Usually our troop hosts a “Lock-in” in February where the Scouts spend a night at the church and play video games, eat pizza and socialize. This year we could not do it, so the Patrol Leaders’ Council decided to try to replicate this event outdoors.
We booked a campsite with electricity at Lake Fairfax Park. Scouts and our Scoutmaster built a stand to hold up a video screen. The stand was made from two buckets filled with 25 pounds of concrete with a PVC tube in the middle. Then you slide in a 2×4 which has hooks attached. You use guylines and tent stakes to spread the poles apart. The screen we purchased was from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Mdbebbron-150-inch-Projection-Screen/dp/B0878RVTKX/ref=sr_1_11). We had a projector already from our Court of Honor events. The Scouts played a Smash Brothers tournament with two players at a time while others watched.
During the video game tournament, Scouts made Dutch oven desserts.
This outing had the highest attendance of any outing in recent years other than our Lock-ins at the church. It was voted the top outing idea in our troop outings survey.
For more details about the screen set-up, email troop1577scoutmaster@gmail.com.
In honor of Earth Day 2021 and every day for Scouts, members of Scouts BSA Troop 1191G and 1191B, Mount Airy rendered community service by clearing trails of invasive plants and removing trash from the waterway on the trails at Gillis Falls, Salt Box area. Scouts focus on conservation projects throughout the year, often completing service for town and county governments as well as civic organizations. For the month of April, Troop 1191G is furthering their knowledge of the environment by focusing on requirements for the Sustainability Merit Badge, one of the two choices for the environmental focused required merit badge that Scouts must earn for the rank of Eagle. Conservation and environmental studies have been a long standing focus for the Boy Scouts of America since 1910. Among the interesting artifacts recovered during their conservation work were a turntable, computer, pool ball, and half of a metal drum. The most significant recoveries of the morning were 31 tires and 3 bicycles.