Camp Easton Merit Badge College

Article Submitted by Seth F.

3/11/11-3/13/11

          The spin-off of the Merit Badge University, the Merit Badge College allows you to work on even more merit badges! About 30 boys arrived with 8 adults to add to the total. Friday afternoon, the first thing we did was get our gear out of our vehicles and set up camp. But the great thing about MBC was there were no tents to pitch. We just had to roll out our bed rolls in the Camp Easton dining hall! After about an hour of playing, we played a game called All Aboard. Everyone in the patrol had to step on a piece of 1 foot square cardboard. The Flaming Arrows ended up winning.

          Later in the evening, we made FPG-9 paper airplanes. This was a lot of fun, almost all the boys were involved and enjoyed building and flying their planes around. Some ended up in the fire which gave old meaning to the phrase "Crash and Burn". Later everyone lined up with their planes and had a contest to see whose plane would fly the farthest. Kyler came in first with Finn and Chad tying for second place.

          When we started getting ready for bed, smoke started bellowing throughout the room from the fireplace, which triggered the fire alarm. This happened 8 times total starting Friday night. Saturday morning, we woke up and had breakfast. Oh, the other great thing about MBC is the boys don't have to do any cooking, WHOOO HOOO!

          After breakfast, all the new scouts worked on their Totin' Chip and fire building which was taught by Mr. Bidwell. Meanwhile, the rest of the scouts were working on the First Aid merit badge taught by Mr. Whitt, or the Engineering merit badge taught by Mr. Hall. Before lunch, which by the way was cooked by the adults, we played First Aid Jeopardy.

          After lunch, another Engineering merit badge session was held as CPR training by Mr. Hackney, and service projects. The 5 Mile Hike was canceled and patrol skits were practiced instead. We had free time while dinner was being prepared BY THE ADULTS! After dinner, Mr. Whitt gave "The Art of Storytelling and How to Perform a Skit Clinic" which was very interesting. At about 7:00, we had a campfire and a lot of great skits. Mr. Whitt gave the 101 uses for the Sierra cup and we also came up with 30 more uses for it. Since this is Troop 201, we are trying to come up with 201 uses. Then we had free time and Capture the Flag while brownies were being cooked, BY THE ADULTS!

          After brownies, we settled into bed AGAIN, only to be smoked out by the fire AGAIN! In the morning we woke up to milk and doughnuts brought to us by Mr. Horrocks. After doughnuts, we packed up our gear and Mr. Whitt gave a Sunday morning devotional with Mr. Clemans.

           We arrived back at the Scout Shack between 10:00 and 11:00. What a great time had!

Court of Honor

Article Submitted by Seth F.

March 9, 2011 CDA Library

          You couldn't ask for a better night to be a scout. It was the perfect night to catch up on merit badges and awards. Starting with a complete explanation of the scout law and oath, it tells you what it really means to be a scout. The new positions were announced by Mr. Whitt for the troop and we are fortunate to have Chris as our new Senior Patrol Leader. We welcomed new scouts, Chad, Brian, Nick, and Joscha. They are the Timberwolves patrol. Four new Eagle Scouts were recognized, they included Chris and Eric, who were present, and Justin and Dirk. We had over 30 advancements and over 30 merit badges presented. It was a proud night to be a scout. Everyone who attended the Klondike Derby received a patch. Philip was congratulated for being the previous SPL, and he did an outstanding job. Mr. Peterson from Old Missions District gave an excellent talk of when he lived and worked with scouts in Alaska. He explained the values of supporting the scout from Friends of Scouting. Then we had a break with ice cream and any topping you can think of. It concluded with a talk from Mr. Waddell on the upcoming High Adventure trip, and Mr. Grimm on Summer Camp. Finally, we had our closing flag ceremony, and closing remarks from Chris. Jesse did a great job as Master of Ceremonies.

Lookout Pass Ski Day

Article submitted by Seth F.

February 26, Lookout Pass

Wow! What a cold day to go skiing! It just managed to brim over 15 degrees! Although it was cold, we had a great time. We didn't have a very good turnout, but the boys who did show up had an excellent time. This time there were three new scouts that came to join us. Along with them we had Bailey, Ryan, Tyler, Devin, Kristian, Ian, Brennan, and myself. We usually have a ski day rather than a campout every February. First, it took over an hour just to get there. Then we all met in the ski rental shop to make sure everyone was there. Some people had to rent skis or boards before they could hit the slopes. And by the way, did I mention that it was cold? We had about eight adultsjoin us in this winter wonderland. Some of us brought their own lunch while others had to buy their lunch there. Amazingly, almost everyone was working on their Snow Sports merit badge. What a great time to do it, too! Oh, and I almost forgot, it was COLD!