Court of Honor - July 2010

If the rain won't stop for Troop 95, then Troop 95 won't stop for the rain. We hiked into the Wolf Creek area while the rain kept us cool, setup camp, had dinner, and continued to enjoy the rain until the late evening when it eventually stopped. Staying up late in the night discussing the finer points of life with the other leaders while the Scouts run amok (in this case playing capture the flag in the dark) has always been one of my favorite parts of Scout trips, and this night was no different. But we had to get up with the sun this time, as we had to be back in town and ready to go for our Court of Honor at 10am. But even though the trip was short, more good memories were made and more great stories were formed (just ask Josh!) and we were happy to have some of the 11-year-old Scouts and some Teachers and Priests with us as well.

We didn't have a lot of time to get changed once we got home, but everyone still managed to get back for the Court of Honor and it is always a pleasure to see all of the parents and family of the Scouts together. We gave out 130 merit badges and 8 rank advancements to the Troop, which they have accomplished since our last Court of Honor in January. It was by far the most awards we have ever given out! A big thanks to Satchel for conducting the Court of Honor, and to Josh for another solid flag ceremony.

As we move forward into the second half of the year, there will be more great opportunities for our Scouts to continue to grow, learn, and become great young men. Thank you to the leaders, parents, family, and friends of all of the Scouts - your support makes this program possible.

And a huge thank you to all the Scouts - I am proud of all the hard work you put in, the good character and strength that you demonstrate, and for the example you are to all of the leaders, especially me.

Scout Camp 2010 - "Camp Silvestre Herrera"

Scout Camp this year was one of the best outings we've ever had! We decided to put on our own Scout Camp instead of attending a formal BSA Camp like we normally do. Wow - what a lot of work that was to organize, but the payoff was so tremendous that looking back, the work pales in comparison.

We had 11 Scouts, 2 Junior Leaders, and 5 Adult Leaders that were able to be at Camp this year, as well as 3 additional Adult Leaders that were able to come up for some of the week to teach Merit Badges and share their experiences with us. I want to say how much all of the Scouts and Leaders are appreciated by Troop 95 - without you, there is no Troop. A special Thank You to Josh, who served as our Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) this year at Camp.

All of the Scouts earned multiple Merit Badges - and Zach led the Troop with 9 Merit Badges earned! We offered only 8 badges a Camp, but Zach took it upon himself to add 6 extra miles to a Troop hike in order to get his 20 mile hike completed for the Hiking Merit Badge. Congratulations to Austin, Taylor, and Brayden who accompanied Zach on his extra mileage so that they could also complete that requirement. Brayden, in fact, did the extra loop twice in order to get his 20 miles!

The Badges offered this year at Camp Herrera were: Archery, Archaeology, Geology, Astronomy, Wilderness Survival, Automotive Maintenance, Cooking and Indian Lore. In addition to Merit Badges, we completed a 14 mile hike from our camp location to the rim of the Grand Canyon, visited multiple historical and archaeological sites, learned about the Grand Canyon and its history at the Park museums, and hiked down into the Canyon to Indian Gardens (9 mi trip) and Plateau Point (12 mi trip).

The Scouts got to learn a lot about building and maintaining a group campsite when you are out in the woods for a week. When they weren't working on Merit Badges, like studying the stars, building survival shelters, practicing archery, or studying ancient indians, they were hard at work at camp! Maintaining the latrine, filling the water jugs, keeping camp clean, cooking and cleaning up every meal, and keeping track of their buddies kept these Scouts busy!

Every morning and every evening we had a Flag ceremony. Displaying and retiring the American Flag with respect and dignity, these Scouts made the leaders swell with pride. We sang a different hymn every morning (thank you Wes!) and "Called to Serve" every night. And every morning Bro. Stine would present a small portion of the life of Silvestre Herrera, our Camp namesake, to the Scouts. Then on the last morning in Camp, Bro. Stine told the heroic tale of how Pvt. Herrera earned the Medal of Honor by serving his fellow soldiers in battle, saving their lives while disregarding his own safety. Please click on the picture of Silvestre Herrera shown below to read more about this great Arizonan.

All the Scouts and Leaders had a great time at Camp! 2011 will find us back at Camp Geronimo, but you can bet that in 2012 we will once again be forging our own paths and creating our own destinies somewhere in the Arizona wilderness!

As always, you can click the picture below for the full album from Camp Herrera. There are a lot of pictures, but they are all worth a look! Thank you to Cameron, our Junior Assistant Scoutmaster, for his excellent photography and for being our JASM one last time.

Click the below picture of Silvestre Herrera to read more about this great Arizona man.

And at the request of the Scouts, here is the Archery Merit Badge Qualification table, starting from the highest score. Brayden was the only Scout at Camp that already had the Archery Merit Badge, and it wasn't hard to see why - he was shooting a bow every chance he got, including late into the night!