_Peter's Eagle project was approved by the district board tonight.

Please put the first two Saturday's in June on your calendar to help him build a footpath between Creekside Apartments and the Wisner Library.

_The Troop 45 family is getting larger! Please welcome our new Scouts (and parents) and do your best to learn their names as soon as you can. A Scout is Friendly!

Listen carefully at announcements and look for email from the SPL as there have been more schedule changes than usual for this spring. Don't rely on an old event calendar!

Next Monday night (3/21) there will be general advancement opportunities for older Scouts (do your merit badge homework!), and our new Scouts will work on hiking safety and the buddy system (two Tenderfoot requirements.) We will meet with parents to discuss the April campout and answer any questions that the parent guide didn't address.

The following Monday night (3/28) is a Court of Honor, the troop awards night held four times a year. New Scouts should have their applications and dues in next week to be recognized at the Court of Honor. Parents should plan on staying. The troop committee will host a reception afterwards with some light refreshments.

Friday night 3/25 will be a swim night at the High School pool. There is a $3 fee at entry. All Scouts are welcome to come and have fun, but we will focus on the aquatics requirements for Tenderfoot, Second and First Class ranks, including the BSA swimmer test. The time is 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

The following morning (Saturday 3/26) we would like to see all our new Scouts at the High School track to start the Tenderfoot fitness requirement. We will meet at 8am, and we should be able to complete the requriement in about an hour. Older Scouts are welcome to come out to help run the activity and support our new members.

On Saturday 4/2 there is an Order of the Arrow "Brotherhood Day" at Camp Nooteeming. All our OA members who joined at least ten months ago are eligible to seal their membership. You will be able to take part in additional activities on the Ordeal weekends once you become a Brotherhood member. There are at least two Scouts planning on attending, so there is a ride available if you want to go. (Exact timing and cost are not available yet, but should be soon.)

The troop campout on April 8-10 will be a Friday evening 6:30 departure from the Lutheran Church back parking lot, and return to Warwick on Sunday late morning (around 11 am.) It will be held at the Winding Hills park in Montgomery, so close enough to visit on Saturday if you wish. I believe Mr. Currao will be lead ASM for the event. The plan is to set an orienteering course, and separately to have the PLC program planning conference to develop next year's annual plan. (So every patrol leader should be there on Saturday afternoon, even if you don't camp out.)

It looks like we will have to cancel the District Camporee in May (13-15) since we have some conflicts with several of our adult leaders. We could use more adult bench strength so please consider catching up on BSA training and becoming a member of the committee or an assistant scoutmaster if you are inclined.

Life Scouts - The district Eagle Board meets the second Wednesday night of every month to review project plans. We have several plans in progress now, so scheduling work weekends could be one of your biggest challenges. Please let me know if you are working with another leader on a plan that I'm not aware of. I'll try to help avoid collisions!

Yours in Scouting,

Mr. Brown

_Thanks to our Town Supervisor Mr. Sweeton for sharing his thoughts on citizenship tonight. If you were at the meeting and need the First Class civic leader requirement, see a senior Scout or ASM at the next meeting with your book!

We had a great snowshoe hike last Saturday. Conditions were perfect and we had a blast. Everyone agreed next time we should go for a longer loop, and take lunch with hot chocolate.

Next week is NOT a normal troop meeting, but the PLC (patrol leaders and senior patrol) will meet to plan March and April program. Please be sure every patrol is represented.

Saturday 2/26 we will run a call-down drill and have a morning event that I understand will count toward emergency preparedness merit badge. Attending the event is optional, but please help do your part in the communication chain. This is an important process that we are trying to improve to make sure everyone knows what is going on.

The next troop meeting on 2/28 will include time for merit badge work with Mrs. Sultana and Mrs. Haney. Please come prepared if you are working with either of them on one of the several badges they counsel.

Yours in Scouting,
Mr. B

_Please congratulate the newest additions to our leadership roster:
- Evan Floreck, Webmaster
- Michael Lynch, Quartermaster
- Eric Segota, Chaplain Aide (with Peter Wajda)

Next Monday we are expecting members of the West Point Cadet Corps Color Guard to come and give us a demonstration and instruction. It should be a great night. I hope everyone can make it.

For leaders or parents who are considering taking Scout leader training (Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Leader Specific Training, and Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills) this spring, please note the dates have been changed from those we published on earlier versions of our troop calendar. SASLST is Saturday, April 2, and IOLS is the weekend of May 6-8. The district staff promised participants will be home early on Sunday for Mothers Day.

The hike on Feb 12 will be at High Point and will involve renting snowshoes. It won't be a huge slog of a hike, so plan on coming out and enjoying the views.

_Over a third of the current troop roster consists of Life Scouts. The good news is that very few of them will reach eighteen in the next year or two. I've been getting some questions about the process, so here is my general advice:

I think many Scouts have better luck approaching the project from the perspective of who they would like to serve, rather than what they would like to do. Finding a contact in a community organization that could use your help is a nice way to focus your thinking and possibly get some specific ideas for a project. Make contacts with Village Trustees, Town Council Members, officials at your place or worship and other representatives of community organizations. They will almost always want to talk with you about ideas for how the Scouts can help their organization.

Remember that an ideal project should involve both labor hours and a budget, though the costs shouldn't be so dominant that the project ends up being about raising money. There are other "rules of thumb" but each project is unique, so discussing your project ideas with others is the best way to determine its suitability to all parties.

Download a copy of the project workbook and get your first draft written. Even a very rough draft helps attract attention and can generate specific feedback on your plan from the sponsor, Scout leaders and parents. You will go through many revisions of the plan before it is ready to take to the Eagle Board for approval to begin work, so show the plan to as many people as you can at every stage.

I hope we see some Eagle project plans coming together this spring. If you are one of those Life Scouts, my best advice is DON'T PROCRASTINATE!