Troop 281 Cincinnati, OH

The adult leaders started the last day of camp confused.  We awoke to the senior patrol leader calling for the troop to "fall in".  It was 6:15 in the morning...instead of the usual 7:30.  The scout leaders decided to get up early to clean up camp.  We sorted though all personal items under the shelter and matched them with the owner.  4 sweeps of camp yielded a full trash bag and a clean camp. Last night was a very successful night.  No visible homesickness and many scoutmaster conferences and requirement testing.  There is a rush to finish up remaining requirements to rank up in time for tonight's boards of review.  Many scouts also found time to go to the climbing wall, swimming, jumping on the blog, or attending open shooting at the range... and of course the always popular trading post for a slushie and a card game. Some pictures from the past 24 hours:  Friday Flags at Lakeview Troop service project- clearing brush ne...

A storm rolled in yesterday evening.  Max and Andrew accounted for everyone in the troop, we tied down the tents and sheltered at the campsite until the wind and lightening passed.  It rained all evening and most of the night, but the rain and storms didn't stop Troop 281 from participating in troop competitions, having a campfire, and working on advancement.  We have had the usual homesickness, but nothing we couldn't handle.  Our first year scouts have had a fabulous week... lots of smiles and excitement.  The scouts thank you for the mail, cookies and snacks. Tomorrow is already our last day at camp.  Most agree that the week went very fast.  Lots of scouts were talking about finishing a rank advancement today.  Should be a great one!! Right Canoe: SM water ski- Ken Wilson in water.  Eric and Alexander in the canoe.  Josh working on Second Class at camp The Troop huddled under the shelter before Wednesday's storm. ...

2013 Summer Camp- Sorry for the late post.  We have had trouble with the technology to post updates.  We have had a great week so far.  Record number of scouts attending summer camp from our Troop... 49 scouts!  The Shark Patrol is camping in troop tents at the top of the campsite by the troop trailer.  Everyone else is camping in the traditional canvas platform tents.  On the first day we had several scouts attend a "drop add" session where there was opportunity to drop a merit badge and add another if the class had capacity.  All six troop 281 scouts that went were successful in switching to what they wanted!   Lakeview campsite is awesome.  We have a nice cool lake breeze and access to the lake for fishing at night. Lots of requirements have been signed off on both Monday and Tuesday evenings.  We have had 3 scoutmaster conferences so far with many more expected in the coming days.  We have been awoken every morning by a h...

    Here is the report on the June Service Project: At the service project we made a planters box for an old person’s home on Beechmont. We took large wooden poles and used saws to cut them, then we put them together in a log cabin style. After we assembled one row we would drive spikes into the poles with a mallet. The planter box was 4x8x3 feet.     The scouts who were there were Matt, John, Brian, Andrew, Michael, Brent, and Peter. The adults who were there were Mr. Black, Mr. Mays, and Mr. Lefkowitz.- Courtesy of John M.

This Court of Honor we had great weather and greater advancements. Alex stepped down from Senior Patrol Leader after two years of dedicated service and Ben stepped up to lead us for the coming year. We then awarded ranks to many people. Not so much for merit badges, but still something. We also swore in Mr.Mays as another Assistant Scoutmaster. (Known to adults as moose head) Then we closed up this year and began looking forward to the next.-Nate S. Historian