Astronomy Merit Badge

Our troop just finished the Astronomy Merit Badge. We appreciate Steve Beck helping us with this fun merit badge about the stars, constellations, the solar system, and our galaxy. We have included some great apps that may be helpful in your viewing of the stars and night sky. These are great apps available for your iPhone or iPod touch. Check them out.

Skyview:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skyview-free-explore-universe/id413936865?mt=8

Planets:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/planets/id305793334?mt=8

Pocket Universe:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-universe-classic/id567184849?mt=8

Star Map:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/starmap-lite/id505155967?mt=8

Sputnik:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sputnik!/id393001070?mt=8

Solar System Scope:

http://www.solarsystemscope.com/

(note…with the web version of this app you must set your location by clicking the gears…it defaults to UK, which means everything is about 8 hours off)

Black Friday Deal on Scout Products

The Boy Scout Supplies website is offering 20% off today only. This great deal is rarely seen for the entire site. This includes all apparel, uniforms, and outdoor gear. If you scout is in need of a new shirt, a handbook, or just looking for a few possible stocking stuffers for Christmas then you may want to check this great deal out. 

A lot of people don't realize that the BSA offers jeans on their website as well. BSA has some great looking blue jeans on their website that look great, are comfortable, and super affordable. They are regularly just under $8 a pair but with 20% off they are even better. Check this deal out while you are on the site. Sign up for their newsletter and be the first to know about all the deals.

www.ScoutStuff.org 

New Leadership ... What does it mean?

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to help young people make ethical and moral choices in their lives by installing in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law. Scouting is about creating new leaders, leaders of tomorrow. Troop 1305 provides scouts the opportunity to be leaders. This week we provided new opportunities for leadership with new assignments in scout positions. As the new Deacon's Quorum President, Kaden has been made the new Senior Patrol Leader. He is excited to take on this new role and will have new responsibilities ahead of him. As scout leaders, we hope each scout takes his responsibilities serious and with great respect. 

Below is a list of each new position assign this week. Each scout will be give his specific responsibilities for the troop.  Each has his important role that if followed through with makes the troop run smooth. 

Kaden - Senior Patrol Leader

Conner - Assistant Senior Patrol Leader

Zane - Chaplain Aide

Luc - Scribe

Aaron - Historian

Hunter - Librarian

Jackson - Leave No Trace Instructor

Jacob - Webmaster

Gavin - Quartermaster

Justin - Firemarshall

Braden - E.D.G.E. Instructor

Max - E.D.G.E. Instructor

Lord Baden-Powell the founder of scouting once said “Scouting is a game for boys under the leadership of boys under the direction of a man.” Scouting will allow all our young men to become leaders if we let them.

 

It Seems That All They Do Is Sports

For many in Troop 1305 the fall time brings a lot of sports. Sports range from football and baseball to soccer and cross country. Either way this often makes holding a scout meeting with everyone in attendance near impossible. With this in mind, the last few weeks of scouts we have focused on sports and our own personal fitness.

Last week our focus was on the sports merit badge where we completed the workbook requirements for this merit badge. If you or your scout were not there you can find the merit badge worksheet at www.meritbadge.org.

A few weeks ago we started the personal fitness merit badge by running the mile run. For the following 90 days you or your scout will need to track your exercising. Exercsing can include an active physical exercise lasting at least 15 minutes should be recorded. This could include walking to school. A chart is provided in the worksheet found at www.meritbadge.org. Please come prepared at scouts to record your exercising.

Scouts will continue on Wednesdays at 7pm and we will meet at the church.

Backpacking Advice from Explorer Andrew Skurka

I recently read an article in the Scouting Magazine about EXTREME hiker Andrew Skurka.  In previous research for scouting backpack trips and my own personal research I came Andrews website, but with this recent article that was shared in Scouting Magazine, I thought I would pass it along. I included the first part of the article here as well as the link to the entire article and Andrew Skurka's personal blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

HERE’S WHAT THE WORLD’S BEST-KNOWN LONG‑DISTANCE HIKER, ANDREW SKURKA, CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT LEADING YOUR SCOUTS ON A DAY HIKE—OR A 100-MILER.

Does Andrew Skurka ever stay still? Sure, but not to rest. When he isn’t traveling, Skurka hosts backpacking clinics, speaking in packed auditoriums and cramped church basements. He especially likes addressing Scouts and Scouters, which he did recently in Escondido, Calif. (above). Photo by Nadia Borowski Scott.

THE AUDACITY OF Andrew Skurka struck the outdoors world with full force late in the summer of 2005. It was then, with Skurka fresh off what had amounted to a nearly 8,000-mile hike, that reports began circulating about a “kid” who had backpacked solo across the entire continent.

Starting in Quebec, Skurka—just 23 years old, a former Scout, and a recent graduate of Duke University—filled a small flask with water from the Atlantic Ocean. He then shouldered a backpack and walked west. A transcontinental wilderness route sketched on a series of maps served as his sole guide into the unknown journey ahead.

Eleven months later, at a misty beach in Washington State, Skurka emerged from the trees skinny and wet. He marched into the ocean shallows. He uncapped his flask and dumped its contents over his head, the briny waters of the Atlantic from months back mingling with the Pacific Ocean below. It was a symbolic closure to a feat Skurka would later refer to as his “coming-of-age hike.”

Andrew Skurka was born in 1981, and he grew up in Seekonk, Mass., an area with “very limited outdoor recreation opportunities.” As a boy, he rode his mountain bike and explored swamps near his home. He joined Scouting. During college, Skurka spent summers as a camp counselor in North Carolina.

Skurka, who turns 31 this March, has a dozen significant expeditions under his backpacking belt. In a rare trajectory, during just a few years, Skurka ascended from workaday backpacker to bona fide explorer status, including the coronation as “Adventurer of the Year” by no less than the National Geographic Society in 2007.

The Quebec-to-Washington walk—dubbed the “Sea-to-Sea Route”—followed trail systems and pathless stretches in a serpentine line across the country. It required ultralight backpacking technique and months with 30-plus mile days strung one after the next. “I need the challenge of a long trip, the physical and athletic component,” Skurka says. “I push the limits to see what my limits are.”

His latest feat—the 4,680-mile “Alaska-Yukon Expedition,” which entailed traveling by foot, ski, and packraft alone for 176 days straight—pushed Skurka to the edge. Scouting caught up with the backpacking superstar on a rare hiatus from hiking to talk about Alaska, wilderness techniques, gear, and how knowledge from his extreme feats can apply to the average Scout troop or crew heading into the woods on a weekend trip.

Backpacking Advice from Explorer Andrew Skurka - Scouting Magazine Article

http://andrewskurka.com/ - Andrew Skurka Personal Website

Enjoy and we'll see you "On the Trail."

Welding Merit Badge Pamphlet - Merit Badge Pamphlets - Literature & Media - BSA

The Boy Scouts of America recently released a new merit badge for Scouts to earn.  The new merit badge became available on February 24, 2012.  Check the link below for additional information about the new badge.

Welding Merit Badge Pamphlet - Merit Badge Pamphlets - Literature & Media - BSA

Lifeline Survival Mug

A great deal! This kit contains first aid items, a multi-function knife, waterproof matches, an emergency whistle, and a mini flashlight with battery, all nicely packaged in a water-tight Lexan mug with a screw-on lid. The cup alone is sold by other companies for about $10! This is a good item for your emergency kit and would make a great gift for friends or relatives.

Buy one at a discounted price of $9.99 and get one FREE! A $33.98 value, all just for $9.99.

List Price: $ 16.99

Our Price: $9.99 

Underground Pricing: 2 for $9.99!

More Information 

Offer Expires 02/26/12

Coupon Information Below  

Print this coupon and bring it into one of our locations to receive our Underground Pricing, or use the coupon code (see below) during checkout on our website to receive your discount. Lifeline Survival Mug, 2 for $9.99! Online Coupon Code: MUG11 Prices good until store closing on 02/26/12, or while supplies last. Cannot be combined with any other offer. For information on our hours, see our store information page. Offer Expires: Sunday, February 26, 2012

Troop 1305 had a successful and fun time at the 2012 District 29 Klondike Derby.  This year the race was once again held at Rockport State Park up near Wanship Utah. Although there was not a lot of snow we did have enough scouts to successfully pull our sled to another Klondike Derby Championship.  As well the Scout Leaders were able to also pull the sled to a championship in adult race as well. This even included one sled runner be sabotaged off in the middle of the race by a competing sled.  We still finished in front with one sled runner.  The scouts were excited that we were able to come away with a new dutch oven for our camping equipment. Nice job by all the scouts in making this a successful event.

The troop visited the Riverton City Council Meeting tonight.  It was great to have the City recognize each troop and scout that was there tonight.  Our city is willing to take an active role in our local scout troops and that is a refreshing site in todays society. It was great to see the Mayor take time to explain why things were being done a certain way and the procedures of the meeting.

Thanks Riverton City for the great experience with our troop.

Scouts Weekly Update

There is no week activity this week because of the Merit Badge Pow Wow this weekend (Saturday). We will plan to meet at Mark Brown's home at 7:15am Saturday morning.

This is the last week so remember to bring your homework and blue cards. Scouts should have been able to complete four merit badges.