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We have a Facebook page listed as, "Troop 129 - Ahoskie, NC"

The Facebook page is easier to update so you may want to check this for the most current information.

Calendar Dates

April 15-17 OA Conclave (OA Members Only)

April 17-20 High Adventure Camp for 1st Class and above (Okefenokee Swamp Trip)
http://www.fws.gov/okefenokee/WildernessCanoeing.html

April 29 – May 1 Council Camporee – Camp Bonner, Washington, NC
http://www.eccbsa.org/Council%20Camporee.aspx

June 20-24 Assist with Cub Scout Twilight Camp

July 3-8 Summer Camp – Camp Boddie
http://www.eccbsa.org/Camping/Camp%20Boddie/Summer%20Camp.aspx

October 1 Merit Badge Weekend at Chowan University

November 4-6 Merit Badge Weekend at Elizabeth City Coast Guard Base

Recent Events

On February 12th we collected food for the Ahoskie Food bank and between the Troop and Pack we gathered over 1,200 lbs of food. Thanks to everyone who helped!

This past weekend, we camped at Merchant's Mill State Park and below is a picture of everyone who completed the 7 mile hike. On Saturday, due to high winds and dry conditions, there was a burn ban, so we had no fires on Saturday and the scouts enjoyed capture the flag and a 2 mile night hike.

Winter Camp - Welcome WEBELOS

For our January camping trip, we attended Winter Camp at Camp Boddie, where the scouts attended merit badge classes and experienced the coldest night camping they have had yet. On Friday night, the temperature dropped quickly and was around 19° F all night. I have to say the scouts did an excellent job camping in the cold weather. Not only did the Boy Scouts do well, so did the WEBELOS who joined us on this camping trip. Below is a picture of the WEBELOS who attended the trip. These WEBELOS will be joining the troop in March. This camping trip demonstrated their commitment to scouting and we look forward to having them bridge over in March. They will be a wecome addition to the troop.
Welcome to Troop 129!!!

January 2011 Court of Honor

Troop 129 - First OA Election

On Monday night, we had two members from the Order of the Arrow attend our meeting and conduct Troop 129's first OA Elections. This is an honor that bestowed on Scouts that exemplify the Scouting Spirit and it asks that the Scout continue with thier service to the Scouting Program. To qualify a Scout must be the rank of First Class or higher, have attened 15 nights of troop camping in the last two years, including at lease one long term camp and then be elected by the troop for demonstrating Scout Spirit. In this picture, an OA Member Acknowledges the election of Even Ferguson and Luc Hairston. Each of these Scouts will need to pass a weekend ordeal, where they will receive minimal food and hard labor, to further demonstrate their commitment. Here is a site where you can learn more about the OA: http://www.oa-bsa.org/misc/basics/

Fall 2010 Activities

We had a good fall starting with a Merit Badge Weekend at Camp Boddie, a very busy Court of Awards, camping at Dr. Jones’ Farm, then the Klondike Camporee. We also camped at the Coast Guard Base Merit Badge Weekend in November and then some of the scouts assisted at the Powellsville Turkey Shoot and walked in the Winton and Ahoskie Christmas Parades. Below are some pictures of these events.

September Camping Trip at Dr. Jone's

The trop had a great time camping at Dr. Jone's. We camped two nights, went on nature hikes, made sassafras tea, painted benches, had a fire building competeion and played games. All of the Scouts had a great time and say, "Thank You Dr. Jone's!"

September 2010 Court of Honor

We had great Court of Honor this week with two new Scouts joining and over 60 merit badges awarded, mostly earned at summer camp.

Swim Party - August 23rd 6:00-8:00

Our first meeting will be next Monday at my house. We will have a swimming party to wrap up the summer and start a new school year. In addition to swim suits and towels, please be sure to bring your Scout Handbook, because we plan to review what you need for your next rank and also any missing requirements from summer camp merit badges. We will use this meeting and our August 30th meeting to complete any of the requirements that you can complete prior to a Court of Honor that we will hold later in September.

I think that most of you have been to my house, but if not let me know and I will send you directions. Plan on arriving by 6:00, we will do a short opening and then start swimming.

See you next week!
Terry

First Meeting Aug 23rd

Wow, August snuck up on me.

Wanted to let everyone know that we plan to start our weekly meetings on Monday, August 23rd! Here is a quick rundown on what we have going this month:

• Aug 14th Council event, where we will get a list of upcoming Council activities and fundraisers
• Aug 16th 7:00 Patrol Leaders Council Meeting (senior patrol leader, patrol leaders, etc) to plan the calendar and meetings
• Aug 23rd 7:00 Start regular meetings

At the first meeting, we will share calendar and review any missing requirements from summer camp and mark advancement for everyone who has things to complete. There should be a good number of things to mark here, so be sure to bring your scout books and Be Prepared!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!
Terry

Summer Camp 2010

Cub Scouts Blue & Gold Banquet

Jefferson, Keenen and Luc did a great job welcoming the Webelos into the troop tonight. We had six Webleos bridge into Boy Scouts:

McCrae Ashley
Tyler Hodges
Ryan Pierce
Joel Taylor
Jackson Barmer
Jerrick Woolard

Thanks to everyone that helped tonight and welcome new scouts!

Saturday, May 1st

This Saturday, May 1st, the Cub Scouts will have their Blue & Gold Banquet at 6:00 at the Ahoskie Inn. All Troop members are welcomed to attend and welcome the new Webelos that will be bridging over to Boy Scouts.

Please let Mr. Hairston know if you intend to attend, so that we can plan for you. We will have dinner and a part in the ceremony.

See you there!

2010 Council Jamboree - 100 Year Celebration

We had very small turn out, just Jefferson and Luc. We did have a great time and we teamed up with another 2 person patrol from another troop for the competition. Our Scouts did excellent with the knot tying, lashing and first aid. Their general knowledge of scouting was OK and we did about like everyone else on the map reading (horrible). Jefferson will undoubtedly be a salesman, based on his ability to convince the campsite judge that the tree in our campsite was our gate. We did post our information on it and it was very functional for shade and low impact. In the end, the combination of effort and salesmanship resulted in Troop 129 receiving a blue ribbon!

We also participated in tomahawk throwing, obstacle courses, shot gun shooting, radio and music merit badge classes. The fireworks on Saturday night were great. It did rain Saturday night and we got out before the heavy stuff hit Sunday morning.

In summary, we demonstrated our scout skills, made some good friends and had great fellowship with our neighboring troops in our sub-camp. Great job!

Scouting for Food & Scout Sunday

Becasue of the snow last week, the area Scouting for Food has been pushed back one week. Please get your flyers out and change the pick-up date to Saturday, February 13th. If you already gave out flyers with the original pick-up date, don't forget to pick them up and please hold for the week. The food bank has been scheduled to recieve this food on the 13th.

Second, we will meet at 10:00 a.m. Sunday at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, for Scout Sunday. Be sure to where your full uniform and be prepared to help usher.

Cancelled Meeting

Since the schools cancelled today for hazardous roads, we will also cancel our Scout meeting tonight.

Terry

January Information

Below are something’s that we discussed at last night’s meetings and we will be planning out the rest of the year shortly. If you have any questions or information that I left out, please let me know. We will be posting things on this sight for now and I am trying out two other sites, to see what works best for sharing Troop information.

Starting next week our meetings will run from 7:00-8:15 instead of 8:30.

Mr. Kilsheimer is helping the scouts with their Dag Care Merit Badge. You can find the requirements in the links section here and Mr. K assigned home work for next week: The scouts are to be able to identify the 7 classifications of dogs and the characteristics of each. (They can find this info on the AKC Website)

On Monday the 18th there is no school and we will have an extended meeting to accommodate our PLC Meeting. We will start at 6:30 and go until 8:15. Dinner will be served for the scouts during this meeting and we will plan the majority of our events through the summer.

Mr. Carter has been working with the scouts on their Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge and sent a list of requirements that each need to finish, home with the scouts last night. One requirement is to attend a School Board Meeting so on Monday the 25th, we will meet in Winton to attend a School Board Meeting. The meeting starts at 7:00 and we will need to be there early to get a seat and in place before the meeting starts. We will provide reminders and directions home with the scouts, on the 18th.

Finally, something that keeps more scouts from getting Eagle Scout than anything else, is not meeting the 90-day tracking requirement for three of the Eagle required merit badges.

Personal Management - Budget of expected income, actual income and expenses
Personal Fitness - Tracking of exercises
Family Life - Chores assigned and when they are completed

Tracking these items will help with the scouts organizational skills and if they start tracking this information this week, they will be able to finish in April and we will schedule merit badge instructors to come in and discuss their results and other requirements for these merit badges. Forms to track each of these requirements are in the blue notebooks that have been given to each scout and electronic forms can be downloaded from various on-line merit badge sites. The scouts can develop their own forms if they like, just be sure to look at the requirements to make sure that they cover everything that they should be tracking.

Court of Honor

Tonight we had our court of honor. Here is a picture and there were too many awards and merit badges to list them all.

Troop Lights Ahoskie Christmas Tree

Troop 129 had four scouts participate in the Ahoskie Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 6th. There was a picture in the paper, that I will try to add here, if I can find an electronic copy.

For anyone that missed it, here is a link to the Ahoskie Christmas Tree Lighting story in the Roanoke Chowan News Herald. http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/news/2009/dec/09/ahoskie-welcomes-holiday-season/