Troop
#125 Welcome Handbook
Table
of Contents
Welcome!
A
Boy-Led Troop
Patrol
Method
Family
Participation
Scout
Uniform
Meetings
Advancement
Service,
New Skills and Fun
Campout
Weekends
High-Adventure
Trips
Boy
Scout Summer Camp
Equipment
Expenses
Fund-Raising
Welcome!
Welcome to Boy Scout Troop 125 of Okemos,
Michigan. We are very happy to have you
join us. We are a 33-year old troop
chartered by the Okemos Kiwanis Club and we belong to the
Chief Okemos Council
of the Boy Scouts of America
(BSA). In 2001, we had a membership of
30 boys. Membership is open to any boy
eligible to be a Boy Scout, regardless of race, religion, nationality, or place
of residence. For more information on
the BSA, obtain an official Boy Scout
Handbook.
As a Boy Scout in Troop 125, you are expected to
live by the Scout Oath and Scout Law. We expect all boys to participate in Scouting activities,
learn Scouting skills, advance in rank, learn and practice leadership skills,
and have fun. We insist you keep
Scouting in the right perspective. Your
family, religious obligations and school come first, but Scouting should also
be a priority. We understand that many
boys have friends, lessons, sports and other demands on their time. but to be a
member of Troop 125 you need to be able to participate in most of the meetings
and activities. If you find other
things consistently more important to you than Boy Scouting, you will need to
reevaluate your decision to be a member of Troop 125. We hope you find fun and enrichment in this Troop, but membership
is also about responsibility and not letting other Scouts down by failing to
show up and do your share.
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Boy-Led Troop
Under the
philosophy of Boy Scouting, Scouts are responsible for their own actions. The founder of Scouting, Lord
Baden-Powell,
believed in boy-run Troops and we do too.
This means the boys decide what activities we will pursue such as high
adventure trips, campouts, canoe trips, service projects, fundraising, potlucks,
etc. Boys run their own meetings. Adult leaders (Scouters) are in the Troop to
guide, teach and assist the Scouts reach their Scouting goals.
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Patrol Method
We organize the Scouts into patrols of 6-8
boys. Each patrol chooses its own
Patrol Leader. All the boys elect a
Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) who runs the Troop meetings and heads the Patrol
Leaders Council (PLC). The PLC is
comprised of the SPL, all Patrol Leaders and all other officers the SPL
appoints such as the Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders, Quartermaster, Historian,
etc. We hold Troop elections twice a
year in February and August. Newly elected
leaders are expected to attend a Troop run Junior Leader Training.
New Scouts crossing over into Boy
Scouts from Cub Scouts will be members of a New Scout Patrol. During their first year in Troop 125, a
Troop Guide will assist them. Each new
Scout will have a chance to be the Patrol Leader. At the end of their first year in the Troop they will join an
existing patrol.
Each patrol has its own name and
identity. It is a team that will work
and play together. On campouts, patrols
cook and eat together and divide up the work amongst patrol members. Patrols are the places were boys practice their
leadership skills.
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Scouting in Troop 125 is just not just for the boys. The family of each Scout is expected to
support Troop activities. This includes coming to Scout programs and
volunteering to help when needed. There
are enough opportunities to serve that each family can select what it enjoys
most or is best able to do. Examples of
ways Scout parents/guardians can help the Troop include serving as merit badge counselors,
chaperoning trips, providing transportation, making phone calls, serving as Assistant
Scoutmasters, being on a Board of Review, and many other jobs. Ask your Scout' s Assistant Scoutmaster, the
Troop Committee Chair or ScoutMaster how you can help—or they will call you to
let you know what is needed from you.
When asked to take your turn at helping, please do your part with
enthusiasm for helping to make Scouting a great experience for the boys of
Troop 125
A parent/guardian from each Scout
family is required to attend the Parent Committee Meeting held three times each
school year. We understand each family
has many demands on its time but we believe that every boy’s Scouting
experience should be enough of a family priority that one parent can attend
three short meetings each year. Parents
can meet other leaders and parents, are given information about upcoming
activities, and are offered opportunities to ask questions and can suggest
Troop activities. We put notices of
these meetings in Troop schedule and we email reminders, too.
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Uniform
The uniform of Troop 125 is the official BSA uniform shirt; either
short or long sleeve style, a Scout belt and the green Troop shorts or long
pants. The shorts or long pants can be the
official BSA shorts or long pants or alternates purchased through the Troop. There is a Troop neckerchief and Troop hat,
which are part of the complete uniform and are to be worn along with the shirt
whenever a uniform is required. Troop
125 Scouts are expected to wear their uniform to all meetings, Boards of
Review, and other activities the PLC designates. As a sign of courtesy and respect, hats are never worn inside our
meeting place, Faith Lutheran Church. For some events, such as service projects
the PLC will require an activity uniform such as a Scout related T-shirt &
Scout shorts or long pants. Your Patrol Leader can tell you if an activity does
not require the uniform. Otherwise,
wear it to all Scouting events.
Every
Troop 125 Scout is expected to wear all his appropriate insignia on his uniform
shirt. New badges or insignia should be
sewn of the Scout’s shirt promptly when received. Directions for placement of insignia on the Scout shirt are found
on the Boy Scout Uniform Inspection Sheet
which is available from the publications
page in PDF format.
Troop
125 maintains a “uniform closet” where Scouts can trade and recycle uniforms as
they grow. Mrs. Marilyn McCarthy runs
the uniform closet. You can purchase
new uniforms at the Chief Okemos Council Office Scout Shop, 4000 W. Michigan in
Lansing. That’s near the intersection
of Waverly & W. Michigan next to Family Video. Call 321-9400 for the
hours. Uniforms are also available
through the BSA Catalog or
Holden-Reid Clothiers.
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Meetings
Troop 125 meets Monday evenings
at 7 PM all months except for a portion of August at Faith Lutheran Church,
4515 Dobie Road in Okemos. Meetings last until 8:15. “Service Patrols” are appointed for each meeting to set up and
clean up. Service Patrol members need
to be at Faith Lutheran 10 minutes before the meeting and stay 10 minutes after
to clean up.
On Mondays following a campout, only the PLC meets
not all the boys. Some meetings are
cancelled during holiday times and during Okemos Schools vacations during the
school year. Consult your Troop
Schedule or ask your Patrol Leader. He
can tell you if a meeting is cancelled.
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Advancement
Troop 125 wants its members to
advance through the ranks of Scouting and earn the many badges and awards that
are available. Scouts can learn a lot and
have great fun working on merit badges, awards, and advancing in rank. Complete information on the ranks in Boy
Scouting can be found in your Boy Scout
Handbook.
In Troop 125, our Advancement Chair, Mrs. Joan Wierzba keeps track of
your progress and awards. She is the
person to whom you must turn in your completed blue card, when you finish a
merit badge. To work on a particular
merit badge, you must first get a signed blue card from the Scoutmaster or an
Assistant Scoutmaster. You can borrow a
merit badge booklet for the particular badge from the Troop 125 library for a
quarter. Ask Mrs. Wierzba for the name,
address and phone number of a merit badge counselor for the merit badge you’ve
selected. This adult will advise you
and measure your achievement as you work on your badge. When you meet with a merit badge counselor,
take a parent or another Scout along.
To
advance in rank, you must meet the rank requirements detailed in your handbook,
pass a Scoutmaster Conference and pass a Board of Review. Please note that for the Star, Life and
Eagle ranks, you are required to be active in Scouts for 3, 3 and 6 months at
the lower rank before you advance. The
Parent Committee has defined active to mean that you have attended at least
half of the meetings and activities.
The Scoutmaster has discretion to redefine active if the Scout shows
extenuating circumstances. Troop 125
holds a Board of Review about every 3 months.
Boars of Review are announced at regular meetings. When you pass a Board of Review your higher
rank will be awarded at the next Court of Honor. Courts of Honor are also held every 3 months.
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Service, New Skills and Fun
When Troop 125 goes on a camping weekend, a high adventure trip or to
summer camp) read more about these activities below), we go for several
reasons. On every trip, we want our
Scouts to learn and practice low-impact outdoor skills, work on rank
advancement, practice teamwork and leadership and have fun. Some trips are especially designed to be
service projects where Scouts help others.
We consider service to be an important part of Scouting, and we expect
Troop 125 Scouts to participate in the service projects as much as they do in
the outdoor activities. Even on the
service projects, we have fun.
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Campout
Weekends
Troop 125
plans a camping weekend every 4-6 weeks.
Both Scouts and parents are encouraged to come on every campout. Usually, the campout has a specific theme,
such as fishing, first aid or canoeing, etc.
Usually, we sleep in three person Troop tents. At some winter camps we sleep in cabins or outside.
Notice of
the campout and permission forms are given to the Scouts several weeks before
the event. At the final meeting before
a campout Scouts must turn in the
completed and signed permission slip and pay for the campout. Give these permission slips and fees to Mrs.
Brown, Troop 125’s Outdoor Chair. Make
checks payable to 125 Outdoors. Commitment to a campout is needed at that
time so patrols can plan menus and duty rosters, the Patrol Grubmasters can buy
the food, drivers scheduled, the Patrol Quartermasters can pull equipment and
campground fees paid. All of these are
based on the number of Scouts and parents committed to a trip. Campout
fees are not refundable if the Troop has incurred food and reservation costs. In addition to the permission form and
payment, a Scout can attend a weekend campout only if he has a completed
medical form on file with the Troop.
Parents a re encouraged to attend any campout or Troop
activity. Parents who come on weekend
campouts don’t pay fees for attending.
If parents lack equipment let the Scoutmaster know and we‘ll find some
for you. All parents who attend campouts, high adventure activities, etc. must
have the appropriate BSA medical form on file with Troop 125.
Because we are boy-run and practice the patrol method,
parents attending campouts are organized into their own patrol, the Old Fogey
Patrol. The adults tent together and
cook and clean together. One of the
Assistant Scoutmasters usually plans the menu and duty roster.
Most weekend campouts leave from Faith Lutheran
Church. We expect you to be on time to
leave. Parent volunteers transport the
Scouts to the campouts. After a campout,
parent volunteers drive the Scouts to their homes. In case of a delay, parents will be called.
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High
Adventure Trips
It is a
Troop 125 custom to have a high adventure trip every summer. These trips are usually 1-2 weeks long. Recent trips have included canoeing in
Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe
Area, hiking in Philmont Scout Ranch
in New Mexico and hiking and canoeing in New York’s Adirondack State
Park. Adult leaders and parents accompany the
Scouts. There is a fee ranging from
$250-300 per trip (more for Philmont), that each participant must pay. Scouts can use funds in their unit account
to pay for these trips. Sometimes, the
Troop holds fundraisers to defray the cost of these trips.
High
adventure trips have age and Scout rank requirements that vary according to the
trip. Usually the requirement is that
the Scout be 12 years old and have attained at least First Class rank. Philmont Scout Ranch requires the Scout to
be either 14 or to have finished the eighth grade.
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Boy
Scout Summer Camp
Every summer, Scouts have the opportunity to
attend Boy Scout summer camp at Northwoods
Scout Reservation, the Chief Okemos Council camp near
West Branch, Michigan or an out-of council camp. This is a one-week camp where Scouts have the opportunity to have
fun and work on rank advancements and merit badges. The camp fee ranges from $160-200. We find that new Scouts that go to summer camp the first year in
the Troop do better. Campers can use
their unit account to pay their fees.
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Camping
Equipment
To help every Scout get off on a good start with
camping and backpacking, we will lend every new Scout a Troop backpack for two
years. Other Scouts will fit this backpack
to the new Scout so it will be the proper size. Troop 125 owns 19 three-person canoes, which we use on our high
adventure trips, other outings and the red Cedar Cleanup. The Troop owns many 2 and 3 person Eureka
tents, which we use for tent camping.
These are our “Troop tents”. In
addition, the Troop issues each patrol a Patrol Box. This box holds cookware, utensils, a stove, basic cleaning
supplies and water containers for Patrol cooking. If a Scout damages or loses Troop equipment, he is expected to
repair or replace it. There is also a
Troop First Aid Kit that travels on all activities. Troop 125 also owns, compasses orienteering gear, dry bags,
backpacking stoves, life vests and canoe paddles and water filters.
Expenses
Troop dues are $60 per year, payable in September. Or you can pay $35 in September and $35 in March. Dues for each additional Scout in a family are $30 per year. New Scouts pay $30 upon joining the Troop.
Each boy has a unit account into which the Troop deposits the Scout’s share of
fundraising money. Each Scout can use
his unit account to pay for dues, trips, equipment (such as sleeping bags or
backpacks), or any other Scout expense.
In
addition to dues, Scouts have expenses for campouts, high adventure trips, and
summer camp. Boys will have to provide
for their own sleeping bag, pad, rain gear, mess kit, water bottle, etc.,
though Scouts can sometimes borrow gear from the Troop or family.
Scouts
are expected to contribute at least some of the money need to be a Scout. He can do this through odd jobs, savings and
doing Troop fundraisers. We prefer that
families not give their sons the money needed to be a Scout.
When there is a camping trip with a fee, payment can be
made from the unit account or by cash or by check. Make checks payable to “Troop 125 Outdoors”.
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Fundraising
Troop 125 Scouts are expected to participate in
two regular, annual fundraisers. First,
Scouts are expected to help with the Kiwanis Club Peanut Day Sale. The Kiwanis Club is our chartering
organization and Peanut Day is a major fundraiser. The second fundraiser is the fall BSA popcorn sale. Scouts can sell several varieties of regular
and microwave popcorn. Profits are
split 50/50 between the Scout and Troop.
Troop 125 might also schedule one-time, special-purpose
fundraisers to raise money for a particular trip or activity.