Newsletter March 20, 2001

“challenging.” I realized that it would be impossible for me to complete everything I had wanted to complete; only this epiphany came too late. For so long, I tried in vain to get things done all at once, to try and go for the quick-fix. In the end, it became quite clear, that change would take time, only longer than I had expected.

So, fellow scouters, for those of you who have aspirations of becoming SPL, think seriously about the goals you have for the troop. Understand that time is precious and that lofty goals are good, but think about them realistically. And whenever you think you’re doing something well, strive to do better than that. I’ve seen the best and worst of you.

All of you have the potential to be great leaders some day. It’s the drive in every one of you that you have to figure out. Once you’re ready, I encourage you to campaign for the office of SPL.

Thanks guys for your willingness to work with me. I appreciate your cooperation, and if ever I offended you ... forgive me. Who knows, maybe I’ll run next year! Just kidding guys,.. Oh, and good luck David, trust me, you’ll need it...

A Scout is Loyal

Sunset Beach
September, 30 - October, 1
David

Outing This year’s Sunset Beach outing was a lot different from the last (so I’ve been told; I didn’t go last year), because this time, we missed Coastal Cleanup Day. (See my other article on Coastal Cleanup Day if you’re bored and have nothing better to do.) Last year, the Scouts had to clean up the beach for a service project, but this time, the focus was just on having fun. We did set aside about two hours for advancement, but that’s compared to about nine hours of playing games and free time. I arrived late because I had to go to a soccer game, Before I got there the others had played several volleyball games, football on the beach, had lunch, some younger scouts got several requirements signed off during advancement, and the discovery of a dead seal on the beach ... After we ate dinner, we had a bunch of free time, so we mostly played cards and stuff. When it got somewhat dark, we played capture the flag, which was fun, and then we went down to the beach to look at the stars through binoculars; the adults pointed out several constellations to look for.

The next day, after eating breakfast and cleaning up camp, doing that police line thing we always do, we went to the beach again. Half of us played volleyball, and the other half went and dug a hole for no apparent reason at all (I think some scouts wanted to bury the dead seal, some wanted to fill it with water, and some other scouts wanted to bury the other scouts ... ). I played volleyball- it was kids vs. adults, and I think we won some of the games and the adults won some of the games. (I forgot, because this article was written on January 1, 2001, so I can’t remember all of the details - that’s what I get for procrastinating.)

Webelos Outing
October, 21-22
Bryant

We arrived at the church early in the morning, so we could reach our destination early. Everyone was anxious on the car ride-up there, and when we reached there around 10 in the morning, they were relieved and tired. We loaded the luggage onto a barge/boat, on which some of the scouts and Webelos traveled in. The rest of us took the short walk up to camp. There we had a delicious breakfast of bagels with various toppings available, and some of the Webelos and scouts took to toasting them over a smoldering fire.

We started our lashing projects around noon, with most of the scouts and Webelos working on what would be a 10-foot tall tower from which you could get a good lookout point, while a few other scouts and Webelos worked on the camp flagpole. Everyone worked hard, and after a couple of hours, hands had rope and wood splinters and rope burns, but the projects were done. Everyone climbed up on the tower, gazing from the awesome view high atop the ground. Then we sat down to a deserving lunch of sandwiches, chips, and Kool-Aid.

In the afternoon, the honor patrol got these interesting little toys, which involved a container with a water balloon traveling quickly between string that the players held. The string was tied to handles, so when the container hit one side, the balloon exploded. After that wild fun which got almost everyone wet, some of us stayed at camp while others went for a tour of the lake on the barge/boat. Several interesting things happened on the boat, including a swamping of the boat, which led to a pair of sandals being carried into the lake, and a scout who wishes not to be named who drove the boat/barge like a maniac, zigzagging across the take and trying to go into a spot of the lake small enough for only kayaks and canoes.

The scouts and Webelos were pretty tired after that, but some of us got together for a friendly game of football. Later we had dinner before retiring to bed. The next morning, they disassembled the projects, put away the poles and ropes, loaded their gear into the boat, then did a final trash inspection before traveling back to the cars, which lead them home.

Camp Ohlone Backpack Trip
November 10-12, 2000
Brian

The November outing was a backpacking trip to camp Ohlone. The size of the group who went was very disappointing, consisting of only five people two of which were adults. The scouts who went were James, Karl, and Myself. We left the church at about seven, for our drive to the parking lot. The parking lot is the same one used to go to Mission peak, and although we could have driven all the way in to camp Ohlone, we decided to backpack the four and a half miles in.

After arriving at camp at about one, we had lunch, and then just messed around until dinner. While cooking dinner we lit the fire, which we had prepared earlier, it was a basic log cabin shape, and about four feet high. The wood was a little wet, but after getting a small amount of leaves to burn we were able to keep throwing leaves on the fire until it got fairly high, then all of the wood started at the same time creating a blaze which reached the tree above it. It didn’t start the tree on fire, but it turned a lot of leaves black.

On the second day of our hike we decided to go for a day hike, and followed a road that went to the top of one of the hills, which ran next to the valley. We were about half way up when we came across a gate, which barred our way. Karl wanted to go back because he was getting tired so him and his dad returned to camp, while my dad, James, and I continued hiking. After a few miles we stopped and had lunch then continued our trek to the top of the hill. We reached what was the highest point for miles, and after looking around, seeing some deer, and having a snack we started back.

We hadn’t gone far when we saw a rock outcropping which we decided to climb we didn’t see much from the top and continued on our way, and in about a half of an hour a guy came down the road in a red Chevrolet pickup, with a white shell. We stepped aside to let him pass, and discovered that he wanted to talk. He was not very nice and wanted to know why we were on his property. We explained that we were just hiking, and after a bit of talking he got back in his pick-up, and drove slowly away, obviously going slow to keep an eye on us. An hour or so later we passed the gate where Karl had turned around, and a few minutes later the guy passed us again, and talked to us this time however he was a little nicer. After a small chat we continued on our way and soon were back in camp. We didn’t do anything real special, aside from lighting some gunpowder, which we had gotten out of a bullet that we found near a second gate. It was very neat when we lit it because it burned surprisingly slowly.
After a good night sleep and some breakfast we hiked back to the cars, and drove back home. It was a very fun filled and exciting weekend.

to shoot arrows on the archery range. There were many targets we were able to shoot at ranging in difficulty level, some were easier than others. Some of the targets we shot at were very far way and located across a dried up river bed or between a lot of trees. Of course, many of the scouts broke or lost their arrows. This was probably one or the best and most enjoyable outing our troop has gone on so far this year.

W.E.S.T.
February 10
Anthony

Ahhh, W.E.S.T. Those letters never held so much depth, so much meaning. Actually, I really have no idea what W.E.S.T stands for, but I have a pretty good idea some of our new scouts do, and the few that will be joining us shortly. Yep, that’s right, new scouts! On February tenth, nearly all cub scouts in the Polaris District went searching for the troop that they felt worthy of their presence after they received their Arrow of Light. So, we decided to show what we were made of, and flexed our scouting skills. For those of you who didn’t come, or really didn’t hear about it, Troop 463 constructed a monkey bridge, displayed some photographs of past activities, and of course, refreshments. Despite foul weather, hearty little cub scouts still made their way out to the various troops and according to one Cub Scout parent, “were well fed.” As a result of our hard work, Troop 463 acquired three new scouts and will be seeing more soon enough. All-in-all, W.E.S.T. was a huge success (even though I still don’t know what the letters stand for)!

April 27th. This trail should be easier than Mission Peak. The remaining peaks are Mount Diablo, Mount St. Helana, Mount Tamalpais, and the Pinnacles.

David's Service Project
David

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For my Star community service project, I went along with several other students at Bellarmine to St. Francis Beach in Half Moon Bay for Coastal Cleanup Day, September 16. Our school requires that everyone do 25 hours of service for graduation each year, so getting hours for Star was easy(ish). As part of the Community Service Program Core group, we organized this project with girls from Castelleja High School; there were about 30 people in all. We were supposed to arrive at about 10:30, but because of delays trying to find a couple of students (who never showed up), we arrived somewhat late. When we got there, some people handed out latex gloves and two bags for each person: one for trash and one for recyclables. One person also got a checklist to note down all the stuff we got.

Because we arrived late, we found that earlier beach cleaners had almost swept the beach clean so there was much less to clean than we expected. Therefore, we had to look through streams, trails, and other places where other people did not look to find trash. Some of the things we found, besides the obvious cigarette butt, soda can, or candy wrapper, were: old credit cards, fragments of towels, old rusty pieces of metal (it looked like it was from a carriage), and a pile of bones (hopefully not human). Ironically, we did find a

LOT of fragments of disintegrated latex gloves in the sand, presumably from earlier waves of beach cleaners, and my trash bag was almost full with latex gloves alone! So in the end, I guess we helped the environment after all, even if it was just cleaning up after other people.

Food Drive Service Project
Bryant

One Saturday morning in December, I went to my church at around 10 AM in the morning. They had passed out bags with a flyer attached the week before, explaining they would be collecting food for the homeless and would come next Saturday to pick up the bags.

We got organized in our groups, got our maps of the streets each group was assigned to, then we headed out. It took us a while to find the street, but we finally arrived and we hopped out of the van. We checked each house, seeing if it had a bag and flyer on its porch. We went through ‘many houses, big and small, of all different colors and sizes. Some people had only a few things to give, while others had huge bags filled to the top. Most of it was normal, but some of the things in the bags seemed like the people were just trying to get rid of things they didn’t want. One example is a bag with several huge cans of Mexican beans and a real pumpkin. (Halloween decorations?)
We finished our assigned streets in about two hours, and we headed back to the church to bring our bags in. We had about twenty some packed into the van, and we unloaded them inside the church. About twenty minutes later, after everyone had come in, we loaded the bags into the cars that would take the bags to where Cityteam was located. (Cityteam was the organization that was distributing the bags) We watched the cars go, then we went home.

Scouting Transitions
Tim

I would like to welcome our new scouts. I hope you will find Boy Scouts and being in our troop both rewarding and fun. You are making a big transition in going from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and I thought I would take this opportunity to explain a little of what Boy Scouts is about.

Obviously, there is much about Boy Scouts that is similar to Cub Scouts and hopefully you will quickly feel at home. There are however, some important differences. You’ll notice that the troop is run by the boys and not the adults. You will also find that you will have to do much more yourselves and that getting requirements signed off and earning rank is up to you. It will not happen unless you make it happen.

Boy Scouts attempts to help boys in the bigger transition of becoming adults. Its goal is to develop character and create good citizens. To make this process fun, the program is centered on the outdoors. Just as in Cub Scouts, there are ranks to be earned by passing sets of requirements. The requirements for the first three ranks, Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class, are for the most part skills and knowledge that are needed to safely enjoy the outdoors - pitching a tent, cooking, map and compass, first aid, knots, lashing, etc. I want to emphasize that the real work of Boy Scouts is not in acquiring the skills themselves, but in the character building that occurs in the process of learning the skills. The scout learns initiative, self reliance, and responsibility. This does not mean that we are not serious about the skills. They are useful to know in and of themselves and

we want the scouts to be do their best, not learn how to get by on minimal effort. Ideally, the rank is a symbol that the scout has acquired certain skills, but in practice, it provides the motivation for learning the skills.

After earning First Class things change somewhat. For the upper three ranks, Star, Life, and Eagle, merit badges are earned to learn the skills. Each merit has its own set of requirements, allowing the topic to be learned in much greater depth. While certain merit badges are required, the scout has large variety to choose from to suite his interests. In addition, the scout also has to perform community service and serve in a leadership position. He now helps run the troop - plans the meetings, chooses the outings, teaches and guides the younger scouts. This is the heart of scouting. The saying the best way to learn is to teach applies to much more than just the skills that are being taught. By being responsible for seeing that the troop functions properly, the scout learns the importance of planning, preparation, respect, discipline, and so on.
I think the transition to leadership is actually more difficult for the boy than the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. The transition to Boy Scouts is the more difficult one for the parents. Things are not as organized as when adults ran the pack. And the parent often doesn’t know what is going on since information goes directly to the scouts and mostly stops right there. For the boy, there is the big unknown and corresponding anxiety of going someplace new, but once he is there, it isn’t all that different from what he was doing in Cub Scouts. Of course, being away from home on the first couple of outings can be difficult, especially if it’s the first time. But hopefully he’s having so much fun and the older scouts are helping him through this transition (right guys?!) that its no big deal.

Changing roles from one of the guys to being a leader is not easy. Almost no one, including the scout himself, recognizes his role as a leader. The current leaders, who have been trying to get him to pay attention and stop goofing off, are not about to delegate any authority to him. And certainly his peers and even younger scouts do not feel they need to do what he says. And yet he has been given the responsibility to carry out some task and is being prodded by his scoutmaster to get it done. This is a slow transition, but

eventually if he sticks with it, he moves up through the offices as he moves through the ranks and before you know it he is up in front leading the entire troop.

Troop Committee Meeting Update
Kim

SECOND THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH at 7:30.

Just a reminder to ALL of the parents, you are an important member of the Troop Committee and we encourage at least one or both parents from each family to participate at the meetings. Here you get to learn first hand what is happening in the troop and not have to depend on your son to keep you informed. The Committee Meeting is also a place for us parents to come together to get better acquainted and work together to make this an enjoyable experience for our sons. The best reason that I can think of for you to come though, is that by coming to the meeting you will have the opportunity to give your views about how the troop should run. It is a great place to learn more about why things happen as they do or to encourage a change in how you feel things should run. Also, history shows that the boys do better in the scouting program when their parents are active in the program too. As families become better acquainted, we each feel more responsible for the success of each other’s sons. The Committee Meeting handles the business of the troop but does not have to be all work, we’d like the meetings to be FUN too. We encourage your creative suggestions and ideas.

* Committee Chair____________________ Currently the job is being shared by many. This is a very important job and we are in great need for some one to take it on. You will get a lot of support and guidance as you learn more and make it your own.
· Maintains a close relationship with the chartered organization representative and the Scoutmaster to establish a smooth running troop and keep communication flowing.
· Prepares the Troop Committee Meeting agendas and leads the meeting to keep it on task and on schedule - an outline is available to make this easy.
· Help to encourage others to take on open positions - and check that those doing the jobs have the support they need
· Welcome visitors and help introduce them to the troop and Leaders.

District Representative ____________________
· Attends the District Round Table Meeting on the Second Tuesday of each month, and reports the information back to the Committee Chair, SM, or committee as needed.
· Keeps an eye on the counsel and district calendar to ensure that the troop is aware of upcoming opportunities for the troop.

Temporary Secretary ______________ (until September when Barbara will return.)
· Keeps minutes of each meeting and reports the minutes of the previous meeting.
· Oversees any publicity needed by the troop.

· Keeps track of the Interests and Resources of the enrolled families
· Plans occasional family night programs and social activities

Training ____________________________
· Check out training materials and resources for the troop and committee to review as needed.
· Stay updated on various training available to members and new leaders through the District and see that members are properly trained.
· Be responsible for BSA Youth Protection training within the troop.

Fund Raising!!

Hands on the Arts!
May 19th 10:00 - 5:00

If you haven’t heard about signing up for this event, talk to your son! Information was sent out at the April 24th meeting. This event falls during the weekend of Camporee - so that means it will be an ADULT run event!! The shifts are: 9:00 –1:30 and 1:00 –5:30. CALL Me Now to sign up. Kim Our troop sells ice cream at the Hands on the Art Festival held at the Sunnyvale Community Center and we have traditionally done very well. We need you to sign up! Last year this was a High Adventure Fund Raiser but since that group will not be having a major trip this year, like Alaska, it will be open to all families interested in putting a few extra $s into their son’s account. It is a very easy event to work and a lot of fun! We will also need to easy to pull wagons. Older siblings can help too if they want.

Art and Wine Festival

Mark your calendar now. June 2 is the Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival. This is the troops largest fund-raiser. We will need every body to help out on this event, so be sure to save this date. Sign ups will begin in May.

Scrip Program

Troop 463 is now registered with E-scrip! The sign up forms are attached.

How does e-scrip work?

To begin earning money through e-scrip, you will need to complete the attached form and register your various cards. Send the form plus $10.00 to the address on the form. For every card you register with e-scrip and use at the designated merchants, the troop will receive a percentage of the purchase total. The troop will receive a statement to show how much was earned for your son and that amount will become available for your son to use towards summer camp or a high adventure activity. You can not get cash back, the money stays in the account for your son’s activities. Should your son leave the troop, his personal account will be transferred into the troops general fund. You can increase your earnings by asking relatives and friends to register with e-scrip under the troops Group ID # and your son’s name. If you prefer to register on-line or need more information you can check their web site at www.escrip.com - be sure to include the Group ID # when you register on-line.

If you are already a participating member of e-scrip through another organization, you can use the same form to add the troop to your account for $5.00. E-scrip allows you to register up to 3 different organizations. They will divide your earnings between each organization and send each one a monthly statement.

Community Partners

The troop is also in the process of getting

High Adventure Program

The High Adventure Program is for boys 14 - 17 and with the rank of First Class and above. It is an additional program to supplement the already exciting troop activities. The program offers more challenging outdoor activities and new opportunities. Since our group is small, we will begin inviting neighboring Troops and Crews to join us to enhance the enjoyment for everyone. We will also be notifying you of any events they are doing in which we may join them

Our last activity was Cross-Country Skiing and Snow Camping but due to the lack of available adults, the trip needed to be canceled. Some people went anyway with buddies and were able to work towards the Snow Sports merit badge and earn the Venture Patrol pins.

We had hopes of getting a few qualified scouts together for a day of diving but that may not happen this year due to busy schedules and not enough people to cover the cost of the Master Diver. We will try again next year. So if Scuba Diving interest you, please check out your local dive shop for classes. Give me a call if you need more information. You can get certified as young as 12 but Boy Scouts require the boys to be 14 prior to diving with the troop. Youth must also dive with

Call me