Troop 1345 in Burke has two openings for the Mountain Man High Adventure program at Blue Ridge Scout Reservation the week of July 12-18. Scouts must be age 13 or older and be able to backpack gear 1 1/2 miles. The cost for the week is $295 per scout. Please contact Assistant Scout Master Phil Scruggs for more information: pscruggs@ix.netcom.com. |
If you believe that you received this message in error and/or do not wish to receive further emails please click here. |
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Open High Adventure Slots
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Eagle Application and Service Project Workbook Update
If you have not heard, there is a new 2009 Eagle Scout Rank Application form (512-728). The 2008 version will not be accepted by the NCAC after August 1, 2009. The 2009 form is very similar to the 2008 form but more The .pdf version of the form is fillable and savable, unlike previous versions. Please test this on your own computer before losing substantial work. As with all scouting changes, there is a transition period from now until August 1, 2009 where the current 2008 Eagle Scout Rank Application form is valid and can be used by candidates for Eagle Scout. Scouts who have started their project or will have it completed before August 1, 2009 are not affected. Scouts do not need to re-do your Eagle Scout Rank Application form or project write-up if they believe they will have their Eagle Board of Review prior to August 1, 2009. If the Eagle Board of Review is conducted after August 1, 2009, then the Scout must use the 2009 version of the Eagle Scout Rank Application form but can use the current Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook if the project was started and complete before August 1, 2009. Note: Scouts may use the new 2009 Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook (512-927) now if they want but it is not required unless they are starting and/or completing their project after August 1, 2009. The .pdf version of the workbook is also fillable and savable, unlike previous versions. Please test this on your own computer before losing substantial work. We will get a Microsoft Word version of the form out as soon as it becomes available. Please click through the links contained in this email to access the forms. You can also go to the District Forms Page (link on the laft-hand side of the page or go to http://www.doubleknot.com/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.asp?LinkKey=17110&orgkey=371). If you have specific questions, please contact the District Advancement Chairman, Alan Deter, at alandeter@cox.net or call him in the evening at 703-455-3367. |
If you believe that you received this message in error and/or do not wish to receive further emails please click here. |
Monday, May 25, 2009
Patriot District Awards Dinner Pictures - Mary 2009
Share The News: Click here if you would like to send this information to one or more friends. Note, your friends will not be added any mail list. |
Patriot District Scouters, If you wish to view the photos from our recent Awards Dinner, please go to this site: https://doubleknot.com/openrosters/ViewPhotoAlbum.asp?orgkey=371&PhotoAlbumKey=6587 YIS Chip |
If you believe that you received this message in error and/or do not wish to receive further emails please click here. |
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Bloodsuckers & Pontificators
The other day I found myself listening to Rush Limbaugh. I've always enjoyed his program. I don't always agree with him, but I know why he's so popular. He's downright funny.
Rush was getting on a rant about Obama's commencement speech at Arizona State University. Obama was saying, "If you're a business major why not help a struggling non-profit improve its business model... If you're a nurse why not go into public health..."
According to Rush, Obama was telling everyone to go into non-profit work.
"Bloodsuckers," Rush said. "That's what the non-profit sector's filled with. Bloodsuckers." He went on to explain that if you got hit up as much as The Great El Maha Rushi, you'd think that all those non-profit folks were bloodsuckers.
No, Rush said. It was the producers that make the nation great. They make money that fuel the do-gooders' non-profits.
Boy did I get mad. I've never been angry from listening to Rush. Usually I get on my high horse with him. Laugh at all that liberal minutiae. But it really got to me.
Was I a bloodsucker? Was I wasting some talents that could better be used in the for-profit sector?
Before I get too far with this, don't worry. I'm not going to abandon my job as a professional Scouter to sell pharmaceuticals. But it really stuck in my craw, I have to admit.
My wife is on her seventh year teaching at an inner-city charter school in the District. My wife and I are poster children for the sort of stuff the Obamas keep on saying at all these commencements (although, I bet Obama would rather I worked for the Boys & Girls Club than the Boy Scouts--a subject for another blog post...).
We're going to Canada this next week with the kids from my wife's charter school. Every year, she takes kids to a French-speaking country. Every year it has been France, but this year it will be French-speaking Canada. We'll take a bunch of kids from across the Anacostia to the sugar shacks in Quebec.
There will be other stuff on this trip--we'll bike around Old Montreal, go ice skating--but this is the sort of thing I live for. I like to think that the sugar shacks of rural Canada are about as foreign as the streets of Paris or the villages of Paraguay to these kids from DC. It's the sort of wholly foreign landscape that a Scout from Burke might see on horseback in Philmont, New Mexico. And to be there when a young person's worldview changes radically--well, it's indescribable.
Maybe that's what's missing in Obama's charge and Rush's rant: There are a whole host of reasons to do this work--and most of it has nothing to do with sacrifice.
Rush was getting on a rant about Obama's commencement speech at Arizona State University. Obama was saying, "If you're a business major why not help a struggling non-profit improve its business model... If you're a nurse why not go into public health..."
According to Rush, Obama was telling everyone to go into non-profit work.
"Bloodsuckers," Rush said. "That's what the non-profit sector's filled with. Bloodsuckers." He went on to explain that if you got hit up as much as The Great El Maha Rushi, you'd think that all those non-profit folks were bloodsuckers.
No, Rush said. It was the producers that make the nation great. They make money that fuel the do-gooders' non-profits.
Boy did I get mad. I've never been angry from listening to Rush. Usually I get on my high horse with him. Laugh at all that liberal minutiae. But it really got to me.
Was I a bloodsucker? Was I wasting some talents that could better be used in the for-profit sector?
Before I get too far with this, don't worry. I'm not going to abandon my job as a professional Scouter to sell pharmaceuticals. But it really stuck in my craw, I have to admit.
My wife is on her seventh year teaching at an inner-city charter school in the District. My wife and I are poster children for the sort of stuff the Obamas keep on saying at all these commencements (although, I bet Obama would rather I worked for the Boys & Girls Club than the Boy Scouts--a subject for another blog post...).
We're going to Canada this next week with the kids from my wife's charter school. Every year, she takes kids to a French-speaking country. Every year it has been France, but this year it will be French-speaking Canada. We'll take a bunch of kids from across the Anacostia to the sugar shacks in Quebec.
There will be other stuff on this trip--we'll bike around Old Montreal, go ice skating--but this is the sort of thing I live for. I like to think that the sugar shacks of rural Canada are about as foreign as the streets of Paris or the villages of Paraguay to these kids from DC. It's the sort of wholly foreign landscape that a Scout from Burke might see on horseback in Philmont, New Mexico. And to be there when a young person's worldview changes radically--well, it's indescribable.
Maybe that's what's missing in Obama's charge and Rush's rant: There are a whole host of reasons to do this work--and most of it has nothing to do with sacrifice.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Patriot Press May 2009
| |||
If you believe that you received this message in error and/or do not wish to receive further emails please click here. |
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Summer!
Here's my most recent Patriot Press article. Every year we camp a lot of boys, but there are always boys who slip through the cracks and don't attend a summer camp. I think we can always do a better job of getting boys to camp:
Patriot Press, May 2009:
As we near the summer, the rubber hits the road, so to speak, when it comes to Scouting. Our youth join the Scouts because they want to go outdoors. And summer is when the best outdoor programs happen.
When I was a youth I did a lot of learning in the classroom. I did some of it on the wrestling mat and on the soccer field. But a really special kind of learning happened for me in Philmont, New Mexico and Boy Scout Camps in Alabama and Wisconsin.
I want to make sure that every youth in our community has the opportunity to experience the special learning that happens in nature. Thoreau tried to do this for himself--by himself--and recorded his experience in Walden. These days we have a couple of guys that have captivated the public on television shows: Survivorman and Man vs. Wild.
I like Survivorman the best. The less popular of the two survival shows. It's more psychological and spiritual than physical, which is a lot like Thoreau's Walden. They went into this physical hardship and found out it was more psychological and spiritual than anything else.
But I can't make sure that this sort of learning happens alone. I need others to help me make sure that every boy has the opportunity to go to camp. I need leaders to make it a priority to get as many boys as possible to camp. I need volunteers to give the leaders the information they need to encourage boys to go.
In the Patriot District, our Packs, Troops, and Crews do a lot of camping. But we could still do a better job of making sure that more of our boys go to camp. I don't know the magic formula to make this happen. Ideas?
Patriot Press, May 2009:
As we near the summer, the rubber hits the road, so to speak, when it comes to Scouting. Our youth join the Scouts because they want to go outdoors. And summer is when the best outdoor programs happen.
When I was a youth I did a lot of learning in the classroom. I did some of it on the wrestling mat and on the soccer field. But a really special kind of learning happened for me in Philmont, New Mexico and Boy Scout Camps in Alabama and Wisconsin.
I want to make sure that every youth in our community has the opportunity to experience the special learning that happens in nature. Thoreau tried to do this for himself--by himself--and recorded his experience in Walden. These days we have a couple of guys that have captivated the public on television shows: Survivorman and Man vs. Wild.
I like Survivorman the best. The less popular of the two survival shows. It's more psychological and spiritual than physical, which is a lot like Thoreau's Walden. They went into this physical hardship and found out it was more psychological and spiritual than anything else.
But I can't make sure that this sort of learning happens alone. I need others to help me make sure that every boy has the opportunity to go to camp. I need leaders to make it a priority to get as many boys as possible to camp. I need volunteers to give the leaders the information they need to encourage boys to go.
In the Patriot District, our Packs, Troops, and Crews do a lot of camping. But we could still do a better job of making sure that more of our boys go to camp. I don't know the magic formula to make this happen. Ideas?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)