Author: Michael McCormick

June 16 to 18, 2017, Troop 48 ventured down to Belleplain for the weekend.

Saturday, we headed down to Cape May, where we took kayaks on a 3 1/2 mile journey up and down the tidal Cape Island Creek. We scooted under railroad and car bridges, watched baby crabs scurry through the mud, and spotted ospreys on the nest. Afterwards, we went down to Sunset Beach where we checked out the concrete ship, waded in a bit, and looked for Cape May diamonds.

Back at camp, it was time to go swimming in Lake Nummy, followed by a dinner of (depending which patrol you were in) hot dogs and ramen, hamburgers, or tacos.

Despite mosquitos and sunburn, it was a great weekend!

Our Court of Honor for the Winter and Spring of 2017 was held of June 14, 2017 at Holy Communion Lutheran Church. Scouts were recognized for their advancements over the past six months.

Senior Patrol Leader Elections for September to December 2017 followed immediately after the ceremony, where James was elected SPL for the Fall. We are trying a new system where SPLs and Patrol Leaders are chosen quarterly by the Troop and Patrols rather than annually, so that patrols are better able to plan around potential leaders availability for periods of time.

More pictures to follow once they are passed along!

Where SPL John decided to get everyone to fall in while he is up a tree, then talks to them.

Because reasons.

Congrats to John and James on making it through their Order of the Arrow Ordeals!

One step closer to the Memorial Wall coming together.

Memorial Day Weekend, Troop 48 helped the Berlin VFW place flags on veterans’ graves at the Berlin Cemetery.  Afterwards, we went to the Berlin VFW where we held a flag retirement ceremony for the VFW.  Finally, the VFW threw a thank you lunch for everyone.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the flag placement and/or flag retirement ceremonies and helped out!  Big thank you to Assistant Scoutmaster Steve Teti for putting together the flag retirement ceremony and working with the Scouts to run it!

Article on the flag placement in the Berlin Sun:
Centuries of heroes honored at Berlin Cemetery: VFW, Scouts, locals mark veterans’ graves with American flags for Memorial Day by Kristen Dowd

On May 24, 2017, Bryan “Skippy” Gillespie passed his Eagle Board of Review, becoming Eagle Scout #121 in troop history!

Skippy’s had a great career with the troop, spending a year as Senior Patrol Leader, backpacking over 400 miles with the troop (including Washington State and a two day 50 on the Batona), and planning and building some impressive monkey bridges.

Congrats Skippy, we’re all proud of you!

Chase finishes up his Eagle Project at the Berlin VFW, where he painted the face of the building, ripped out fencing, and more.  Great work Chase!