With Summer Camp quickly approaching, Troop 39 will be heading up to Owasippe near Whitehall, Michigan for Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-28, 2012. This is a family campout. Everyone in your family is invited to attend and learn the lay of the land at Summer Camp. Please let your leaders know if you will be attending. Over the next two weeks, each patrol will put together a menu for each meal. Scouts will buy their own food, prepare their own meals, and clean up their own mess. New scouts and parents should be aware that the troop has tents that the boys use, and they will be paired up two to a tent. They will need to have their own mess kit, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. A complete list will be discussed at our meetings. Sunday, June 24, 2012—Troop 39 plans to attend Owasippe Scout Reservation for summer camp in 2012. Although it seems far 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.

Owasippe offers six weeks of camp, and Troop 39 has reserved Site 7 at Camp Wolverine for Week 1 (June 24-June 30) and Week 2 (July 1- July 7). You may attend one or both weeks.

Let your parents know about the cost. This year Owasippe 2012 Fees for one week are $260 per Scout and $155 per adult leader. If you were a Boy Scout in 2011 and register for camp after May 30, you will incur a $30 late fee per scout. New Boy Scouts (a.k.a. recent Cub Scouts), who joined the Troop after January 1, 2012, are not subject to a late fee. However, the sooner we know who is going the better it is for leaders to plan. Final payment must be submitted by May 31st.

Does that sound like the fees are too high for your family? Camperships are available to help defer some of the costs. Any youth interested in applying for a campership may do so by going to printing off this Campership form. All Scouts and adults are required to have a completed Health Form. This is not optional, and you may not use a medical form from your school. Print out the 2012 Annual Health and Medical form, and have it signed by your medical doctor.

For more information, please ask questions at our next troop meeting. We will be posting more, but for now parents may want to visit the Chicago Area Council Camping page. There you may read about all that Owasippe has to offer, and review the "Information for Parents" guide. 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.

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.