- This year’s summer camp was a great success! Everybody enjoyed the camp and the troop really bonded together. To hear the full summer camp story, attend our big Court of Honor this September (date TBA).
- Troop meetings will resume next Thursday.
- Tons of new dates have been added to the Calendar! Go check them out.
- New Order of the Arrow Ordeal Candidates: If you were tapped out at summer camp last week, be sure to complete your Ordeal at an OA ordeal weekend! You have one year to do this before your candidacy expires. To find dates for this fall, visit the Calendar.
- The OLG Festival is just around the corner, and the church needs our help to set up! This is the main way our troop gives back to our sponsoring organization, so please help out. Community service hours will be given to helpers who need them. Set up dates can be found on the Calendar.
- In addition to setting up, Troop 834 also manages the drink booth during the OLG Festival. Please contact Mrs. Vaites to sign up for a time slot and help work the booth. Time slots can be viewed on the Calendar.
- Over the next couple of days the troop will be implementing the website updates stated in this blog post linked here. Please read it so you know what will be going on.
- If you have pictures from summer camp, please give them on a DVD or a flash drive to David Domalik. He will add them to the troop archives and post them for viewing/downloading on this website. If you would like a DVD of all the pictures from summer camp for $1, also talk to David Domalik or you can order one on the page Contact Us.
- This was the last meeting before summer camp! All the scouts filled out their blue cards for the merit badges they will be taking at summer camp, then the Emu Patrol was taught some additional skills from Chip.
- The meeting time for Sunday morning has been changed! All scouts and adults going to summer camp are expected to meet at Conroy Hall at Our Lady of Grace Church at 9:30 a.m. in full Class A uniform. Departure time will be 10 a.m. Before arriving at summer camp, the troop will be meeting at Burger King in Brookville, PA.
- Parents need to be at the summer camp parking lot no later than 9:00 on Saturday morning to pick up their kids.
- All scouts are responsible for their own transportation to and from Summer Camp.
- Please pack and dress according to the Color of the Day, which was discussed in last week’s announcements.
- For the second year in a row, Troop 834 is hoping to post daily picture updates on our Facebook page to show the people at home what is going on at camp. This will only be possible if there is cell service at the camp. If you have not yet followed our Facebook page, visit www.facebook.com/troop834.
- This meeting focused on completing some of the younger scouts’ requirements for Tenderfoot. This was surrounded by games of Ultimate Frisbee.
- Scouts should begin packing for summer camp now so they know what they don’t have beforehand. If you need a checklist of what to pack, see Chip.
- Scouts are responsible for their own transportation to summer camp.
- All scouts going to summer camp are expected to meet at the Scout Locker at 10 a.m. on July 10 in full Class A uniform. This includes uniform shirt, Troop 834 hat, Troop 834 neckerchief, slide, uniform pants, belt, scout socks, OA sash, and a red troop shirt underneath.
- All scouts should have tent partners. If you and your partner have not yet signed up, see Chip ASAP.
- Medical forms and insurance card information were due last week and is required for everyone (adults and boys) attending summer camp. If you have not turned that in, please do so to Chip or Mrs. Bronder ASAP.
- All scouts taking the First Aid Merit Badge must create a personal first-aid kit before summer camp and show it to Chip. The list of items that should be in the kit can be found on page 108 of the new scout handbook.
- If possible, please pack and wear your clothes according to this color code:
- Monday – Green
- Tuesday – Blue
- Wednesday – Gray
- Thursday – Black
- Friday – Red Troop 834 Class B
- For the second year in a row, daily picture updates will be posted on our Facebook page to show the people at home what is going on at camp. If you have not yet followed our Facebook page, visit www.facebook.com/troop834.
- The main discussion at this meeting was preparing for summer camp, followed by a game of Ultimate Frisbee.
- Discs of pictures from the Niagara Falls USA trip were handed out. If you went on the trip but did not receive a disc see Chip. The pictures can also be viewed here.
Over the past year Troop 834 has been modernizing its online interaction with the public and members of the troop. Last summer we introduced the new Troop 834 website, made using WordPress, but this mostly focused on our public image. Now with the addition of TroopTrack this year, Troop 834 is hoping to provide utilities to its current scouts and leaders that will help benefit the operation of the troop as a whole.
So what is TroopTrack? TroopTrack describes itself as “The Best Scouting Software on the Planet!” by “tak[ing] the hassle out of managing your scouting group.” The service acts as an all-in-one website to help plan scouting events, manage troop and individual records, communicate with your troop, track scout advancement, and share various forms of media. These vague categories only brush the surface of all the features of TroopTrack, but to reduce confusion the average scout or adult will only need to focus on a few of the essentials.
In order for a complete transition over to the TroopTrack system, Troop 834 is asking every member of the troop to register their account. An email asking you to register your account will be sent out to all members who have an email address recorded in the troop database. Please follow the instructions included in the email. If you succeed, you should be presented either with the “Private Home Page” or your dashboard (which includes announcements, your itinerary, and rank progress).
If you did not receive the email, it is possible that the troop does not have your email address. To fix this, go to the page “Contact Us” and explain your problem. Be sure to include your name and email address in the message. You should receive your registration email in the following days. If you have any other problems, you can also explain them on the page “Contact Us” and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Creating a TroopTrack account is extremely important because the old WordPress calendar, email list, Remind text message list, MediaFire pictures, and Ultimate Member accounts are being discontinued. Troop 834 will now be using TroopTrack for all these features. Without an account, you risk being left out of the loop when new events and announcements come up.
At a future troop meeting (TBD) the features of TroopTrack will be explained in more detail, but feel free to explore once you’ve made an account. If everything goes as planned, the troop will be operating more efficiently than ever before!
- June 11: Sharbel Sadaka’s Eagle Scout Project – Please RSVP if you are attending. More info
- June 11, 13-18: Women’s Guild Rummage Sale – Help needed for 1-2 hours to unload cars when goods are dropped off. Let Chip know if you are available to work.
- The main lesson during this meeting was an intro to the Safety merit badge. Afterwards the scouts played Dodgeball.
- Help the troop by selling hoagies for our Super Bowl Hoagie Fundraiser! Hoagie orders are due January 30. For more information or to download an order form, click here.
- Troop 834 is bringing back the Splash Lagoon trip, and it’s just around the corner! All money, release forms, and permission slips are due January 21, so be sure to download the information here.
- Information regarding Summer Camp 2016 at Camp Mountain Run was handed out last Thursday. If you missed it, you can download it here.
Help support the troop with our Super Bowl Hoagie Sale! Order forms were distributed at the last meeting and are due on January 30 at 12 pm. If you need to download the forms or have orders to turn in, visit the Hoagie Sale Fundraising page.
Congratulations to Niles Hand and David Domalik, who, after completing their Boards of Review Tuesday night, have successfully completed the rank of Eagle Scout! Niles and David became the 130th and 131st scouts to do so in Troop 834’s 52 year history, respectively. To see a full list of the Eagle Scouts from Troop 834, visit the page Troop Directory.
Pictures from Troop 834’s Golf Fundraiser on October 31 are now on the website! To view them, visit the page “Pictures“. If you have pictures of your own from that event, you can share them with the troop on the page “Upload” (requires an approved website account).
