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Category Archives: Miscellaneous

The Congressional Award

Administration, Miscellaneous

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Congressional Awards (parents)Download
Congressional Awards (scouts)Download

Scouts!!!

Earn Congressional Awards! Participants must be between the ages of 13.5 and 24 years old. Here’s how the program works:

Certificate Levels

  1. Register online and pay the small registration fee at https://www.congressionalaward.org/.  This website has valuable, detailed information about the program and the requirements. The website also has a printable record keeping book.
  2. Find an advisor. This is someone who helps you establish how you will reach your goals and oversees the process. A good place to start in your search for an advisor is an adult leader in your patrol.
  3. Find validators for each of the four program areas-volunteer service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition/exploration. Note that these categories align with what you are already doing in as a scout! You can not only advance in scouts, you can earn congressional awards at the same time!
  4. Complete the requirements for each award level. Requirements are cumulative except for the overnight expeditions/explorations. Be sure to have you record book signed off by your validators as you complete each program area.
  5. Once all the requirements are complete, have your advisor review and sign your record book for submission to earn your award!

Medal Levels

Questions?

Contact Tracy Padgett tspadgett@live.com or 423-306-0321 or Angela Ward 423-773-4577

Parents and Adult Leaders

Scouts between that ages of 13.5 and 24 have the opportunity to earn Congressional Awards, but we need your help. In order to earn these awards, our scouts will need adults willing to act as advisors and validators. An advisor helps a scout establish how they are going to reach their goals and oversees the scout’s progress toward those goals. Validators oversee individual program areas-volunteer service, personal fitness, physical fitness, and exploration/expedition. As you can see, these overlap with requirements of the scouting program, so scouts can earn recognition in both programs at the same time! If you would be willing to act as an advisor or validator, please contact Tracy Padgett at tspadgett@live.com or 423-306-0321 or Angela Ward at 423-773-4577. Without our help, our scouts will not be able to participate in this program. Our goal is to have 1-2 advisors for each patrol. For more detailed information about the program, please visit their website at https://www.congressionalaward.org/.

ADVISORS:

  • Review the requirements and guidelines with the participant.
  • Assist the participant in setting goals for each program area that are personally challenging, achievable, measurable, and fulfilling.
  • Help the participant identify appropriate activities and qualified Validators for each goal.
  • Maintain periodic contact with the participant while they work towards their goals.
  • If the participant needs to revise goals, assist in helping set new goals and finding activities to achieve them.
  • Upon completing the program requirements, ensure that the participant has completely and accurately filled out their Record Book and have obtained signatures from each of their Validators.

VALIDATORS:

  • Review the requirements and guidelines with the participant.
  • Discuss the specific requirement for the program area in which you will be working with the participant.
  • Help the participant identify their starting level in a particular activity.
  • Make certain the participant’s goal is personally challenging, achievable, measurable, and fulfilling.
  • Once the participant has met the activity requirements, review the appropriate documentation and sign and date the Record Book page.

Gear Donation Request

Miscellaneous

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Hello Troop 48!

Our Troop 48 closet has started to get low on gear. If any of you all (especially senior Scouts) have old gear to donate we would really appreciate it. We could use old uniforms (class a), t-shirts, backpacks, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tents, boots, etc. Your help would be greatly appreciated so we can in turn help our new Scouts.

Thank you all so much!
Jonathan Preshong – Senior Patrol Leader

Lost & Found from Summer Camp

Miscellaneous

Are you missing:

  • Your Troop 48 neckerchief (no initials)? <<< Claimed by Jayden
  • Your red Troop 48 t-shirt (again no initials)?
  • A $100 bill (Ben Franklin) beach towel (clean!)?

Mr. Browning now has the last two items, so please claim from him..

Grayson Highlands Last Call

Miscellaneous

Why book online
How to book
Manage your bookings

Book now to ensure your place on this favored event. Booking closes Tuesday, August 18th at 8pm. This is to provide patrols adequate time to plan for the trip.

Fill out the form; Hit send

Short version of how to book online

Why move to online booking?

Online booking will provide many benefits to the troop. The leaders will have easy access to the current standing of reservations. Booking reservations can also collect details of options for the trip and lists could be created accordingly. Reports can be ran that show all events that site members had booked and attended.

Trip attendees also will experience benefits. They can book a trip at any time on the website. No hunting down a list at a troop meeting or sending an email that may get overlooked. Once booked, they have easy access to a list of all future bookings. They can also cancel any bookings from this list if the need arises.

To best facilitate this, whenever practical, please book under your own account name, adults included. This will make the lists of who is attending clear to the trip leaders.

Booking form – formatting is a work in progress

How to book

If an event has bookings enabled, the booking form should automatically appear at the end of the event description. If you’re not logged in, it will be replaced with a login box.

Simply add the appropriate number of spaces for the appropriate ticket. Some basic contact information is shown for confirmation. If any is not current, please visit your profile and edit your information.

Then any custom options for the particular trip can be shown. These can be custom and could vary between trips.

Last will be a comment field. Please provide any appropriate additional information. This could be to explain bookings beyond for yourself, or any special circumstances to your attendance.

Then “Send Your Booking.” You should immediately receive an email that your submission was successful but is pending review.

Once reviewed the trip leader may contact your for any points of clarification. Then the booking will be converted to Approved and you should receive an additional email informing you of the status change. Each message should also contain an attached calendar item for easily adding to your calendaring system.

Members booking table

Managing your bookings

You can see all of your upcoming booked events at your My Bookings page (must be logged in). From this list you can also cancel a booking if the need arises. The trip leader will likely contact you if this was not expected.

Popcorn Sales 2020

Miscellaneous

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Guess what time it is again???

It’s popcorn time!!! 🍿
This year we will be focusing our efforts on online sales. Shipping is free this year, and 40% of your online sales will come back directly to you through your troop scout account!

You can download an app that will link your sales directly to the troop. Just use the following directions.

Families can download the app and setup their account now. Just find Sequoyah Council, Wilderness Road ,Troop 48, and then you are connected to your troop. 

Apple – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trails-end/id1421483087

Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trailsend.scout&hl=en_US

Online sales start now and run throughout the rest of the year giving you plenty of time to make those sales! Just remember, you’re not selling popcorn. You’re selling scouting. And there are prizes! Weekly prize drawings will be held for scouts that sell $100 or more.

If you sell $500, you and a parent get a weekend campout at CDC in March of 2021.

The top unit seller or $650 or more in sales gets two tickets to Tri-Cities Cinema (movie date TBD).

Lastly, the top seller in the district gets a camp voucher of a Sequoyah Council Camp!

Please let me know if you have any questions. Happy selling!

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Local service project ideas during a pandemic

Miscellaneous

Here are some service projects that could be completed during these current times.  However, it is a good idea to contact a Troop 48 leader before beginning to ensure correct scope for your service project.  Wear a face mask with working with other people outside your household.

1) Pick up trash – in your neighborhood, Kingsport Greenbelt, WPSP conservation events, trail heads, boat launches.  Use a trash grabber or gloves for protection.  A goal of a garbage bag per half hour would be great to know if an area needs this service.

2) Outdoor landscaping maintenance at your church.  Pull weeds, cut back bushes (with guidance!), pick up limits, remove dead from flower beds, put out new plants.  Partner with the grounds staff to learn what is needed.

3) Rake leaves or pull weeds for an elderly resident in your neighborhood – not related to you.

4) Make birdhouses and with permission put into a local park.  Not necessary a known need, but ask the naturalist connected with the park about their needs.  May come up with another idea.

5) Sew face masks for distribution.  Several scouts have been involved with this effort.

6) With an adult driver, complete meal delivery with Meals on Wheels

7) With an adult, volunteer to purchase and deliver food for an elderly/shut-in neighbor

8) Talk with Mr. Hasler about trail maintenance – pulling limbs from the path, cutting back growth, repainting blazes, etc.

More ideas can be considered to add to this list.

CDC 2020 Advancement

Miscellaneous

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Just a brief note about the excellent advancement gained at 2020’s Camp Davy Crockett.

116 Merit Badges were completed by 27 scouts or roughly four each.

Most popular were Mammal Study (substituted for Insect Study) and Wood Carving.

118 Incomplete Merit Badges.

Camping and Reptile/Amphibian Study was the most common started with more to go.

Nathan B. was the most efficient, completing eight merit badges including Swimming and Environmental Science.