Troop 30 scouts traveled to Vermont where we camped in a sculpture park, paddled 13 miles and floated from a waterfall back to camp.
After paddling for 13 miles on the Connecticut River between Vermont and New Hampshire, this trip counts for an adventure trip for the Camping Merit Badge. We also saw scouts learn to build a fire, learn the parts of a boat, and tube for four miles from a waterfall.
Gus isn’t really injured. That gash on his hand was drawn on so it would be obvious what needed to be bandaged.
Wondering how these first aid concepts actually work in real life, scouts designed a campout where their skills would be put to the test.
Scouts designed situations where a scout was injured and needed to be treated in the field. Their locations were plotted out on a map and scouts needed to use a Nobscot Scout Reservation map and a compass to find them. Scouts then arrived to treat their fellow scouts’ imaginary injuries — often drawn out on their arms — and get them safely to a location where they could get professional medical attention.
Troop 30 sent 35 scouts to Camp Yawgoog the last week of June, bringing scouts ranging from no rank to Life Scout.
We were named an honor troop, got 108 merit badges and had 4 swim the mile. We made doughnuts in camp, wore cat ears and put to use a delivery of kazoos.
It was awesome.
Troop 30 scouts spent Sunday walking the orienteering course at Kennard Park — with a few Easter eggs thrown in by Assistant Scoutmaster Ian Clark.
The park was chosen in part because it is the site of an Eagle project that in 2020 which built a course with control points, or specific locations used as a reference point during navigation or orienteering. The control points make for an interesting course, but it may be too entry-level for a troop used to competing in orienteering events.
Assistant Scoutmaster Ian Clark, inspired by the course, created a map with challenges beyond the original orienteering plan. Scouts had added challenges like naming house colors seen from a particular direction marked on the compass. Scouts even navigated beyond the bounds of the course into Brookline’s Lost Pond Reservation to the bog, where Ian was waiting with cookies he had baked.
No phones were allowed during the event, as is our way at outdoor events. Scouts were matched up in teams with one older scout and plenty of scouts learning to orient maps. All scouts returned a little muddier than they came.
When your state representative is an Eagle Scout, you get an insider’s tour of the State House.
Troop 30 sent 25 scouts to tour the Massachusetts State House this week with State. Rep/Merit Badge Counselor/Scout parent Steve Owens, D-Watertown. Scouts took the official tour through Nurses Hall and the Hall of Flags, passed through the State Senate and the governor’s lobby to talk about the role of the legislature while in the House of Representatives.
The State House tour satisfies one of the requirements for the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge, one of the badges required of all Eagle Scouts.
The first weekend of March 2024 was dedicated to skiing. And a few card games.
Troop 30 skied at Gunstock ski resort and camped in cabins at TL Storer Scouting reservation.
Seven scouts learned to ski or snowboard for the first time. Others raced leaders down the mountain – those leaders who weren’t busy snow tubing.
Want to come ski with us next year? This is just one of the activities Troop 30 takes on. Sign up at Scouting.org
Scouts from Troop 30 spent Saturday pushing dogsleds through frozen mud to compete in the Klondike Derby, an annual winter skills competition taken up by scouts all over the north of the country.
This year, Troop 30 competed at Buck Hill, in the Narragansett Council. Scouts raced to build fires, spell words with the military alphabet, toss rope, complete and obstacle course and race while walking as a patrol on two long boards.
Three patrols and 15 scouts were part of the contingent from Troop 30. The Flaming Donuts, led by Graham, earned a first-place ribbon for orienteering. The Flo-Dos also took third in “ski rage” and in A-frame building. Banana Bandits, led by Duncan, took second place in survival shelter building and third in fire building.
Troop 30 and Pack 30 combined its efforts again to fill the shelves of the Watertown Food Pantry, collecting 6467.98 pounds of food and toiletries.
Scouting for Food, the food drive of Watertown’s BSA scouts, is the largest one-day food drive in the city. Scouts as young as 5 flyer their neighborhoods and collect food off neighbors’ doorsteps. Then they bring their haul to the lawn of the Watertown-Belmont United Methodist Church, where the food pantry is located. Then Troop 30 scouts sort the food and toiletries into bins that can be used by food pantry workers. Some items included Halloween candy, cases of seltzer, and lots and lots of Kraft macaroni and cheese.
The big sort takes about four hours for scouts and volunteers to get through.
This year’s scouting for food captain was Caitlin Devlin, a scout organizing teams of other scouts.
In 2022, scouts collected 2.9 tons of food for the Watertown Food Pantry. This is the first time this drive has surpassed 3 tons of food collected.
The Watertown Council on Aging administers the Watertown Food Pantry, which provides food assistance to any Watertown resident in need. Call the Council on Aging/Senior Center at 617-972-6490 for more information, to volunteer, and to donate.
November is the campout with a big communal meal, a gaga ball pit and an omelet competition.
This year scouts cooked everything but the turkey cooked in a trash can — that was tended to by our VFW Charter Representative Andy Airasian. Scouts cooked potatoes, beans, stuffing, prepared cranberry sauce and served all the food, making sure to clean up afterwards.
Sunday morning scouts had an omelet-making competition won by Nico, who added a surprising number of peas to a perfectly flipped dish.
It wasn’t just food this trip: There were fishermen checking out the pond, a gaga ball challenge, scouts learned how to use an axe and Duncan was master of ceremonies at the campfire program.
We can’t wait for next year’s trip.
Scouting America Troop 30 