Simsbury Troop 175

The Denali Experiment

Senior Patrol Leader Keegan Rice asked us to post this video to the troop website as an inspiration to aspire to challenge yourself.

Public Speaking Merit Badge

Troop 175's Leadership group is working on the Public Speaking Merit Badge to help be more effective leaders. 

The final requirement for the merit badge:

5. Show you know parliamentary procedure by leading a discussion or meeting according to accepted rules of order; or by answering questions on the rules of order.

This requirement can be met by taking the following short 8 question online test and printing the results page and giving it to Mr. Rice (Don't forget to print the results page!).

Click on the link in the box to get started.

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Reposted from December 5, 2008

Environmental Science Merit Badge

In December, the troop will be working on the Environmental Science merit badge. For those interested in earning this Eagle-required merit badge, here are the requirements.

You should download the merit badge workbook for this badge as well.

Environmental Science requirements

Make a timeline of the history of environmental science in America. Identify the contribution made by the Boy Scouts of America to environmental science. Include dates, names of people or organizations, and important events. Define the following terms: population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, symbiosis, niche, habitat, conservation, threatened species, endangered species, extinction, pollution prevention, brownfield, ozone, watershed, airshed, nonpoint source, hybrid vehicle, fuel cell. Do ONE activity in EACH of the following categories (using the activities in this {the merit badge} pamphlet as the basis for planning and carrying out your projects): a. Ecology 1. Conduct an experiment to find out how living things respond to changes in their environments. Discuss your observations with your counselor. 2. Conduct an experiment illustrating the greenhouse effect. Keep a journal of your data and observations. Discuss your conclusions with your counselor. 3. Discuss what is an ecosystem. Tell how it is maintained in nature and how it survives. b. Air Pollution 1. Perform an experiment to test for particulates that contribute to air pollution. Discuss your findings with your counselor. 2. Record the trips taken, mileage, and fuel consumption of a family car for seven days, and calculate how many miles per gallon the car gets. Determine whether any trips could have been combined ("chained") rather than taken out and back. Using the idea of trip chaining, determine how many miles and gallons of gas could have been saved in those seven days. 3. Explain what is acid rain. In your explanation, tell how it affects plants and the environment and the steps society can take to help reduce its effects. c. Water Pollution 1. Conduct an experiment to show how living things react to thermal pollution. Discuss your observations with your counselor. 2. Conduct an experiment to identify the methods that could be used to mediate (reduce) the effects of an oil spill on waterfowl. Discuss your results with your counselor. 3. Describe the impact of a waterborne pollutant on an aquatic community. Write a 100-word report on how that pollutant affected aquatic life, what the effect was, and whether the effect is linked to biomagnification. d. Land Pollution 1. Conduct an experiment to illustrate soil erosion by water. Take photographs or make a drawing of the soil before and after your experiment, and make a poster showing your results. Present your poster to your patrol or troop. 2. Perform an experiment to determine the effect of an oil spill on land. Discuss your conclusions with your counselor. 3. Photograph an area affected by erosion. Share your photographs with your counselor and discuss why the area has eroded and what might be done to help alleviate the erosion. e. Endangered Species 1. Do research on one endangered species found in your state. Find out what its natural habitat is, why it is endangered, what is being done to preserve it, and how many individual organisms are left in the wild. Prepare a 100-word report about the organism, including a drawing. Present your report to your patrol or troop. 2. Do research on one species that was endangered or threatened but which has now recovered. Find out how the organism recovered, and what its new status is. Write a 100-word report on the species and discuss it with your counselor. 3. With your parent's and counselor's approval, work with a natural resource professional to identify two projects that have been approved to improve the habitat for a threatened or endangered species in your area. Visit the site of one of these projects and report on what you saw. f. Pollution Prevention, Resource Recovery, and Conservation 1. Look around your home and determine 10 ways your family can help reduce pollution. Practice at least two of these methods for seven days and discuss with your counselor what you have learned. 2. Determine 10 ways to conserve resources or use resources more efficiently in your home, at school, or at camp. Practice at least two of these methods for seven days and discuss with your counselor what you have learned. 3. Perform an experiment on packaging materials to find out which ones are biodegradable. Discuss your conclusions with your counselor. Choose two outdoor study areas that are very different from one another (e.g., hilltop vs. bottom of a hill; field vs. forest; swamp vs. dry land). For BOTH study areas, do ONE of the following: a. Mark off a plot of 4 square yards in each study area, and count the number of species found there. Estimate how much space is occupied by each plant species and the type and number of nonplant species you find. Write a report that adequately discusses the biodiversity and population density of these study areas. Discuss your report with your counselor. b. Make at least three visits to each of the two study areas (for a total of six visits), staying for at least 20 minutes each time, to observe the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. Space each visit far enough apart that there are readily apparent differences in the observations. Keep a journal that includes the differences you observe. Then, write a short report that adequately addresses your observations, including how the differences of the study areas might relate to the differences noted, and discuss this with your counselor. Using the construction project provided or a plan you create on your own, identify the items that would need to be included in an environmental impact statement for the project planned. Find out about three career opportunities in environmental science. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why this profession might interest you.

Welding will be the newest merit badge

The Boy Scouts of America approved an official welding merit badge which will available to Scouts in late December, 2011.

Opportunities in the welding field are endless, and Scouts earning their Welding merit badge can not only explore the fundamentals of welding, but also learn about the different career paths within the industry.

Welding is the latest of a new group of career oriented merit badges.

We'll post the requirements as soon as they are available.

New Sitting Wall at Simsbuy's Flower Bridge

For my eagle project I decided to build a sitting wall out of stone at the Flower Bridge. Before I could start building, I needed to collect the necessary funds in order to buy the stone and other materials. Despite road blocks in my way of collecting funds the fundraiser took place at the Simsbury Arts and Crafts show where I sold collages made up of pictures of the flower bridge that were matted for $10 each. I was able to sell about 85 pictures and thanks to other generous donations from people in town I collected $1,695 total for my project. On the day of building the wall, September 24^th, 18 scouts and 4 adults came out to help. It was a great turn out and after working from 8a.m. to 2p.m. the dry stack was complete. Two weeks later 3 adults and another scout came with me to set the stone in place with mortar. And after only a couple hours the wall was finally finished. It is about 23 feet long, 2 feet tall, and 20 inches wide. Since its completion it has even been used in wedding photographs taken at the Flower Bridge.

Rob C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=cortcarter91&target=ALBUM&id=5661587489202739777&authkey=Gv1sRgCLb-vomMze-67AE&feat=email

 

Mission Profile a Success!

This last weekend 36 Scouts(9 Teams) in the Leadership Group(1st Class and Higher) competed in our Annual Mission Profile - Rising Thunder,  beginning on Friday night and finishing Saturday night.

 

        The winning team was Team 6 - Jack Vallen, TJ Nicholson, Ethan Meskill and Brian Sennott.

 

          In 2nd Place was Team 5 - Zack Zikovich, Devon Chambers, Alex Stein and Jack Falkner.

  

          In  3Rd Place was Team 2 - Robert Carter,  Brian Hannon, Will Pendergast,  Johna Garcia.

  

         Honorable Mention to Team 8 who placed in the most events Nick Veltrop, Hunter Boyko, Cameron Cantelmo,Will Sickinger

 

       The teams were all very close to the end of the game.

 

      A copy of Rising Thunder is attached for Scouts not yet in the Leadership Group  who would like to learn what a Mission Profile is about.

Download Rising Thunder- Draft1 Nov2