The Past:
March, what an exciting month it was! Patrol elections were held and the Sharks are now the Flying Sharks. I want to wish the best of luck to all the newly elected patrol leaders. Steven Bohn’s Eagle project was a huge success. It was really good to see other troops working together for a common cause. Great work, Steven! We had six OA members complete their brotherhood (3 at OA spring fellowship and 3 at spring camporee). The district’s Millennium’s 1st spring camporee was very exciting. There were 27 scouts that attended (which is a record for our troop). The troop received 2nd place in the troop cooking competition and the Honking Wolves won 2nd place in the volleyball tournament. We also had 5 scouts elected to OA and were called out. We made our final payment to Frank Rand for summer camp.
The Present:
Enchanted Rock is April 7th – 9th. The cost for the outing is $30. See Joe Sellers for signup. April is a great month to plan an outing for your patrol. The district food drive will be Saturday the 29th.
The Future:
OA ordeals and service will be May 5th thru the 7th at El Rancho Cima and May 12th – 13th at Camp Strake. And yes, Schlitterbahn (while staying @ Randolph AFB) is just around the corner (May 26th – 28th). So sigh up early for all events. If you still owe on your summer camp account, please keep paying.
SM Minutes:
Next week we'll be outdoors again, and it's good to remind ourselves that Scouts obey the Wilderness Pledge whenever they are hiking, camping, or on other activities away from the meeting place. You should be familiar with the Wilderness Pledge. It says, "Through good camping and hiking practices, I pledge myself to preserve the beauty and splendor of Americas' wilderness, primitive and backcountry areas.I commit myself to:
Set a personal example in following the Outdoor Code.
Train those I lead in the skills and attitudes needed to protect and preserve wilderness for future generations.
Assure that parties of which I am a part observe the camping and hiking standards that will leave no trace of our passing. "
It seems to me that what it boils down to is that in the Wilderness Pledge we commit ourselves as Scouts not only to preserve the environment but to make it better. For example, not only don't we leave litter ourselves, we pick up other peoples litter. And we not only build safe fires, we try to make sure that others do, too. In other words we take responsibility as Scouts to do whatever we can to keep America beautiful.
That may seem like a tall order. Nobody enjoys picking up other people’s litter. It's a lot easier to just say, "Boy, what a mess!" and pass it by. But that's not the Scouting way.
On all our hikes and campouts, let's leave the land better than we found it. That's Scouting's way.
Yours in Scouting
Bobby Metcalf