And Now a Word fromYour Backup Scoutmaster

Now that the Cole family has returned from fall break on the east coast, I’m winding down, catching my breath and reflecting back on the events of almost two weeks ago.  Congratulations to our Medal of Honor awardee, our Jamboree attendees, our new member scouts, our advancing scouts for their new ranks, our service star awardees, and for all the scouts who attended summer camp and received well deserved merit badges.  There was more pomp and circumstance during that brief Court of Honor than in many of our esteemed halls of higher learning, and I was proud of every one of you.  As I said my final Scoutmaster Minute, I certainly could have told a story about each of you, but I’ll save those stories for your Eagle Courts of Honor.  In the end, I was truly humbled by your kind words, and your generosity in the beautiful gift orchestrated by Mr. Gingrich, and assisted by each one of you in the troop.  I have been honored to be your Scoutmaster, and to have watched this boy-led troop continue its tradition of developing strong leaders from within.  I look forward to supporting Mr. Turner, as he begins his tenure as your new adult leader, and I especially look forward to working with many of you on your future boards of review, and to continue attending the outings that you develop and lead.

Mr. Turner was also with his family on fall break in the northeast, but was unexpectedly called to Tanzania, Africa for work this weekend, while the rest of the Turners have returned home without our new Scoutmaster.  Pinch hitting for Mr. Turner, I will let you know that this week we will have Tuesday’s meeting prepare us for the upcoming backpack in the San Francisco Peaks the 25th-27th.  Many thanks to young Mr.’s Turner and Traynor for this guidance on high altitude, low temperature hiking.  Due to Mr. Turner’s small side trip, we will not be having our October Adult Leaders meeting tomorrow night, but will instead focus our sights on the next one on November 11th.  Additional areas of focus over the next few weeks include:

  • For those of you in Mr. Conrad’s class, continuing work on your Citizenship in the World merit badge activities
  • Bringing your 2014 dues to Tuesday’s meeting, and turn them in to Mrs. Traynor ($120/scout, $25/adult leader)
  • Plan on coming on the outstanding backpacking outing this weekend
  • Providing Mrs. Traynor your input this week for our next troop newsletter
  • For those of you awarded the Honor Patrol trip to Disneyland, November 1st is less than 2 weeks away!
  • Our next PLC meeting will be November 5 at 6PM – be prepared to discuss your patrols and ideas for upcoming troop activities/meetings

On behalf of Scoutmaster Mr. Turner – see you at the troop meeting!

Mr. Cole