January 25—District Roundtables are held every fourth Wednesday of the month at Queen of Angels, 4412 N Western Avenue. The theme for January's Roundtable is Public Service, and there will a speaker there to discuss involvement with Habitat for Humanity and how scouts at every level can participate in a project. There is a potential here for scouts who plan on doing an Eagle Project in the future to gain ideas and make a connection. Not everything is hammers and nails with Habitat for Humanity. Come and learn. Also, there will be information about Powder Horn, which trains leaders and youth on how to prepare for high adventure outings. Everyone is invited to attend. The deadline to register for the Klondike Derby is January 25, and the event will take place on February 4 at Camp Dan Beard. We need a minimum of six scouts to participate to have a team. It's a great time. Here's a list of some of the items we'll need to have: a sled (we have), Scout Handbook, pencil, pocket knife, 50 feet of rope, 2 blankets, a patrol flag, patrol first aid kit, 4 - 6 foot pieces of rope, firewood, kindling and tinder, fire starter (matches, flint and steel, or two sticks), a compass, 1 gallon of water, 1 can of non-cream soup per scout or a sack lunch if you don't like soup. Saturday, January 28, 2012—Troop 39 will once again be moving more of our supplies and equipment out from Unity Lutheran at 11:00 a.m. While on Jan. 14th we had several dedicated scouts show up to move the majority of the remaining items out, there continues to be a few items still at the old location. If we have more than eight scouts show up to move their equipment, a meal of pizza has been promised to all. Please let your scoutmaster, Mr. Rodriguez, know if you will be attending. February 17-20, 2012—Cornell University in partnership with the National Audubon Society and Bird Studies Canada is sponsoring the Great Backyard Bird Count, a program to encourage people to be better citizen scientists. Over four days in February for at least 15 minutes at a time, they are asking people to count the number of species of birds they see at a location, which can be your backyard, a park or just about any defined location. You then go to the Great Backyard Bird Count website and record what you've seen. The video explains the process, but ask Mr. Mroczkowski about how it is done at our next meeting. It's free, and you get to see the flutuation in bird populations across the country and learn about the impact of changes to the environment over several years. It is important to participate, because the more people who participate the more accurate of a picture will be obtained of just how bird populations are fairing. On March 9, 10 and 11—Starved Rock Lodge is offering an Owl Prowl Weekend. They are offering an educational program, live owl presentations, and night owl walks to name just a few events. For more information leaders should contact Edna for tickets at 815-220-7386, and find more information on the Starve Rock Calendar. 2012 is just around the corner, and every leader and parent involved with Troop 39 should be looking at ways to make it the best year ever. The place to begin is with yourselves. Here are Nine Ways To Be a Better Scouter in 2012, a article by Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout and the senior editor of Scouting magazine. If you can only get to one out of the nine, it will make Troop 39 stronger. Sunday, June 24, 2012—Troop 39 plans to attend Owasippe Scout Reservation for summer camp in 2012. Although it seems many months away, planning and preparation for a week (or two) worth of fun and earning merit badges needs to begin today. Talk with your leaders about what you can be doing now to get ready. If you are not acquainted with Owassipe, take a look back at one of Troop 39's many visits, Summer Camp 2010. What do these Merit Badges—Bird Study, Dog Care, Environmental Science, Insect Study, Mammal Study, Nature, Pets, Plant Science, Reptile and Amphibian Study, and Soil and Water Conservation—all have in common? You can earn them at the North Park Nature Center. The North Park Village Nature Center is located at 5801 N. Pulaski Road in Chicago. There are several staff members of the center that are registered counselors. You may reach them at (312) 744-5472. Talk about a patrol leader arranging a great outing (hint), this would be one of them. Talk to your leaders and we can make it happen. Get your Boy Scout Manual. Pick a requirement in the rank you are working on and work on it. That might sound simple, but pick just one requirement and work on it. Don't try to do too many at once. Just one or two a week. Some requirements can only be done on campouts, but there are many that can be done during our troop meeting. Use your common sense and pick one of those. We have several campouts coming up between now and July, so you'll be able to work on camping requirements then. Also, you can watch these videos that explains Tenderfoot, Second-class and First-class requirements. The key thing, is get your manual, and bring it to everything we do. Then ask a leader or scout who has earned the rank of First Class or above to sign you off on the requirement you earned. You'll have to demonstrate you know it of course. He or she will have to see that you completed the requirement.
Oh, you can get First Class requirements signed off before you earn the rank of Second Class, but you have to complete the earlier ranks before you can get to the next level. Every so often, show Mr. Dreasler your manual and have him record your advancements. Show him your manual at least once a month. Above all, take charge of your advancement. There are many leaders in our troop, and everyone will help you but you need to approach us and ask for help. No one will be bothered if you come to a meeting asking to have a requirement checked off. There are now three patrols run by the Scouts: Wolf, Flamming Flamingos and Senior Patrol. This does not include the adult patrol, Big Foot. Patrol Leaders and Assistant Patrol leaders were selected, and each patrol will need to create a patrol flag and patrol cheer (for when their patrol is called). There are pages on our site where each patrol may include information about their patrol. There remains a number of positions in the troop that have yet to be filled. Send your information to Mr. Mroczkowski and he will post it to your patrol pages (and other pages on the our site as appropriate). Scouts have begun the First Aid Merit Badge. To those scouts working on the merit badge, Mr. Lamble has requested they download and print the worksheet. Scouts who have already earned this merit badge are encouraged to review the requirements, because of all the merit badges we earn and learn the First Aid Merit Badge is perhaps the most vital to know. Additionally, some scouts have requested work on the Music Merit Badge. Print off a copy of the worksheet and talk with Mr. Mroczkowski about the requirements. The second option to complete the Outdoor requirement for the Year of Celebration ribbon (above) is: Attend a Scout overnight campout and practice the principles of Leave No Trace. But what is Leave No Trace? Well, Leave No Trace (LNT) was conveniently developed by The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, an educational, nonprofit dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and active stewardship of the outdoors by all people, worldwide. Their putting forth a challenge, a big challenge, the Bigfoot Challenge! Asking you to take a look at your imprint on the environment, LNT is raising awareness about how to enjoy nature by making the smallest impact on it. Ask Mr. Lamble about LNT and how you can complete the requirement for the Outdoor ribbon. Bring in your menus for the three types of cooking: Camp Cooking, Trail Cooking and Home Cooking. Camp Cooking needs to be two straight days of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Trail Cooking needs to be one day (three meals): breakfast, lunch and dinner. Home Cooking needs to be three full days of breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Use the Cooking Merit Badge help page provided by Mr. Mroczkowski to complete your requirements. Keep in mind that you will need to cook the meals as well, but there is plenty of camping coming up and plenty of opportunities at home. Hint: there are some great menus in the Cooking Merit Badge book. The Order of the Arrow has put together a great resource titled, "Where to Go Camping Guide." Use it, share it and thank Owasippe Lodge #7 for the thorough job of putting it together. Youth Protection Training is required for all registered volunteers. New leaders are required to take Youth Protection Training before they submit their application for registration. The certificate of completion must be submitted when the application is made and before volunteer service with youth begins. Youth Protection Training must be taken every two years. If a volunteer’s Youth Protection Training record is not current at the time of recharter, the volunteer will not be reregistered. Read more about the changes to BSA's Youth Protection and how to complete the training.

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