We are one month away from our next Philmont payment. Thank you to all who have made payments. Our goal should be that all participants pay at least half before September 30th. Many of the current payments have done so but we still have a couple in which I would like to collect some funds.
We also have three spots open. Philmont is scheduled for June 17th through June 29th. This is an incredible experience for the scouts. Participants should be 14 years old OR 13 years old AND have completed the 8th grade.
The cost to participate is $1,025 if we have 12 participants. The troop can attend with the current 9 participants which will increase the price to $1,367 ($342 additional funds).
Please discuss with your scout if they wish to attend.
We would appreciate it if current participants would bring a check to the next troop meeting.
We currently have only one Scout signed up for the soup kitchen tomorrow night. it is only two hours from 6-8pm, so don’t be shy, get those community service hours recorded!
Here is another opportunity for service hours and to give back to the community. Please take the time to sign up! The event is at the Sacred Heart Church from 6-8pm this coming Sunday, 25 August.
If you have not yet signed up for Labor Day Flags, the link is below. We are still in need of a couple slots to be filled (1 driver, 2 navigators, and 3 Scouts)
Our next COH is upon us! This is a HUGE one with lots of Rank advancements, Merit Badges and a change of leadership! I am so proud of all our scouts and parents for making this possible!
The theme of this COH is ICE CREAM! Its the Ice Cream Social.
The troop will provide the ice cream but scouts will need to bring toppings to share! Please sign up for whatever toppings you would like to bring to share with the Troop.
Please no nuts!!! We have food allergies and do not want any cross contamination with nuts being on the same table or anything like that. Thanks in advance for this!
Set up begins at 5:30pm. We will start serving the Ice Cream around 6pm. The formal portion of the ceremony will begin around 6:45ish….could be a little earlier or later.
Last night we finished decorating the barn. Scouts got their Boards of Review and Scoutmaster Conferences as required. We also played in games in and around our “new” area. In addition, we built a fire in the new fire pit.
This weekend we cleaned out the Barn and helped the church dig and lay some mulch for their playground (earning three hours of service each). There were nine scouts that attended. We donated a bunch of old camping gear and made the barn our summer meeting area. We also found old camp maps and pictures of the troop and high adventure. We decorated the “new” meeting place with our finds.
A lot of moving parts tonight! We have four BOR’s, COH planning, annual planning (may be saved for later), and Uniform Inspection. The rest of the meeting will be dedicated to having fun! We will utilize our “new” meeting location tonight and see how it goes. And I am probably forgetting something as usual.
Here is another opportunity for service hours and to give back to the community. Please take the time to sign up! The event is at the Sacred Heart Church from 6-8pm this coming Sunday, 25 August.
This weekend is the Lazy Campout at the Barn! We are going to do a few things this campout. We will do some Geocaching Merit Badge Work, fire building, cook-off, pioneering, and we will also organize the troop gear in the barn. There is also an opportunity to get a few service hours with the church. They are requesting some assistance with clearing out the mulch in the playground of the church in preparation for new rubberized mulch (Saturday 8-10am).
If you want to help with the cleanup, you can just show up at 8 at the church. If you plan on camping, please RSVP.
We will meet at the Barn at 6pm Friday night. Families and “part-time” attendees are welcome to show up and have fun with us!
Sorry on the wait. This is the recap from our trip to Summer Camp to the most recent meeting.
Tuesday August 6
While the older boys were at Sea base the rest of us had a meeting a Mr. Petree’s house and had a fire building competition. After we ate burgers and hot dogs. Austin won the fire building competition after an hour of trying.
August 4-10
Many of the older souts attended Sea Base in Florida this week. We are pending receipt of pictures and a post-event report.
Tuesday July 30
We had Sea Base prep and did a first aid transportation competition and did an inter patrol activity.
Tuesday July 23
We did rank advancement and IPA
Tuesday July 16
Escape room! We had 5 scouts participate in the room we beat the room in about 55 minutes.
Tuesday July 9
Was planned as 14er prep but no one signed up, so we did rank advancement and an inter patrol activity. The troop did a 22 mile bike ride in replacement of the 14er that weekend.
Tuesday July 2
We did individual Rank Planning and had an IPA afterwards.
Tuesday June 25
Post summer camp games and SMCs were done for those scouts who needed them.
Summer camp June 16-22
We had 14 scouts attend summer camp this year at Camp Cris Dobbins in Peaceful Valley. We earned 38 total merit badges and have 15 merit badges in progress; and a bunch of rank advancements were completed. At the Race/Family dinner we had tornado warning and severe weather watch. The entire camp was sheltered in the basement of the dining hall during the “Tornado”. We left camp that Friday night to avoid a rainy and miserable night.
I know many of you just returned from Sea Base, however, we still have a scheduled camp out this weekend at the barn. This is a lazy camp where we will split our time doing scouting activities and some cleaning of the barn and equipment. You enjoy all the benefits of having our troop gear, now we need to put in some effort to ensure it is ready for future campouts and activities.
This week we will focus on those requirements for campout prep: packing, food, and desired activities (geocaching, pioneering, orienteering, etc.).
Next week (20 Aug) will be focused [game night@ the church] on COH prep and several of you have BORs scheduled with the Troop Committee. the 27th is our COH (Ice Cream Social!!!) where you guys will get all the badges you earned at summer camp and over the last three months.
Troop, many of the older boys are headed to Sea Base in Florida this week. I hope they have fun surrounded by all that water with no land in sight and sleeping on the deck of a ship while rocking gently with the waves; hopefully they are tied to part of the ship so they do not fall into the water and left to drift alone to be found by a passing pirate ship, only to grow up in a life of swabbing the deck and talking with heavy “rrrr’s” while wearing an eye patch to keep their night vision up to speck for when they are sent below deck to get more rum for the Cap’n. Anyways, good luck to them.
While they are gone: Festivus for the restofus! (at least most of us). Instead of having a regular meeting at the Church, Mr. Petree has invited us all to meet at his house and have a grill out (the Petree’s are providing all provisions). Mr. Petree has activities planned to fill the time at his house, which are Scout skill oriented. An opening and closing ceremony will be conducted, as with all of our meetings. His house is located right around the corner from the church on Silent Rain Dr, more specifically, 2460 Silent Rain Dr. Of Course 7-8:30 on Tuesday night for our regular meeting time. Just the location is different.
Class B uniforms WITH pocket knives! Or fixed blades, which ever you feel more comfortable with. Just no machetes or swords or anything crazy like that! Please follow BSA guidelines.
Our next meetings Schedule:
6 Aug: Mr Petree’s house (I will be in lovely Alabama this week)
13 Aug: Church: Camp Prep for lazy camp and troop elections (effective date 28 Aug)
16-18 Aug: Lazy Camp at the barn (clean up, pioneering, geocaching)
20 Aug: Boards of Review (Malcolm, Evan, Conner), Class A inspection, and Annual Planning meeting (Scout edition).
This meeting will serve as a last effort to ensure all of your paperwork is ready to go for Sea Base. We will make sure all the adult leaders have what they need (the boys may be too old for sleep medicine) but none the less, any missing paperwork (physicals, swim tests, etc.) should be brought to the meeting tomorrow night.
We have an opportunity to get a little money for our troop and to help out a great Scouting supporter. I think volunteer hours will be credited as well.
Here is the deal: There is an older couple (Sharon and her husband) who are moving and need help loading their moving truck with their belongings. They have requested four strapping young volunteers to aid in this endeavor and are willing to donate $500 to the troop. The event is on 7 August, which is during Sea Base, so it is safe to assume those Scouts are out for this one. So, If you are inclined to lend assistance for this couple, please RSVP and we will hook them up.
Sharon and her husband will be greatly appreciative of our assistance.
They need to coordinate for movers if we can’t help, so please check your calendars and sign up quickly if you can. I would like to get back to them this week for their planning purposes.
The Sea Base Participants will need to complete the BSA swim test before we head to Florida. We have scheduled the Valley Swim Club for our test on Tuesday, July 23rd. We don’t have the time pinned down yet but will most likely shoot for 6:00. More on that as we finalize the details. It will be $5 per person. The scouts can then go to the troop meeting afterward. Adult and Scout participants must complete the test. Please let me know if your scout cannot make it. We will need to figure something out.
Our next payment of $5,500 is due to Philmont by October 1st. We currently have six scouts and three adults signed up as follows:
Jack D. Evan R. Lance W. Mark P. Ignacio H. Riley McNew
Our adults are Sean Warner, Michael Pharris, and Greg Smith.
There are still three slots open for participants.
The total due for the Philmont Ranch portion of this trip is $1,025 per participant (with 12 participants). I have received a down payment for Greg and Lance of $100. Riley has paid $650 and Evan is paid in full. We are going to need another $4,825 dollars between now and October 1st to meet our obligation. The troop will not be able to cover this large fee until we collect, so please plan on paying all or a part of your scout’s fees.
The escape room is booked based on the eight Scouts signed up.
It is located at Pikes Peak Escape Rooms, 1826 E Platte Ave, suite 200. We need to arrive at 6:45pm to get the briefing and rules and such. The room starts at 7pm. The cost is $24/person. Brian Burdick fronted the reservation fee, so please make arrangements to pay him on Tuesday.
You can brush up on some techniques by watching the video below.
Welcome to the website of Boy Scout Troop 287 at Wilson United Methodist Church, located on the northwest side of Colorado Springs, CO, in school districts 11 and 20. We are in the BSA Pikes Peak Council, Frontier District.
To the left, you can view our news and events. Below you can browse information about our troop, subscribe to our blog by email, download documents, and access useful links.
