A fun and safe merit badge that a lot of scouts try to earn are the Rifle & Shotgun. With the help of the Lafayette Gun Club, scouts participate in a classroom setting about safety before we go on the range. Not all scouts qualify, but all scouts still have a great time just being able to shoot if it’s their first time.
It’s not as scary as it sounds! This is definitely on the top 10 list that the troop likes to visit. It’s a nice drive to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The campsite where we stay is kinda small but the scouts still have a good time. The excitement kicks in when you start seeing the boulders from afar. Once you climb up to the top of the boulders, you get to see how beautiful Mother Nature truly is!
When the troop takes its yearly ski trip, Wintergreen is our destination. This year for 2023, the troop decided it was time to visit Massanutten. The resort was a little smaller than Wintergreen, but the scouts still had a great time!
It’s the end of another scout year and now we get together for our planning day. Scouts help with cleaning our troop gear. From tents, bear boxes, grills, etc. Once all gear is clean and restored in the shed, we get a little break and then lunch. Scouts and Scouters ate pizza, chips, cookies and drinks.
On the road to have yet another Eagle Scout in Troop 242 is Abel, whom had his Eagle Scout project was at Five loaves food pantry. The project was to construct a platform for people to reach the top of a dumpster to dump trash. In total with the assistance of Abel’s 9 fellow scouts the project was completed in 2 hours and 30 minutes In total 38 and a half hours were logged in the making of this project. Bellow are some photos of the platform being built and the final product.
Jose and his fellow scouts worked hard together to add new mulch and a cover for the mulch but before that they had to weed the flower garden. Below is a link to see the YouTube video by Newport News public schools with a portion dedicated on this project.
In April, we had our hiking camp out at Camp Baker. We completed a 5 mile hike, which helped newly bridged scouts finish a Tenderfoot requirement. After completing the hike, many scouts took the opportunity to relax on the docks near the lake while Eagle Patrol prepared ramen. A campfire program was held in the evening with skits and songs performed by each patrol. We shared lots of laughs and jokes together.
Our May campout was at Chickahominy Riverfront Park for hiking, biking and fishing. Scouts participated in one of the 3 activities on Saturday from about 10am to 3pm. Troop Leader, Mr. Meyers was the only one to successfully catch a fish, even though numerous attempts were made by the Scouts and Scouters. The bikers, led by Mrs. Williams, completed a 16.9 mile ride. We also collected old t-shirts and turned them into dog toys for a service project. After the campfire program on Saturday evening, we discovered that a storm was quickly approaching and determined that we would probably need to seek shelter in our cars. The storm brought rain, wind and lightning for a couple of hours and when we were finally allowed out of the cars, we noticed that many tents were flooded and even our canopy tents were damaged. Due to the flooding, extra gear was needed to provide dry shelter for some scouts. Although we had some difficulties during this campout, we worked together and used our scouting knowledge to preserve and make it a great campout.
Jacob Grieme completed his Eagle project with help from 18 of his fellow scouts and leaders. His project was for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Various stations were in place to cut and bend wire and tie rope to the completed cages. Over 60 cages were made to benefit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s effort to replenish the oyster population keeping the bay clean. In addition to helping this great effort, the scouts received conservation hours for their work.
After 2 long years the troop was back in action for a fundraiser at Ace Hardware in Newport News. On the menu we’re hotdogs, bratwurst, chips and soda. It was nice weather and people leaving Ace Hardware bought a lot of food and thanked us for being in scouting. Special thanks to Ace Hardware for allowing us the opportunity to host our fundraiser.
Troop 242