Thursday, July 5, 2012—Troop 39 officially returns from Owasippe on Saturday, July 7 after spending two weeks at summer camp. The troop participated in Sessions I and II, having 21 scouts and five leaders at camp the first week and four scouts and four leaders the second week. This year, scouts were asked to contribute notes on their experiences into a daily journal. The entries ranged from a sentence or two up to a full paragraph. With the help of leaders our webmaster will compile stories about camp over the next week or two, and those stories will be shared here. If scouts wish to add to the troop's historical record, we ask that they send their contributions or pictures and stories to Mr. Mroczkowski.

For now, please visit the Troop 39 Facebook page to see several pictures accompanied by brief captions. Monday, August 6, 2012—Mr. Rodrigeuz, your Scoutmaster, asked that scouts be prepared to meet on the first Monday of August to begin work on planning for the Fall of 2012. There are no meetings throughout the month of July. Come ready to work! 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). 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. 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.

At the beginning each month, the Chicago Area Council sends out an E-Scouter Newsletter that you can sign up to receive. Keep informed on scouting activities in Chicago, and sign up.