If you are interested in finding out more about Troop 496 please contact:
Jon Kasner
Scoutmaster
301-349-2134
What do Boy Scouts do?
• Scouting promises you the great outdoors. As a Scout, you can learn how to camp and hike without leaving a trace and how to take care of the land. You’ll study wildlife up close and learn about nature all around you. There are plenty of skills for you to master, and you can teach others what you have learned.
• Boy Scouts do lots of fun things. Troop 496 tries to campout once per month. During the campouts we participate in other activities like fire building, cooking, hiking, watching Civil War reenactments, white water rafting, canoeing and tours to name a few.
• We also do several community service projects like helping out at Poolesville Day, the 4th of July Fireworks, Scouting for Food and other important activities. You may even earn Student Service Learning (SSL) hours for some of these service projects.
Thank you for signing up to work on Poolesville Day. I am glad that there will be a good number of scouts that will be marching in the parade. We will be marching down Route 107 through town so there is plenty of space for more scouts. If you have not committed to march in the parade, please consider the opportunity to show everyone what Scouting is all about. Please sign up via the website.
We have a good number of scouts for each of the shifts at the rope bridge. Please remember that every scout is expected to take a shift at the rope bridge during Poolesville day. While working at the bridge, class-A uniforms are required. If you have not done so yet, please sign up for a shift via the website.
And of course, the more help we get to clean up the bridge on Saturday and Route 107 and Whalen Commons on Sunday, the faster it will get done (service hours are available).
For the Court of Honor (CoH) on September 27, we have passed the deadline to request a Scoutmaster conference for your next rank. Those of you that have had their Scoutmaster conference or is scheduled for one, you have until Monday to call Ms. Perkins to schedule a Board of Review for your next rank.
Planned activities Sept 12 - Popcorn Show and Sell at Tractor Supply from 1-3pm. Sept 13 - Troop meeting at IWL at 7:30pm. Sept 17 - Building rope bridge for Poolesville Day at Whalen Commons at 5:30pm. Sept 18 - Poolesville Day activities (Parade, manning the rope bridge, Popcorn show and sells, tear-down the bridge). Sept 19 - Poolesville Day Clean-up at Whalen Commons at 7:00am. Sept 20 - Troop meeting at IWL at 7:30pm. We will have Patrol Leader elections at this meeting. Sept 24-26 - Troop campout at (To Be Determined). There will be leadership training. Sept 25 - Popcorn Show and Sell at CVS from 10am - 12 noon. Sept 27 - Troop 2027 & 496 Court of Honor (CoH) at IWL at 7:30pm.
We currently have 7 scouts and a Scoutmaster marching in the parade. We need more participation. It is our opportunity to show everyone what Scouting is all about. Please sign up via the website.
In addition, every scout is expected to take a shift at the rope bridge during Poolesville day. There is always interest from the community to walk the bridge and we need scouts to walk with them in order to keep them from falling off. While working at the bridge, class-A uniforms are required. Please sign up for a shift via the website.
And of course, the more help we get to clean up the bridge on Saturday and rt. 107 and Whalen Commons on Sunday, the faster it will get done (service hours are available).
Planned activities Sept 11 - Popcorn Show and Sell at Poolesville Hardware from 9-11am. Sept 12 - Popcorn Show and Sell at Tractor Supply from 1-3pm. Sept 13 - Troop meeting at IWL at 7:30pm. Sept 17 - Building rope bridge for Poolesville Day at Whalen Commons at 5:30pm. Sept 18 - Poolesville Day activities (Parade, manning the rope bridge, Popcorn show and sells, tear-down the bridge). Sept 19 - Poolesville Day Clean-up at Whalen Commons at 7:00am. Sept 20 - Troop meeting at IWL at 7:30pm. We will have Patrol Leader elections at this meeting. Sept 24-26 - Troop campout at (To Be Determined). There will be leadership training. Sept 25 - Popcorn Show and Sell at CVS from 10am - 12 noon. Sept 27 - Troop 2027 & 496 Court of Honor (CoH) at IWL at 7:30pm.
First wagon sale orders are DUE by no later than Tuesday, 9/7. These orders will be received on or after September 25th. There will be at least one other opportunity to place wagon sale orders in October. Please email Ms. Antonishek and enter your order in the Trails End app by 9/7.
Do not forget to log in your wagon sales on the Trails End website so you can earn prizes!
Show and Sell opportunities:
Saturday, September 11 at Poolesville Hardware from 9-11 AM
Sunday, September 12 at Tractor Supply from 1-3 PM
Poolesville Day at the scout booth - 5 1-hr slots to coincide with each rope bridge shift (11-4 PM)
Saturday, September 25 at CVS from 10 AM - noon
Please only sign up for 1 slot to give everyone a chance. More opportunities to be posted for October! Except for Poolesville Day where each shift is limited to 1 scout, all other slots are limited to 2 scouts. At least 2 adults must attend every show and sell slot.
To be recognized at the September 27th Court of Honor these are the deadlines so your awards can be processed, picked up, and the bulletin completed. These deadlines will be hard and fast, no exceptions.
Deadline to REQUEST a Scout Master Conference Tuesday, Sept 7th.
Deadline to REQUEST a Board of Review Monday, Sept 13th (call or speak to Mrs. Perkins in person).
Deadline to COMPLETE all Boards of Review and turn in Blue Cards for Merit Badges Monday, Sept 20th.
And reminder that you need to call Mrs. Perkins about Boards of Review (parent of Zach Ransom on the roster for phone number). If you email a merit badge counselor and do not get a response, then you should call them also. Scouts are developing valuable skills when making calls and speaking about their progress for these advancements. The Scout needs to initiate this process themselves—parent reminders are needed no doubt, but it is up to the Scout to schedule these events.
If parents have any questions about the advancement process feel free to contact Mrs. Perkins. Any awards earned after the stated deadlines will be presented at the next Court of Honor in March.
OVERVIEW For Parents: Any New Scout ready to review Scout Rank needs to contact Mr. Kasner (Troop 496)/Ms. Welsh (Troop 2027), and after they have completed their Scout Master conference needs to bring their completed Scout Handbook to Ms. Perkins so that the dates of completion can be recorded into our tracking system. For Scout Rank, only a Scout Master Conference is required. For all other ranks a Board of Review must also be scheduled with Ms. Perkins (Advancement Chair). I try to schedule these at the Troop Meetings as much as possible. If your Scout requests a Board of Review you need to be available to sit on another Scouts’ Board as well. I need parent volunteers to run the Boards, and these parents cannot be any of the Assistant Scout Masters and you may not sit on your own child’s Board of Review. But I try to have at least one experienced parent on each review board. Scout Handbooks can be placed in the Troop box on my front porch (17220 General Custer Way). The Scout must have their completed Handbook for that Rank with them at their Board of Review (with the Scout Master Conference signed off). Several Ranks also require a cyberchip portion (computer safety) to be completed with a parent at home—parents may write a date note on the left-hand column (or a sticky note in their booklets with the date this was done). But the Scout must speak to an ASM after completing this task to get it signed off to complete the applicable ranks.
Also, reminder that Scouts do not have to complete Scout before working on getting other rank requirements signed off. Any requirement from Scout Rank thru First Class can be signed off on by an Assistant Scout Master (ASM) once the Scout has completed it and then spoken to an ASM about it. The Scouts also work on many requirements with the older Scouts that may initial they completed the item in the left-hand columns of their books. But these completions are not officially recognized until the Scout has had an ASM Adult sign the right-hand column. The Scouts should be ideally bringing their handbooks to all meetings and campouts to work on these requirements as they complete them. Any Adult in uniform is an ASM, and sometimes these adults come to meetings without uniforms as well. The boys can ask any adult, or an older Scout to sign off requirements at any meeting. But it is the Scout’s responsibility to check in with one of the ASM’s to get the official sign-off, and they will need parent reminders from you on this for sure. Also, OF NOTE, Mr. Kasner/Ms. Welsh can clearly sign-off on requirements as Scout Master, but they are the only person that gives out and signs blue cards, as well as schedule Scout Master Conferences. So, it is often easier to ask another ASM to sign off on requirements because Mr. Kasner/Ms. Welsh almost always have a line of Scouts needing their attention on matters only the Scout Master can perform.
If any new parents would like to pursue becoming an ASM, please let Mr. Kasner or Ms. Welsh know and they can let you know when the next round of training dates are.
Aug 30 - Troop PLC at IWL at 7:30pm. Sept 13 - Troop meeting at IWL at 7:30pm. Sept 17 - Building rope bridge for Poolesville Day at Whalen Commons at 5:30pm. Sept 18 - Poolesville Day activities (Parade, manning the rope bridge, tear-down the bridge). Sept 19 - Poolesville Day Clean-up at Whalen Commons at 7:00am. Sept 20 - Troop meeting at IWL at 7:30pm. We will have Patrol Leader elections at this meeting. Sept 24-26 - Troop campout at (To Be Determined). There will be leadership training. Sept 27 - Troop 2027 & 496 Court of Honor (CoH) at IWL at 7:30pm.
A reminder, please signup, via the website, for the activities that you will support on Poolesville Day. We need lots of scouts walking in the parade. We also need scouts to help with building the rope bridge (excellent opportunity to learn your lashings). It is expected that each scout will take a shift at manning the rope bridge. And of course, the more help we get to clean up, the faster it will be done (service hours available).
We had our Family picnic on Saturday, August 21, and it was good to see everyone again. The scouts played frisbee football, kick ball, and basketball, while the parents had time to relax.
We also had a great kickoff meeting about our fall fundraiser, popcorn. It is expected that all scouts participate in the fundraiser and sell at least $496 worth of popcorn. If there are any questions, please contact the Popcorn Kernel - Ms. Sandy Antonishek at bigutorange@yahoo.com.
During the picnic, I completed the task of signing all of the blue cards that the scouts earned at summer camp. There had to be over two hundred cards. Well done to all of the scouts.
I would like to announce that two new scouts will be joining Troop 496, Jai Hurd and Micah Singh. If you get a chance, please welcome them.
We will not have any formal troop meetings/activities until the next scheduled PLC which is on August 30, 2021 at the IWL.
