On Monday night, several of the scouts from Simsbury Boy Scout Troop 175 graduated from high school to begin the next leg of their life time adventure.
Graduating from Simsbury High School were: Lee Adamovich, Rob Asensio, Max Drake, Carter Hill, Dan Kalamarides and John Mundy.
Graduating from Avon High School was Senior Patrol Leader Mike Vallen.
Simsbury Boy Scout Troop 175 Would like to thank Lt Vince Civitillo and the Simsbury Fire Department for helping them to have a great meeting while fulfilling several requirements for the Fire Safety merit badge.
Under the direction of Eagle scout and Simsbury Firefighter Lee Adamovich, the troop has been working on this important merit badge. After a short time in the classroom, the scouts were treated to some hands on activities including directing a live fire hose, going through the training building, and watching how fast a couch can go out in flames.
Any Scout 15 years old or older can learn about becoming a fire cadet by going to the Simsbury Fire Department Website.
To see photos from the event, go to the Troop Photo Library.
Karl S. and Drew V. finished their 8 hours of volunteer service for the
Simsbury Food Closet as part of their Citizenship in the community Merit Badge requirements. They canvased the neighborhood, collected and
delivered about 100 bags of food items.
Not only are they closer to receiving this Eagle-required merit badge, but many residents in town will be fed as a direct result of there efforts.
Some months ago, Scoutmaster Brad Mead received an email from
Troop 175 in Glasgow Scotland which is a combination Boy Scout Troop and Cub
Pack. Their Troop meeting place had had a major flood and all the boys were
called into to clean up the flood and did an outstanding job. The Scoutmaster
wanted to give them Plumbing Merit Badge but it is not offered under the United
Kingdom Merit Badge System so he googled up Troop 175 in the States and got our
Troop and requested that we might send over 12 Plumbing Merit Badges which is
offered in the States. We sent them over with our compliments and here is a photo of the awards ceremony.
Welcome home to Assistant Scoutmaster Peter Van Loon. Mr. Van Loon returned this week from a tour as a Captain with United States Navy Reserves in Djibouti, Africa.
Scouts can look forward to learning many camping skills from Mr. Van Loon, including how to buy the right goat for dinner, desert camping skills and how to be your own travel agent, in future scouts meetings.
Our thanks also goes out to Jake and his family for their sacrifice while Peter was helping to keep America the greatest country in the world.
Ryan W., an eighth-grader at Henry James and a First Class scout in Troop 175, competed on March 13 in the State MATHCOUNTS Competition in Hartford, Connecticut. Ryan's team of four 8th-grade boys from Henry James came away with a first-place trophy, with Ryan leading the way by placing 11th individually out of the 170 competitors from around Connecticut.
The MATHCOUNTS Competition is a national middle school competitive mathematics program that promotes mathematics achievement through a series of fun and challenging math contests. Participating schools hold a series of tests to determine team and individual "mathletes" to compete at a Regional level.
Four students, including Ryan Weathers, were chosen to represent the Henry James team, and four additional students were to compete as individuals. Team members competed in three rounds: Sprint, Target, and Team.
* The Sprint Round (40 minutes) consists of 30 problems. This round tests accuracy under time pressure, without use of a calculator.
* The Target Round (30 minutes) consists of 8 problems. This round features multi-step problems that engage mathletes in mathematical reasoning and problem-solving processes.
* The Team Round (20 minutes) consists of 10 problems that team members work together to solve. Team member interaction is permitted and encouraged during this round.
For team members, both individual and team scores are tallied, and trophies awarded to the top scoring teams. In the Regional competition against Greater Hartford schools, the Henry James team took home the second place trophy and earned the opportunity to compete in the State competition one month later.
At the State competition, there were 170 mathletes from all around Connecticut, generally the highest-scoring 25% of all competitors from the Regionals. With Henry James' team scoring first place, their math teacher will represent the Connecticut team at the National competition in Orlando, Florida, in May. The top four individual scorers from Connecticut will compete at Nationals.
Troop 175 Congratulates Ryan and his teammates for this outstanding achievement.
Boy scouts from all three Troops in Simsbury and long with
several cub scouts packs gathered to celebrate the founding of the Boy Scouts
of America on February 8, 1910. The event at St. Catherine of Siena Church in
West Simsbury featured a flag ceremony, historic Boy Scout handbooks and merit
badge pamphlets dating back to the 1920s and of course refreshments. The highlight
of the event was a huge bonfire and Marshmallow roast.
Boy Scouts
of America today is the largest youth service organization in America, with
nearly 3 million members learning responsible citizenship, character
development, and self-reliance through participation in a wide range of outdoor
activities, educational programs and career-oriented programs in partnership
with community organizations.
Currently
more than 215 young men between the age of 11 to 18 years old are Boy Scouts in
Simsbury Troop 76, Troop 174 and Troop 175 where they are active participants
in our community. Adult members of the community also volunteers selflessly to serve young people involved in scouting.
To honor the role scouting has played in the
lives of so many in our community, Mary Glassman, the First Selectmen of
Simsbury, proclaimed the day “Boy Scout Day in Simsbury”.
The Boy Scouts in Simsbury would like to thank St. Catherine of Siena Church, Weldon Hardware and Andy’s Market for helping to make this event a success.
Check out the Troop Photo Library for pictures from the event.
Troop 175 Life Scout Keegan Rice was recently competed in the Burton Main Event Snowboarding Competition at Ski Sundown. He placed in the top 10 of the open division and competed in the finals.
His effort lead him to be invited to the Main Event Series Finals at Stowe Vt in February.
Here photographer Bryant Hughes captures Keegan during the competition using time lapse photography.
Thanks to all of the scouts in Simsbury Boy Scout Troop 175 who participated in the troop mobilization exercise "Operation Tuna".
To test our ability to reach all scouts in the event of an emergency, we used email, website, Facebook, text messages and phone calls to send a message to all scouts. Everyone was asked to bring one can of tuna to the troop meeting that night. The results were outstanding. We collected 62 cans of high protein tuna fish that was donated to the Simsbury Food Pantry.
Thank you to all who participated.
On March 27, 2010 Troop 175 Eagle Scout Lee Adamowicz
will be participating in the annual Fight for Air
Climb: Tackle the Tower at Hartford 21 stair climb to benefit the
American Lung Association. Of every dollar raised, 77 cents will
support their programs, services, research and public health education.
Not only is it the mission of the American Lung Association to prevent lung disease and promote lung health, they have recently launched an Own Your Air campaign to bring increased awareness to the quality of the air that we breathe. Research has shown that unhealthy air is one of the leading causes of lung disease. As challenging as it is to climb hundreds of stairs at one time, it doesn't compare to the challenge people with lung disease face each and every day.
Please consider supporting Lee and many others in this unique and exciting event. Online donation is easy. Visit his personal web page and follow instructions to donate to my cause.
Thank you very much for your support!
Scouts from Troop 175 were asked by recently re-elected Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman to serve at the official for Simsbury's Oath of Office Ceremony.
Eric, Nicholas C. Keegan, Rob C. and Jack V. represented our troop in the ceremony. Here the scouts are pictured with First Selectman Mary A. Glassman.
We also had to get the
project approved by the Simsbury BOE. Finally, in late September we started the
groundwork for the project, and in amongst rainy weekends and scout trips we
finished the project on October 30, 2009. We used Techo Blocks to build the
wall and glued them together with a strong adhesive. This wall will be useful
as a beautification, retaining wall, and a place for people to sit and eat
lunch or wait for the bus.
Once again, thanks to all the scouts and scout
families who helped raise money or put in hours at the car wash or on the
project. Also, thanks to the adult leadership for guidance in the process.
For the last couple of
months, I have been working on my Eagle project. I chose to work with Henry
James Memorial School and Simsbury Public Schools. They are a valuable resource
in our town. In the courtyard at Henry James, there is an oak tree, whose roots
used to stick up out of the rough asphalt. With the help of Mr. Twitchelll,
grounds manager for Simsbury Public Schools, and Mrs. Peters, vice-principal at
Henry James we decided that the most helpful project would be to build a
sitting wall around the tree and put a miniature garden in the center.
The
price for the project was around $1500.00, so initially we were worried that we
wouldn’t be able to raise the money needed for the project, and that we would
have to ask the Henry James PTC to chip in. But, with the help of an extremely
productive car wash, and funds brought in by friend's family members, troop
members and a few Simsbury businesses we actually exceeded the goal.
This fund raiser is being organized by Carter Hill, a Boy Scout with Troop 175 in Simsbury. Two summers ago he traveled to Tanzania, Africa and met workers from the Mkombozi Centre For Street Children- an organization that educates, feeds and clothes children who have been orphaned, most from the AIDS/HIV epidemic in Africa. The experience of meeting these children and workers had a profound impact on his life and he have chosen this organization as the focus of my Eagle Scout Project.
Here is how you can help to deliver these very needed items to the children.
THE CHILDREN ARE IN URGENT NEED OF: CASH DONATIONS WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATEDPlease bring any of these items to the car wash if you can.
Assistant Scoutmaster Peter Van Loon is currently on assignment as a Captain with United States Navy Reserves in Djibouti. Here he is in Tanzania with members of a
Ugandan Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit.
Some in the troop think that Mr. Van Loon was deployed with instructions to look for interesting future camping sites for Troop 175.
At the June Court of Honor, Troop 175's leadership for next year was announced.
Eagle Scout Mike Vallen was named Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) for the troop. Mike will be responsible for the overall planning and running of the troop working directly with the Scoutmaster, Mr. Mead.
Assisting Mike will be his Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders (ASPL) Rob A, Jake VL and Rob B. Since Rob A will "age out" of his position prior to the end of the year, Keegan R. has also been named a ASPL for the upcoming year.
At the June Court of Honor, four members of Troop 175 were inducted into the Immortals. The Immortals is an elite group of scouts that have demonstrated their advanced skills at scoutcraft and who participate in high adventure trips that test those skills.
The scouts joining the Immortals were Eric B, Issac P and Jake VL. Nicholas C also was inducted however he was not able to be at the ceremony. As a sign of their membership in the Immortals, the scouts received machetes.
Rob Carter was named Immortals Chief for next year.
Good luck to Jake VL, Andrew F, Kevin H, Tommy A, Rob C, Eddie C, Jon E, Steven B and Gabe B. They are off to Philmont Scout Ranch along with Mr. Adamovicz, Mr. Van Loon and Mr. Hancock.
Philmont Scout Ranch is the Boy Scouts of America's oldest national high-adventure base. Its 34 staffed camps and 55 trail camps provide an unforgettable adventure in the high country along hundreds of miles of rugged, rocky trails.
More than 860,000 Scouts, Venturers, and leaders have experienced the adventure of Philmont since the first camping season in 1939. Throughout its existence, conscientious attention to low-impact camping techniques have helped maintain the ranch's wilderness flavor.
