room. All parents and committee members are invited to attend.

We will be reviewing the new calendar for the coming year that was prepared by the Patrol Leader’s Council last month, along with our updated outing procedures, among other things.

I hope to see you there!

Thanks,

Jacob R Benyi
Committee Chair

Hello Troop 648!

We are back from an epic adventure to the Grand Canyon! One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World (!), we have a tendency to be a bit forgetful when it comes to the Canyon. Just a few hours drive from home is one of the most amazing places in the world. Ranked second in terms of attendance for our National Parks at 4.8 million visitors per year, seeing the Canyon, as described by Jack Schmitt, is like; “Trying to describe what you feel when you’re standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon or remembering your first love or the birth of your child. You have to be there to really know what it’s like.”

The 15 Scouts and Scouters enjoyed a few rain storms, cooler temps (down in the low 40s!), an amazing collection of wild animals, dutch oven pizza and Monkey Bread, unrivaled beauty of the Canyon and above all else, camaraderie with members of the troop family.

A great big thanks to Ryan Conrad and Zachary Harper for organizing the trip, David Cole for his planning support (and awesome cooking!), Andy Gay for pulling the trailer, Donna Ramsey for the loan of her Malibu and Jon Komar and Jacob Benyi for driving.

A reminder that tomorrow night’s meeting will focus on rank advancement and merit badges.

See you soon!

Scoutmaster T648

An endangered California Condor…

Elk…

I know right, who knew!?!

A rare sighting of a King snake

And the even more rare, Flying Squirrel…

Close call, but he was ultimately rescued…

Hello Troop 648

We will be meeting in the East Hall (where we hosted the Pancake Breakfast) for our regularly scheduled weekly troop meeting – Tuesday, August 23rd.

This week’s meeting will be organized by the Copley’s and is the last for the ‘Pioneering’ theme. Next week’s meeting (August 30) will be focused on rank and merit badge advancement.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Scoutmaster T648

Hello Troop 648

As a reminder, we will be having an Adult/Parent meeting after the close of the PLC Retreat. The meeting will run from 8:30am – 10:00am, tomorrow – Sunday, August 7th. The meeting will take place at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, 7200 N. Scottsdale Road. We will be meeting in room 5009 which is on the south end of the resort.

The meeting will review the new Troop Outing Planning process. I encourage all adults who are interested in attending any outing and/or helping mentor any scout planning an outing for the 2016-2017 year to attend.

If you have any questions, please give me a call (602) 793-1058.

Thanks,

Doug

Hello Troop

A reminder that we will have our last monthly PLC for the 2015-2016 planning year. 6:00pm in the normal meeting room.

See you then!

Scoutmaster T648
2015 Troop of the Year – Four Peaks District, Grand Canyon Council

Hello Troop 648

A quick reminder that the Tuesday, July 26th troop meeting will be devoted entirely to rank and merit badge advancement. Please remind your Scout to bring his Scout Book if he is working on rank requirements and/or make sure he is prepared to further advance a Merit Badge(s) that he may be working on. Additionally, if there is a Merit Badge your Scout would like to start, please let me know and I will see if we have a registered counselor and try and make arrangements with them.

As you may recall, we will be focusing on advancement in one meeting a month for the foreseeable future. While your Scout can work on advancement during any Tuesday meeting or outing, we believe these ‘Advancement Meetings’ will provide a valuable opportunity for each Scout’s progress.

Thanks and see you Tuesday!

Scoutmaster T648
2015 Troop of the Year – Four Peaks District, Grand Canyon Council

Hello Troop 648

A belated congratulations to Zachary Harper on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout! Zachary sat for his Eagle Scout Board of Review on July 14th and passed with flying colors. He is Troop 648’s 52nd Eagle Scout and we could not be more proud!

Zachary is also currently serving as the Troop’s Senior Patrol Leader. We look forward to a great year with him at the helm.

Congrats again Zachary on a job well done and well deserved!

Scoutmaster T648

To Troop 648 Registered Adult Leaders (or drivers for monthly outings),

A part of each month’s troop outing is submittal of the Tour Plan to BSA. The tour plan asks among other things for the names and vehicle information for each of the adults who will be driving on the outing. It has been several years since the vehicle information has been updated and I know several of us have changed out vehicles, and for some of the newer adults, the vehicle information is missing. I would therefore like to bring the vehicle information up to date. To support this effort, please provide the following:

Vehicle Manufacturer Name
Vehicle Model Name
Vehicle Model Year

If you have more than one vehicle, just provide the information for the vehicle you are most likely to use.

You can send this information to Mr. Weinhold, our Tour Plan expert, or Mr. Benyi.

Thanks!

Hello Troop 648

We are just days away from Summer Camp 2016: Emerald Bay! I hope everyone is getting their packing in order and completing all their merit badge requirements. We are still missing ALOT of forms, so please be sure to bring your completed forms tonight. Jacob Benyi recently sent you an email with a comprehensive list of what you are still missing.

Also, if your Scout is participating in SCUBA, don’t forget to bring all their paperwork tonight, including the additional medical form, online class completion certification, the many additionally PADI forms AND the written essay.

We will be painting the patrol flags tonight, so have your Scout wear a class B shirt.

If you have any questions prior to tonight, please email me – dmcfetters@gmail.com – otherwise, I look forward to seeing everyone at the 7pm meeting (and with all their paperwork)!

Scoutmaster T648

Good evening,

One of the longer merit badges to achieve, but also one of the more useful in managing one’s financial worth in life, is the Personal Management Merit Badge. It is Eagle required, and takes a minimum of 3+ months to complete. Mr. Cole began this merit badge with an introductory class before last week’s summer Court of Honor, but it is still not too late to begin.  I will be available during the next couple of troop meetings to kick start other individuals, as the scouts from last week’s class have commenced with independent study through a number of longer running activities such as a 13 week budget and the planning and shopping for a major family purchase. Due to the mature content and significant amount of work required to complete this badge, it is recommended that a scout be 13 or complete with second class before taking this course.  All interested should also look up and print the following PDF, which will serve as the worksheet for your work, and our subsequent review sessions.

https://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/f/fa/Personal_Management.pdf

Although the worksheet will serve as your guide, each scout should also obtain a copy of the merit badge booklet from the troop library or the scout shop, as perusing the book will result in significantly better understanding of the many activities which must be completed during this class. I look forward to working with each of you who are ready, willing, and able to fine tune your own personal financial acumen.

See you at upcoming troop meetings!

Mr. Cole

P.S. – here’s a retrospective from this past weekend’s trip to fish Blue Ridge Reservoir.  A number of trout and blue gills were hooked, and one very fresh trout returned with us to camp, and made an outstanding appetizer!