We will assist the Lions Club this Thursday with a service project where scouts will sort and pack food.  Please meet us in our normal meeting location at 7 p.m. and be prepared for an active meeting.  I will be happy to sign off on a service hour for your effort for scouts who bring a form.  The Patrol Leader's Council (PLC) will meet at 6 p.m.  This will be our last meeting of 2025.  We hope to see you there!

I'm so excited about this Thursday's meeting!  There will be scout and adult gift exchanges, snacks, and ornament decorating for the scouts.  Scouts attending the winter camp will have a short meal-planning meeting.  We will also accept paperwork for Winter Camp (see Mrs Stephens’ email for details). Please sign-up to contribute to the potluck using this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C44A4AF29A5FD0-61061160-troop

The Committee Meeting scheduled for December 7th has been cancelled.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break!  I'm excited about our meeting this week.  The scouts will be giving presentations about the Scouting America High Adventure bases (Summit Bechtel, Sea Base, Philmont, and Northern Tier) and discussing which adventure they would like to participate in for summer 2027.  While scouts have to be 14 in order to participate in most of the High Adventure experiences, even the youngest scouts will benefit from getting to learn more about the opportunities that will be available to them in a few years.  The scouts also plan to do a pack check of their camping gear and loading the trailer for a quick departure on Friday.  It is VERY important for scouts to come prepared for their check.  This will be the first cold-weather camping experience for many of our scouts and we want to make sure that everyone is prepared.  The right gear makes for an enjoyable weekend, but being ill-prepared can be dangerous.  Please also bring back your camping gear from the last campout.  We currently only have three tents returned from the past campout!  The PLC will meet at 6:45 for their meeting.  We may have some Arrow of Light Scouts and their families join us for the meeting tomorrow.

At this week's meeting, scouts will do meal planning for the December 5-7 campout to Mission Tejas since we will not have a meeting next week due to Thanksgiving, and participate in a book exchange.  Please bring books to trade!  It is very important for scouts and families to register for the December campout by Wednesday evening if they plan to attend. Scouts who are interested in starting the Camping Merit Badge this weekend should also talk with Mrs. Stephens at Thursday's meeting to get a blue card.

On the fence about next month's camping opportunity and want a few more details? This campout will be a history-lover's dream.  We're going to do a service project on site and learn more about the area including early Caddo Settlements, the El Camino Real (Royal Road), establishing the Mission San Francisco de los Texas, the Rice Log Home, and the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps through an interpretive trail tour with a ranger.  Scouts and adults attending the campout who participate in the service project, stay both nights of our campout, and participate on the interpretive tour with our ranger will qualify to earn the Scouting America's Historic Trails Award.  I'm excited about this opportunity for our scouts to earn an award that is not very common and learn more about the history of our great state of Texas.  

We will have a special visitor at this week's scout meeting.  Michael Roytek, Scouting America Photographer, will teach the scouts how to take better pictures with their phones and answer questions about his career as a professional photographer.  Scouts will also have an opportunity to talk with Mr. Roytek's daughter Sarah, who worked for four summers as a ranger at Philmont and play a photography game with their patrols to practice the skills that Mr. Roytek taught.  With extra time, scouts will have the opportunity to learn more about the scholarship merit badge. Scouts who are attending winter camp should bring their merit badge selections (form on the winter camp registration link) to talk over with Mrs. Stephens before the meeting or following our discussion with Mr. Roytek.  The registration deadline for Winter Camp is November 13th and the December 5-7 campout at Mission Tejas is due November 20th.  PLC members should meet at 6:45 pm.  See you then!