We had a fun holiday party at Spare Time in Vernon yesterday! Bowling, food, laser tag, and games.
This Saturday is Wreaths Across America. And info from The South Windsor American Legion Post here. There will be a short ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Pool starting promptly noon, followed by wreath laying in the cemetery at First Congressional Church on old Main Street. Scouts should wear their Class A uniforms, dress warmly, and parental supervision is required. This is not a drop off event as some of our leaders will not be able to attend and chaperone. Afterwards, there will be desserts and hot chocolate in the Congressional Church basement. Hope you can make it!
Our hike is moved to Sunday at 2 PM at Valley Falls Park in Vernon. Dress for the weather with layers, gloves, hat, rugged shoes, and if it's snowy or icy by then, you may want to bring your Yak Tracks if you have them. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. We'll be making hot chocolate with our jet boils. Should be a fun sunset hike! Make sure you get there by 2:00 PM as we'll be starting out then in order to get back before it's too late. We should be back about 5PM-ish, and families are welcome to join us.
There will be No Committee meeting in December. We'll meet again in January.
Game Night w/ AOL: We will be having a game night meeting on December 17th. The AOLs from Cub Scouts will also be visiting us during this meeting, Make sure to bring an AOL if you know one! Patrol leaders: Make sure you have your materials for your games.
The scouts had a very good meeting today, and here are some announcements from the meeting:
1. Holiday Party: We will be having our troop holiday party on December 10th from 6pm to 8pm at Spare Time. More information is on WhatsApp. Make sure to fill out the payment and shoe size form (both on WhatsApp) if you plan on attending.
2. Game Night w/ AOL: We will be having a game night meeting on December 17th. The AOLs from Cub Scouts will also be visiting us during this meeting, Make sure to bring an AOL if you know one!
3. There will be a small PLC meeting on December 7th at 6:30pm at 56 Brewster Road.
4. We will be having a hike on December 14th. More information will be sent out about that soon.
5. Wreaths Across America will be taking place on December 13th at 12pm. More information about that will be released soon as well.
6. Today is/was the last night to buy discounted tickets to a Berkshire East ski trip. If you're planning on attending this trip, and like a discount (what parent doesn't want a discount) buy tickets ASAP.
Also, special shout out to James O'Brien. Whenever I cannot make a meeting he gives me this information and he consistently reads these announcements. I appreciate you buddy.
The scouts had an efficient meeting working on personal goals and interests for their own scouting journey, and here are some of the announcements from tonight's meeting:
1. Our next Troop Meeting is on Sunday November 23rd at Nevers Park Rotary Pavilion.. The scouts will be making wilderness survival shelters in the forest and will be put to our troops patented Troop 186 extreme weather simulation. This meeting will replace our Wednesday meeting, so in other words, there is NO MEETING WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 26TH.
2. PLC people, our next PLC Meeting will be Sunday December 7th. Mark your calendars, or if your calendars are already synced to the troops, your all set and no need to put in the effort (highly recommend doing this).
3. We are initiating a new program for our troop, where after regular Wednesday meetings, scouts can stay to work on Merit Badges, and get things checked off with available Merit Badge counselors.
4. We are renewing our Class B designs, so if anyone would like to order another Class B, a Google form will be sent out for ordering soon.
That's all I got. Thanks for making my job easy today.
The scouts had an excellent meeting working on requirements and their Wilderness Survival skills. Here are some announcements from the meeting:
1. Last weekend, Troop 186 had a very successful campout at JNW, having 3 patrols participate in the South Windsor annual Troop Challenge on Saturday. Throughout the day, patrols competed as teams in a number of challenges focusing on skills like physical fitness, knots, lashings, structure-building, first aid, and more, while being assessed on the patrols Leadership, Communication, and Cooperation in each challenge. In the end, point systems were used to determine the best patrol out of all 4 South Windsor troops. The Troop Challenge was especially good for the Order of the Cupcakes patrol, as the team of Ani, Keshav, Landyn, Pravarsh, Bhavan, and Kavin were able to become the new Troop Challenge champions, winning 1st place out of all 14 patrols in South Windsor, narrowly edging out the reigning champions Troop 682 by a slim 1.8 points (where both teams had around 220). Our other two patrols did notably well, with the GOAT's and the Jaguars placing 5th and 11th respectively. In terms of the actual event, Troop 186 did an amazing job as this year's organizers, with the amazing help of all the adults who volunteered and put in effort to pull this off (the event was made even better with my DJ skills).
2. This weekend is Scouting for Food! For those who don't know, Scouting for Food is our regional event where scouts stand outside of grocery stores to collect food donations for charity. Please sign up for a shift if you can, we needed as many scouts to do so. All sign up information can be found in the WhatsApp message. PLEASE WEAR CLASS A FOR YOUR SCOUTING FOR FOOD SHIFT
3. There have been a lot of inquiries about Merit Badges, and leaders are excited to share with you some more information on Merit Badge opportunities. First, Mr. Miller will be running Citizenship in the Nation and Citizenship in the Community after normal meetings on Wednesdays. If you are interested in joining, let Mr. Miller know and check the additional information in WhatsApp. In addition to this, Mrs. Root has done an amazing job providing scouts with extra opportunities to go elsewhere for Merit Badges, If you are interested in doing some of these Merit Badges outside of our normal meetings, once again check WhatsApp for the information she has sent.
Scouts - We're meeting at the Church at 5:30 PM on Friday.
Eat dinner first, or bring something for the drive. Make sure you have your flashlight on you as we'll be arriving in the dark.
Dress for COLD weather with layers as it may get warm on Saturday. Make sure you have a ground pad, warm sleeping bag, maybe extra blankets, knit hat to sleep in, rain gear, rugged footwear.
You should bring a small day pack you can keep your water bottle in, and for shedding clothes on Saturday as it warms up. You might want to bring a snack for during the day.
Anyone whose parent is not staying the entire time must have a signed permission slip.
The scouts had a very exquisite meeting concentrating on some First Aid skill learning, here is some information from this meeting, specifically focusing on our upcoming Troop Challenge:
TROOP CHALLENGE
Date: 11/7-11/9
Location: June Norcross Webster Scout Reservation
What to bring: (You should bring more than this but these are the important/key ones)
WARM CLOTHES
Food assignments (refer to patrol menu assignments)
Gloves
Beanie
Hat
Jacket
Layers
Extra Clothing
Extra Socks
Blanket
Hand Warmers
NO Class A
Flashlights
Additional Information:
A scout is trustworthy and as a scout I will not lie: The weather for this weekend is looking a bit rough, so make sure you are prepared for any weather type and bring the correct clothing and equipment.
On Friday, we will be meeting at the church at around 5:30 PM
On Friday, either eat dinner before coming or bring something for the road.
