Upcoming Troop Meetings
Troop meeting plans are posted on the website
12/6 Movie Night
12/13 Elections and Holiday Party
12/20 Merit Badges
1/3 Fine Scale Modeling
1/10 Fine Scale Modeling
1/17 Native American night
1/24 Fire-starters
1/31 Merit Badges

Upcoming Events
12/2 Nativity Setup
The church has asked us to help on Saturday 12/1 to setup the Nativity scene. We will meet at 9:30 AM at the rectory. This counts as community service!

12/6 Alaska Trip Meeting
We will be meeting at 6:30 PM at the Spellman Center to purchase the airfare and lock down lodging this time.

12/6 Movie Night
This night is an open competition for all scouts to create and show a movie of their own creation. You may work in teams or individually, points are awarded for originality and technique.

12/8-9 Camp-in at the Spellman
The annual campin in a fun overnighter. Bring your video game, some board games, and snacks and enjoy a pure fun night.

12/9 Santa Breakfast
We have cancelled this event this year. We did not have enough time to advertise this to the community. We will look at it again next year.

12/27 6 Month PLC Meeting
This month the newly elected PLC will meet at Mr. Warner’s house at 7:00 PM to review and plan the next 6 months of activities. All PLC members are required to attend. Class A shirt required. Enjoy Mrs. Warner’s world famous snacks!

12/28 Eagle Boards of Review
We are planning on running two Eagle Boards of Review on Friday night 12/28. These will be for Jeff Caron and Greg McGrath. Any parent that would like to assist please contact Mr. McCollem.
1/19-20 Indian Campout
Our campout in January has a Native American theme. We will taste food, play games, make craft items and learn skills they used during the day. At night we will have a traditional gathering with songs, stories and lore.

2/2 Scout Sunday
Our annual Scout Sunday mass will be the first Sunday in February. All scouts are expected to attend their church on this day in full uniform. This is a required event.

2/8-10 Gold Rush
The Staff is assembling for this year’s Gold Rush. We have over 138 scouts signed up for the Rush this year. See JASM Robert for more details and to volunteer.

Other News and Events
4/28 Soapbox Derby
We will be running a full-sized soapbox derby in April at the Spellman Parking lot. Plans are available on the troop website and we estimate it will take most of the winter to build your cars. More info as we approach the race!

Summer Camp 2013
We are booked into Wanalancet site again next year. In January we will begin collecting reservation fees for our week in the woods. Parents who wish to attend for some or all of the week are welcome too!

New Merits Badges Coming
National has added several badges including
Robotics, Chess, Welding, Kayaking, and Search and Rescue. They have also announced several new badges:
  Game Design  March 2013
  Programming  2013 Jamboree
  Sustainability  2013 Jamboree
   Eagle alternative to Environmental Science
  Digital Technology (replace Computer) late 2013
  Animation  2014
  Multi-Media  2014
  Signs, Signals, and Codes  2014
  Advanced Computing  2014-2015
  Computer-Aided Design  2014-2015
 
Potpourri
12/13 – Monthly Parent's Meeting
We ask all parents to attend our monthly Parent meetings to review upcoming events and volunteer to assist or run some of the upcoming events. We meet at 8PM on the second Thursday of each month. Each event has a scout as the event coordinator, but we need to have an adult to mentor and guide the scout. This is also a chance to ask your questions about the troop and learn a bit more about the opportunities within the troop for your son and yourself over the next year.

Gillette Fund-raising Events
There are still openings for those who want to help with the Gillette fund-raiser. Upcoming events are:
• 12/10
• 12/16
• 12/30
Contact Sheila for more information.

Upcoming Events Need a Hand Too
We have a few upcoming campouts and troop meetings that we could use some extra hands with.
• 1/3 & 1/10 Scale Model nights. We will be building models and mounting them in dioramas. Folks who build models and have tools to show the scouts are needed.
• 3/7 Show & Tell Hobbies, crafts, work, whatever. Bring in the thing you do and set up a table to talk with the scouts about your interests.
Please let SM Mike know if you can help!

Fund-Raising
We are looking for some adults to help organize fund-raisers to help with Summer Camp and Trip expenses. We particularly are looking to run events that the scouts can participate in to help raise the money for their events, If you have ideas and are willing to lend a hand, come to the next Parent’s Meeting and let us know.

Merit Badge Nights
We are looking to fill in our next sessions for Merit Badges. Please take a look at www.meritbadge.com for the current badges and their requirements.
The nights for each session (3 meetings each session) are listed here. Please understand that we do need you to commit to all of the nights in a particular session. Please see SM Mike or SA Brian to help.
Session 2 12/20 1/31 2/14
Session 3 3/21 4/25 5/16
See the Event Coordination file for the list of badges we are looking for in each session.

Stay Connected
Don't forget to visit the troop website at www.t22whitman.org  and our Facebook page at Troop 22 Whitman,MA. News and calendar events are kept there and updated frequently!

Parents Handbook
Did you know there is a Parent’s Handbook for Troop 22? It’s a short booklet with information on how a scout troop works, campout procedures, advancement, even a list of things to pack on overnighters. You can get a copy on our website in the Library section.
 

Eagle Scout Information Night
A special session will be presented at the January 31st meeting starting at 7 PM. We will explain the steps, requirements and paperwork aspects of the Eagle rank. This is a chance for the scout and parents to learn what it takes to attain this rank in Scouting. We will have handouts with tips and internet links and will answer all questions about how to get to Eagle. We recommend that any scout who is Star or higher attend with at least one parent. Younger scouts and parents may also attend if they want as well.

What is the PLC?
The Patrol Leaders' Council (PLC) consists of the Senior Patrol Leader, the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, the Scribe and the Patrol Leaders. They meet annually to plan the yearly calendar, and monthly to make detailed plans for the following month's meetings, events, and outings. Parents are welcome to attend the PLC to watch as the boys plan.

Scoutmaster’s Corner
Well, Scouts, the New Year is here and it's time for New Year's resolutions. In other words, it's time for a fresh start.

I don't know whether you make New Year's resolutions, but if you do, I hope that one of them is to move up Scouting's advancement ladder. Next month we'll be having a Court of Honor, and I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of you receiving awards then. I'm especially hopeful that those of you who haven't moved up a rank recently will get busy this month and do it in time for the Moomba.

All it takes is determination and some work, I'm sure your patrol will help you, and of course our leaders will, too. But you have to make the effort; no one can do that for you. So let's have a fresh start from everybody in the troop this month so that every Scout is called forward at our Court of Honor.