Boy Scout Troop 648 Scottsdale, Arizona

Good evening:

An Eagle Court of Honor is the highest recognition event in scouting.  It is so special, that a separate event is scheduled to reflect on the individual, and his many accomplishments as a scout.  We have the honor of having two of these events in May – two of T648’s scouts have flown to the pinnacle, and receive their Eagle awards this month.  First was Mr. S. Martin.  The second one for Mr. T. Zahnow is this coming Saturday.

Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 2:30pm

Desert Springs Bible Church Activity Center

16215 N. Tatum Blvd,

Phoenix, AZ 85032

Please join our troop and the Zahnow family in recognizing this momentous achievement.  All scouts should wear Class A dress uniforms, and their families are welcome to attend.

Mr. Cole

Good morning,

Many thanks to the 20 scouts and the additional adult leaders attending this past weekend’s base camp at Ft Tuthill in northern Arizona.  The weather was fantastic – 36 degree mornings – and the archery spectacular.  The scouts, under the able direction of drill sergeant Traynor, worked on international archery technique during the morning, and then engaged in target and hunting trail competitions the remainder of the day.  It was terrific to watch the boys’ skills at 30 feet develop in such a short time of instruction and practice.  And then we had the opportunity to meet and observe an Eagle Scout from Flagstaff consistently hit the bulls eye from 3/4 of the length of a football field.  Amazing stuff!  We’ll need more troop guides and patrol leaders to attend the June canoe outing, however, so plan your calendars now for June 10-12.

With the end of school upon us, we still have many additional T648 opportunities approaching.  Tomorrow night at 6PM, Mr. Butler will work on tenderfoot requirements at the picnic tables by the youth room with all new boys looking to continue to progress in their initial scout skills.  We have T. Zahnow’s Eagle Court of Honor this coming Saturday at 2:30 PM at Desert Springs Bible Church on north Tatum.  Over the Memorial Day weekend, K. Lara is organizing our participation in the flag planting on the 28th at the veteren’s cemetery, which if you are not aware, is an amazing service project in which volunteers such as us plant flags on 45,000+ graves of our servicemen and women in northern Phoenix.  We also have additional flag pin fundraising opportunities on Memorial Day Saturday and Sunday, for those of you still looking to pad your scout funds for summer camp.  E. Lara and Mrs. Norling are the keepers of that schedule.  And Mr. Butler’s trip to the zoo on June 4th is on – stay tuned for further details on this fun opportunity to get some 2nd class advancement on native animal identification, while checking out our world class zoo with your parent or family.

Thanks as always to the adult leaders and parents who through their many efforts enable our troop to provide quality opportunities and events for our young men.  And thanks to our boy leaders who execute those events on the troop’s behalf.  It is a great time to be a scout in T648!     

Mr. Cole

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who attended Shawn’s Eagle Court of Honor.  I would like to especially thank all who helped with the set-up and take-down of the room.  Thanks also to all who helped with the ceremony and for all the added commentary.  That was an afternoon filled with memories that our family will cherish for may years to come.

See you this weekend……..Mr. Martin

Reminder: Eagle Scout is a goal every new Boy Scout has upon joining the program. Please come and participate in upcoming Eagle Rank celebrations earned by two of T648’s own. **********************************************************

Mr. S. Martin’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor is May 7, 2011 at 1:00pm

Elks Phoenix Lodge #335

14424 N 32nd Street,

Phoenix, AZ 85032

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Mr. T. Zahnow’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor is May 21, 2011 at 2:30pm

Desert Springs Bible Church Activity Center

16215 N. Tatum Blvd,

Phoenix, AZ 85032

***********************************************************

All troop friends and family are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Scouts please wear your Class A uniform.

Mr. Cole

Scouts, Leaders and Parents,

Apparently the sign-up list for Scouts and Leaders, that are planning to attend the outing, has been misplaced.  So, please e-mail me if you are planning to attend.  I would like to get an accurate count of Scouts and Leaders/Drivers who plan on attending.

Thanks…Mr. Martin

Good morning!

Thank you to everyone who made the Pancake Breakfast/Auction/Raffle a success!  We will have final results soon, once everyone turns in their ticket sales and remaining tickets to Mr. Parizek.  However, between the Raffle and Auction, we raised over $1600.  Boys who participated in providing items for their patrol baskets, provided items for the silent auction, or worked Saturday morning will be eligible to participate in a percentage of the scout fund deposits.  Ticket sales minus expenses will account for the remaining breakfast scout income.  We had tremendous support from the Knights of Columbus, scouts, parents and scouters – many thanks!

Initial reports back from the Grand Canyon High Adventure team were that Mr. Benyi’s secret hideaway was truly spectacular, and the stars were so brilliant that no one set up a tent.  I’m looking forward to more details from the Philmont shake-down hike crew on this weekend’s adventure.

Looking ahead, tomorrow we have Patrol Leader’s Council at 6PM, followed by the troop meeting at 7PM, and a parallel parent meeting hosted by Mr. Benyi on summer camp.  Please come, as this will be an opportunity to get a thorough understanding of the process, the camp, the merit badge opportunities, and an excellent chance to get any of your remaining questions on camp answered.  We are going to have close to 30 boys attending, which is the most since I have been a part of the troop.  Southern California’s Camp Mataguay is a terrific facility, and I am looking forward to a magnificent week of skills development, advancement, outdoors experiences, and fun!  Later this week we have the opportunity to participate in Pack 648’s crossover ceremony, and welcome additional scouts into our troop.  And in a couple of weeks, we will be having an outstanding archery outing in the woods south of Flagstaff.  Mighty good!

I want to close with two upcoming opportunities to witness and participate in something truly magnificent.  When boys begin cub scouts as a Tiger, they are really in it to have fun.  When they join Boy Scouts, they generally are looking to spend quality time out of doors in our terrific park systems, while in the process developing useful camping/hiking/leadership skills.  However, for a number of boys, the ultimate goal is Eagle Scout.  T648 has two scouts who have met the amazing amount of requirements necessary to receive this honor, and we will be recognizing them this month.  I would encourage all of our scouts to attend these ceremonies – they are testaments to the amount of effort it takes to develop as a leader, but also tangible evidence that it is in fact achievable, if a scout wants to set his goals high.  Mr. S. Martin has his Eagle Court of Honor this Saturday at 1PM, and Mr. T. Zahnow has his Eagle Court of Honor on May 21st.  Well done, gentlemen!

Mr. Cole

Good evening,

Tomorrow is our Pancake Breakfast & Auction/Raffle – the largest Fundraiser of the year.  The full shift will be approximately 6AM until 11AM, with the doors open from 7:30AM until 10AM.  The pool money (the remainder of the ticket money above the $3 going to the scout selling the ticket, along with a portion of the auction/raffle pool money) will be divided amongst the boys who work the event.  The percentage of the pool money each boy is entitled to is dependent upon how much of the 5 hours he has worked.  We will need setup crew, kitchen workers, servers, bus boys, tear down crew and cleaners.  Dress will be class B uniform.  Points toward honor patrol also apply.  Come help serve your family and friends, and watch your scout accounts continue to grow! 

See you bright & early!  Mr. Cole

We have reserved Ft Tut Hill Group site B’ for our archery base camp.  The Flagstaff Archers will not charge us for the use of their range (free stuff!)

Gas money……..$ 20.00  (With the price of gas these out of town trips will be costly)

Park fee…………$   8.00  (20 to 25 total attending, for adults and Scouts)

There is a Safeway and Walmart just down the road.  Just a suggestion.  We may want to simply carry Breakfast up to camp and send a crew with a list for groceries  first thing. Saturday morning.  Rather than haul all the chow and ice from Scottsdale.

So….$ 28.00 plus the cost of food.  Still, not bad for a weekend of fun.

Fort Tuthill County Park Campground.

Meet at the Church at 5:00 Friday, May 13th

Depart at 5:30 Friday

Cost–$28.00 + food

Return, at the church @ 12.00 noon Sunday, May 15th

Dress for the weekend: Temps–34 degrees at night and 65 degrees mid day.  So forget the warm valley weather and dress appropriately.

May’s outing to Flagstaff requires a signed liability release form, which can be found here.

Good evening,

I hope you all had a pleasant and most glorious weekend.  But it is again time to dive ahead into a glorious week of scouting.  Tomorrow night we have the distinct honor to have Jerry Jacka, professional photographer with us.  One of his specialties has been taking spectacular photos of our marvelous state for AZ Highways Magazine.  It should be a tremendous evening, since one of our specialties is exploring our marvelous state on troop outings.  Don’t forget the Citizenship merit badge class at 6:15, and to bring your raffle items to be assembled into the baskets, or your donated auction items.  Hopefully you have all been successful in selling pancake breakfast tickets.  If every boy sells 25 tickets, we’ll sell over 1,000 tickets!  Let’s shoot for the moon with this one!  Don’t forget that we’ll be arriving to set up beginning at 6AM on Saturday, and the doors will be open for service from 7:30-10AM. 

Tomorrow night we should be settling up on who is going to summer camp.  We currently have 24 going, so if you are not on the list and want to be, get your name and $$ in by Tuesday.  Looking ahead, we have a parent summer camp / merit badge overview on May 3rd, but if you already know which merit badges you want, beat the rush and get them in to Mr. Benyi.  Looking farther ahead, we have S. Martin’s Eagle Court of Honor at 1PM on May 7th.  We also have the archery base camp outing coming up outside of Flagstaff on the 13th-15th.  And by the 15th, Mr. Butler has asked for commitments from anyone wishing to join him at the Phoenix Zoo for  the 2nd Class 10 wild animal advancement requirement.  

There are many happy trails ahead – what a great time to be a scout in T648!

Mr. Cole