Simsbury Troop 175

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The Boy Scouts of America is engaging the creative energy of Scouts and the power of the Web to get youth excited about joining Scouting.  We’re asking Scouts to make “join Scouting” commercials with their home video cameras and upload them to www.BoysLife.org for the world to see.

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More Scout Photos

As part of the Photography Merit Badge, Scouts from Simsbury Troop 175 have been submitting photo projects to complete their requirements for the badge.

Here are some additional Scout presentations for your enjoyment.

Bending Light - A fascinating look at light through the camera of Rob Burke
Download Bending light

Skiing at Sundown - Kevin Burke show the wacky snowboarders at Ski Sundown.
Download Skiiing at Sundow

Rainy Day -Eric Barch takes a look at how things look different after a rain storm.
Download Rainy Day

Ski Trip - Here is how Andrew Gutierrez saw the January Troop Ski Trip.
Download Ski Trip

2009 Adventure Race Offical Results

	Age	Time +/-	Total Time	Adj Time	Place
Team 1
Lee Adamowicz	17
Mike Vallen	16
Keegan Rice	13	2	2:46	2:33	1
	46			F&S
Team 2
Eric Barch	12
Nick Summa	13
Issac Peacock	13	-14	3:18	2:49	2
	38			F&S
Team 12
Eric Koontz	11
Jeremy Mason	12
Jack Falkner	11	-22	3:59	3:22	3
	34			F&S
Team 14
Brendan Scully	18
Will Scully	16
Kirk Scully	13	4	3:24	3:28	4
	47
Team 17
Ross Harmon	13
Will Oliver	15
Mark Gschwind	14	-6	3:57	3:46	5
	42			10 min penalty
Team 11
Scott Miller	19
Zach Zikovich	14
Matt Zikovich	11	-2	4:04	3:47	6
	44			F&S
Team 13
Andrew Fletcher	15
Tristan Chambers	16
Rob Berke	16	4	4:28	4:32	7
	47
Team 16
Luis Torres	15
Connor Barnett	14
Bryan Hannon	14	-4	4:32	4:38	T8
	43			10 min penalty
Team 3
John Cahill	13
Nicholas Carabillo	13
Justin Farrel	12	-14	4:52	4:38	T8
	38
Team 9
Steve Bushey	13
Will Kelsey	11
Drew Veltrop	13	-16	4:54	4:38	T8
	37
Team 4
Kyle Harvey	10
Sam Spak	11
Andrew Bouwer	10	-28	5:17	4:49	11
	31
Team 7
Karl Spooner	12
Joey Dunn	13
Jack Vallen	12	-16	5:20	5:04	12
	37
Team 19
Ryan Carr	14
Gregory Hannon	16
Nate Lungarini	14	-2	5:17	5:15	13
	44
Team 5
Gabe Benjamin	17
Stephen Banulski	16
Adam MacIlveen	13	2	DNF
	46
Team 6
Carter Hill	17
Jon Mundy	16
Kevin Dehm	16	8	DNR
	49
Team 8
Robert Carter	15
Jake Van Loon	16
Taran Lucker (Troop 174)	14		DNF
	45
Team 10
Tom Adamowicz	15
Jon Epstein	15
Kevin Hancock	15	0	DNF
	45
Team 15
Taran Lucker	14
Piers Lucker	12
Henry Tourtillotte	12	-14	DNR
	38
Team 18
Joe Jevnik	13
Jon Saucier	13		DNR
	26

Five New Eagle Scouts for Troop 175

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At a special Court of Honor held in St. Mary’s Church, five scouts from Simsbury Troop 175 were awarded the rank of Eagle Scout, the Boy Scout’s highest honor. The scouts receiving the honor were Lee Adamowicz, Cortlandt Carter, Dan Kalamarides, Grant Osbourne and Michael Vallen. Over 200 people attended the ceremony that included representatives from the Town of Simsbury and the State of Connecticut.

"These guys represent the best of Scouting and have collectively climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, explored deep in the Amazon jungle, explored the deserts of Philmont, the National Boy Scout Ranch and have set a sterling example for the younger boys in the Troop," said Scoutmaster Brad Mead.

Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Duff for their guidance to each of the Eagle scouts.

Additional photos are available in the Troop 175 Photo Library

Adventure Race Wrap Up 2009

74 Scouts from the three Boy Scout Troops of Simsbury held their Adventure Race on Sunday June 14 2009. 

Racing in three man teams, the scouts began their Journey at Pennwood State Park on mountain bikes. The first leg of the race was to mountain bike the four mile length of Talcott Ridge down to the Curtiss Soccer Fields. At the fields the scout teams had to scale a ten foot wall, orienteer a compass course, and rappel on ropes across a branch of the Farmington River.

The teams then ran five miles to Pettibone’s Tavern and around to the canoe landing, jump in canoes and row downriver back to Curtiss Fields about 5 miles, picking up firemaking materials along the way. Returning to Curtis Fields, they had to build a fire to burn through a rope two feet above the ground to stop their time and complete the event.

The winning scout team on straight time was Lee Adamowicz (17), Mike Vallen (16) and Keegan Rice(13) of Troop 175 with a record smashing time of 2 hours and 46 minutes. This team also came in first on an adjusted basis with a time of 2:33.

The second Place team on corrected Time was the team of Eric Barch (12), Nick Summa (13) and Issac Peacock (13) of Troop 175 with an actual time of 3:18 and an adjusted time of 2:49.

In third place was Eric Koontz (11), Jeremy Mason (12) and Jack Falkner (11) with a time of 3:59 adjusted to 3:22.

The day also included a flag burning service project led by Troop 174 to retire American flags respectfully.

For complete photos of the event, go to the Troop 175 Photo Archives.

Eagle Scout Lee Adamowicz

 Lee Adamowicz was born on August 7, 1991 in Barrington, Rhode
Island. For the first two years of his life he lived in Barrington right
by the ocean. He then moved to Alpharetta, Georgia where he spent
another two years until his family finally settled down in Simsbury,
Connecticut. He has spent his entire school career in the Simsbury
public school system, starting at Central Elementary, to Henry James
for middle school, and finally reaching Simsbury High School, where
he is currently finishing his junior year.

Lee began his scouting career as a Bobcat in Saint Mary’s Pack 175
in 1999, where his mother was the den leader of Den 12. After
achieving his Arrow of Light award in the 5th grade, Lee crossed
over to Boy Scout Troop 175, which was then led by Scoutmaster
Rich Cady.

Lee’s favorite memories from scouting consist of the deep freeze
trips, and the challenge of building his own shelters, as well as
Summer Camp Mattituck 2008 and the Bear Grylls skit. He has
enjoyed all the Immortals trips and the physical and mental tests that
are presented throughout the weekend.

For his Eagle Scout project, Lee chose to help the American School
for the Deaf. ASD owns Camp Isola Bella in Salisbury and Lee
undertook several improvements to the camp. Lee, with the help of
many scouts from Troop 175, cleared hiking trails as well as built and
placed four birdhouses, four benches, and a picnic table. These
improvements will lead to improved education for the children
attending the camp as well as improved safety while at camp.

Other interests of Lee’s besides Boy Scouts include being a cadet in
the Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company for 2 ½ years, operating a
successful lawn/snow blowing business for six years, and rowing on
the Varsity Crew team at Simsbury High School. In his free time Lee
enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and running. Lee is looking forward
to attending National Outdoor Leadership School this summer for a
four-week course on mountaineering in the Waddington Mountain
Range in British Columbia.

Eagle Scout Cort Carter

Cortlandt Carter, 18, has been a member of Boy Scout Troop 175
since moving to Simsbury, CT, in 2001, and serves currently as a
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. His record of leadership includes
serving as Senior Patrol Leader from June 2007 – June 2008, being
elected by his peers as the Crew Chief for the Philmont Scout Ranch
Expedition in July 2007, and being a founding member of the Immortals
High Adventure Group.

An avid traveler, Cort was among the seven scouts from Troop 175
who participated in a 16-day expedition to the Amazon jungle of
Peru during the summer of 2008. In addition to jungle camping, the
group assisted a noted primatologist in tracking and counting various
primate species. He has also traveled extensively through Greece,
Italy, Great Britain and Scotland.

His community service activities in addition to scouting include
serving as an assistant coach for boys and girls basketball at St. Mary’s
School. His sports interests in addition to basketball include football
and baseball. A graduating senior at Northwest Catholic High School,
Cort intends to attend Franklin Pierce University in the Fall, where he
plans to study business and psychology.

Cortlandt recently completed a community service project meant to
promote recycling. Cort spearheaded an effort that included 44
fellow scouts and parents to raise funds and construct eight recycling
containers for the town of Simsbury. Funds were raised through a
car wash held at St. Mary’s School in mid-March, and construction
and placement of the recycling containers was completed on April
19. Instrumental in completing the project was Troop 175 Assistant
Scoutmaster Peter Adamowicz. Upon completion, Cort appeared
before the Simsbury Board of Selectmen as well as the town’s Culture,
Parks and Recreation Commission, to explain the project and how it
fits with recent environmental efforts launched in Simsbury.

I would like to thank Mr. Adamowicz for all of his help and patience.
My project could not have gotten done without his help. Thank you
to Mr. Toner for his enthusiasm and for helping this project along as
quickly as he could. To the Duffs for supporting me especially with
the write-up and always making sure I kept moving – never at a stand
still. Thanks to all of the scouts and scoutmasters who helped get the
work done, I couldn’t have done it without their help. To my mom
who gave me this great idea, and a thank you to my dad who always
made sure I was doing the right thing.

Eagle Scout Dan Kalamarides

Dan Kalamarides began Cub Scouts as a Tiger Cub in Pack 17 of
Wilton, CT. He then moved to Simsbury and was a part of Pack 174
where he enjoyed the Pine Wood Derbies. He earned the Arrow of
Light Award and crossed over to Troop 175 in 5th grade.
Dan’s favorite memories of scouts include the annual skiing and
Onion Mountain trips, along with many summers at Camp
Mattatuck. He enjoyed participating in (and winning) the first
Adventure race with teammates Ryan Mead and Max Seifert. His
most memorable night camping came at Gettysburg, where he and
other scouts spent a terrifying night with Grant Osborne. The
epitome of Dan’s scouting career was a two-week long backpacking
trip in Philmont Scout Ranch, in which he remembers participating in
a tomahawk-throwing contest, telling jokes and “chilling” in a sweat
lodge.

After being Patrol Leader of FuelX8 and the Oxymoron’s, with their
infamous patrol flags, Dan was elected Senior Patrol Leader as a
freshman in High School. He emerged as a leader after a large
graduating class and has since been an Instructor and a member of
the Quality Control team.

Dan’s Eagle Project combined some of the most important aspects
of his life: scouting, religion and the community. He organized and
led a collection of supplies for five Burundi refugee families that
moved to Hartford. With the help of the Burundi Fellowship and
Catholic Charities, he was able to provide the families with a window
for success in their futures in America. Dan decided on this project
because he wanted to help reconstruct people’s lives rather than the
classic bridge construction project.

Dan is currently a junior at Simsbury High School, where he is a
member of the varsity Cross Country and Track teams. He has
represented the school in three state meets and hopes to continue
with his success in running. He is a member of the National Honors
Society and Simsbury Scholars, maintaining a GPA over 4.0. Dan
would like to thank his family, scoutmasters, fellow scouts and
especially the Duff family for helping him become an Eagle Scout.

Eagle Scout Grant Osborne

Grant began scouting in third grade with Pack 276 as a Cub Scout.
He then earned his Arrow of Light (with plenty of time to spare) and
crossed over to Troop 175 in fifth grade. His best memories of Cub
Scouts are the Pinewood Derby races, which are best won with the
simplest design, graphite, and melted fish weights.

Grant has many memorable experiences with Troop 175. One of his
favorite memories is from when he first joined the troop, and went
on the trips to Treasure Valley. He remembers goofing around,
learning from the older scouts, and just having a good time. This
became a standard for all the trips that he loved best, which include
Block Island and the Bromley ski trip. These trips were the best
because you could be independent and learn from your mistakes,
such as not slamming on the front brakes at high speeds. The best
trip by far that he ever went on was to Philmont Scout Ranch in New
Mexico, with its picture-perfect views, diverse terrain, and many
laughable moments. Grant hopes to carry out his own backpacking
trip one day, and continue enjoying the outdoors. Grant’s leadership
was demonstrated through the positions of patrol leader, assistant
senior patrol leader, and troop librarian. Of these, he enjoyed being
patrol leader best, because the patrol was more hands-on, and
involved more teaching.

Grant’s Eagle project was the construction of a secure enclosure for
the church of St. Catherine. As a parishioner, he was aware of the
church’s need for such a facility, and with the help of Father Michael,
Mr. Rice and his friends, the enclosure was built. The project was a
natural choice because of his hobby of working with his hands and
creating/building. The enclosure was built complete with dual
swinging doors and a keypad lock, and yielded 160 sq. feet of storage
space.

During his busy scouting career, Grant was also busy with work and
athletics at school. Grant juggled his part-time job at Mario’s with his
after school sports: crew and wrestling, both of which he excelled at
and participated in at a varsity level. After high school Grant began
an apprenticeship with a electrical contracting company, and is
currently working and aspiring towards becoming a licensed
electrician. Grant is very grateful towards his friends, scout leaders,
and family who helped him through his very busy and hectic senior
year and made acquiring Eagle possible.

Eagle Scout Mike Vallen

Michael Vallen joined scouts in the first grade as a Tiger Cub. He was
a member of Pack 2 in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. He earned the
Arrow of Light and all twenty pins for Webelos. As a 5th grader,
Michael crossed over to Troop 2. That’s where Michael’s love of
scouting really began. Troop 2 took exciting trips including rock
climbing, winter camping at Valley Forge, white water rafting on the
Leigh River and ski trips. Summer camp was outstanding. Michael
went to camp every summer and earned many merit badges as a
young scout. Michael also had the opportunity to sail on the
Chesapeake Bay for a week at High Adventure Sailing. Michael was
inducted into the Order of the Arrow in 7th grade. Before moving to
Avon, CT, Michael had earned the rank of Life Scout.

Michael thought that Troop 2 was the best Boy Scouting Troop in the
US. In 2006 Michael’s family moved to Avon, CT. By the luck of a
faulty website, Michael decided to join Troop 175 in Simsbury, CT.
After a talk with Mr. Mead, he decided that Troop 175 was the right
troop for him. Michael was immediately accepted by the boys and the
adult leadership. He participated in most trips and was given the
opportunity to explore what New England has to offer. His favorite
trips were to Tuckerman’s Ravine, Zealand Hut, Stratton, Slide
Mountain, Smugglers Notch and the annual deep freeze. His biggest
accomplishment was to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro at the age of 14. After
three years as a member of Troop 175, Michael knows that he is now
in the best troop in the US.

Michael’s Eagle Scout Project was to rebuild the Avon Crew trailer.
After many years of abuse the trailer was falling apart. Michael is a
member of the Avon Crew. Michael felt that this would be a good
project not only for an Eagle Scout but it also would help his team.
Avon is a new team and this refurbished trailer helped build team
spirit. With the help of the Scouts of Troop 175, Avon’s Crew team
now looks like a professional team. Michael would like to thank Mr.
and Mrs. Duff, his crew coach Soo Passmoor, Mr. Mando, the scouts
of Troop 175, and his crew team for all their help and support during
this Eagle Scout Project.

Michael is currently a Junior at Avon High School. He is the stroke
of the Varsity 1 boat for his crew team, Captain of his Cross Country
team and a member of the swim team. He is a cadet in the Avon
Volunteer Fire Department. As a Scout he is Chief of the Immortals.
Michael would like to thank his family and friends for helping him
achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.

National Youth Leadership Training

National Youth Leadership Training is an exciting, action-packed program offered by the Boy Scouts of America designed to provide youth members of the Boy Scouts of America with leadership skills and experiences they can use in their home troops and in other situations demanding leadership of self and others.

Monday August 3 – Saturday August 8, 2009
Camp Mattatuck
Cost $225.00

The course has space for 64 youth participants. Two youth per troop, crew, or post will be accepted as participants. Participants must be 13 years of age and 1st class or its equivalent. 

If you are interested in attending Contact Mr. Rice.

National Trails Day

National Trails Day will be held Saturday, June 6th and Sunday, June 7th this year, with over 130 events taking place throughout CT!  Join Connecticut Forest & Park Association (CFPA) and the conservation community as we celebrate our landscape. Take a hike, walk, paddle, bike or horse ride at a Trails Day event and enjoy all that our beautiful state has to offer.

Troop 175 to Hold Eagle Court of Honor

 

Sunday, June 7th at St. Mary's Church we will be honoring five new Eagle Scouts from Simsbury Troop 175. Grant Osborne, Dan Kalamarides, Lee Adamowicz, Cortland Carter and Mike Vallen will all receive the highest Honor in Scouting. Their Families, friends and and the troop are an important part of this great day. Town and State officials will participate as will many community leaders. It will be in St. Mary's church promptly at 2 PM and there will be a reception afterwards at the Parish Center.

We would like the Troop to attend in full Class A uniform. If you are new to Scouting this is our annual Eagle Ceremony and a very different one  than our regular Courts of Honors. Come help honor those Scouts that have helped you along your advancement trail.

Algonquin Provincial Park Canoe Trip

Our year end trip this year will be to the Algonquin Provincial Park. We have made reservations and have permits  for a total of 27 people in one of the most remote areas of the Park.. We may be able to expand this but the part of the Park that we are going is very capacity limited to make sure the experience is kept wilderness.

     We will depart Thursday morning early from Simsbury and drive  to the eastern end of the park entering at Sand Lake Gate(About 9 Hours - 520 miles). We will pick up canoes at an outfitter that is located right there and then drive an additional 27 miles with the canoes to Achray Camp ground on Grand Lake which will be our jumping off point.We will camp there Thursday night and cook dinner . The sun sets at 9 PM and rises at 5 AM this time of year in the Park.

     On Friday morning we will leave after breakfast and canoe from Grand Lake to Stratton lake with a brief 30 meter portage. We will canoe the length of Stratton lake about 3 miles and set up camp for the night across from High Falls. We have three campsites reserved  each of which can hold 9 campers. Campsites are not designated ahead of time so we should get first pick for the day. Only  7 sites exist in this part of the lake.We will spend the day exploring and playing in the water falls. There are deep pools, cliffs for jumping and rock water slides. There is also great fishing and hiking. The next morning we will leave early and canoe back part of Stratton lake and then a short 50 meter portage into St. Andrews lake. We will canoe the length of St. Andrews about 1.5 miles and then portage along an old log flume 550 meters into High Falls Lake.We will canoe the length of the lake , about one mile, and then portage 300 meters into Ooze lake, canoe half a mile across the lake and then our final portage of the day, 650 meters , into Opalescent Lake - a spectacular lake said to be on of the finest  in Canada. It is only accessible by Canoe. Opalescent Lake is about a 1 mile long and we have 3 of the five sites in the entire lake.

On Sunday we will portage from Opalescent to Brigham lake , 740 meters and then begin our float down the Barron River Canyon, a mini grand Canyon, which we will canoe down about 6 miles to squirrel falls where we will pull out and load up the cars and shuttle the other cars from Achray and then return the canoe to Sand Lake Gate Sunday late afternoon. That evening we will stay in a motel in the area, get some hot showers and eat at a local restaurant. The next morning we will head back to Simsbury arriving late afternoon.

Troop 175 Boy Scout Adventure Race Team Assignments

The following Teams have signed up for the Adventure Race.  If you haven't signed up get two other guys and form a team. If you have two but need a third let me know. If you would like to race but have no team members let me know as well and we'll match people up. Remember the younger you are the more time that gets deducted from your final race time so you all have a chance against the bigger kids. Alumni are invited - you can race if you have not turned 21 years old.

  

Team #1

     Lee Adamowicz

     Mike Vallen

     Keegan Rice

 

Team # 2

 

     Eric Barch

     Nick Summa

     Isaac Peacock

 

Team#3

 

     John Cahil

     Nicholas Carabillo

     Justin Farrel

 

Team # 4

      Noah Campion

      Will Kendall

      Available

 

Team #5

       Gabe Benjamin

       Stephen Banulski

       Available

 

Team # 6

        Nate McIntyre

        Chris MacNeil

        Jeremy Mason

 

Team #7

        Karl Spooner

        Joey Dunn

        Jack Vallen

 

Team #8

        Robert Carter

        Jake Van Loon

        Taran Lucker (Troop 174)

This is a Charity Race and the Troop Committee has voted to donate to Simsbury Families in Need. Each team should start raising money and their will be awards for those who raise the most money. Checks should be made out to Troop 175 -Simsbury Families in Need. Our Troop raised over $ 20,000 for the Michael Bubnash Fund last year.