Welcome to Troop 57!

We are glad you and your Scout have decided to join our troop!  We want to share with you some information to help you transition into Troop 57 and have a fun and successful Scouting experience. Below we will share the way Troop 57 communicates with our Scout families, a “New to Troop 57 Scouting Checklist”, plus a couple of suggestions to help you and your Scout on the way to Eagle.

Troop 57 has four main ways of communication:

Email: The Scoutmaster sends a weekly troop newsletter each Sunday.  It is also posted to Facebook and past newsletters can be found by searching for #newsletter.  If you are not receiving the weekly email, please let Troop 57’s Scoutmaster know at troop57sm@gmail.com  so he can put you on the distribution list.

Facebook: We have two Facebook pages.  Our Friends and Alumni FB page contains pictures of past Troop events. Our Active Troop FB page (BSA Troop57, Chesapeake, VA) is just for current Scouts and their immediate families. It is a private page and requires an invitation to join.  The reason we keep the FB page private is because we share time-sensitive information about current and future Troop activities.  Also on the FB page are photos, forms, documents, announcements, newsletters and our annual calendar. To join, please email Troop 57’s Committee Chair at troop57cc@gmail.com and an invitation will be sent within one to two days.

Website (www.troop57bsa.org): Our website has LOTS of great general information.  It includes a New to Troop 57 Welcome Checklist, Scouting links, troop guidelines, volunteer opportunities, and fund raiser information (when we have one going), and hopefully soon pictures of our apparel.

Scoutbook:  Make sure you and your Scout have access to Scoutbook.  If not please email Troop 57’s Committee Chair at  troop57cc@gmail.com.  This is where you and your Scout will keep track of advancements, merit badges, and where the Troop Calendar is also located.  You can subscribe to this calendar so it will be on your Google, MSN or iCal calendar.  It also has a leadership directory and can be used to send emails to troop leaders. Take some time to navigate around in Scoutbook and become familiar with it.

New to Troop 57 Scouting Checklist:

• Register your Scout with Troop 57

• Pay any dues that are owed to our treasurer

• Get a Scout uniform for your Scout: SCOUT STUFF

• Get Troop 57’s neckerchief from our committee chair (first one is free)

• If your Scout is planning on camping with us (and hopefully he is!), he will need some or all of the below camping gear:

o   Tent

o   Sleeping pad

o   Sleeping bag

o   Mess kit

o   Camp Chair

o   Rain jacket & poncho

o   Good hiking shoes

• Get a Scout Handbook from our committee chair (first one is free)

• Get your Scout “Flight to Eagle” binder from the committee chair

• Read through Troop 57’s guidelines either in the “Flight to Eagle” binder or on the website.  Troop 57’s guidelines have lots of great information on how Troop 57 is run, what your Scout needs to do to achieve Eagle Scout and what our policies are.

• Join Troop 57’s Facebook page

• Sign into Scoutbook and become familiar with it

• Subscribe to the calendar in Scoutbook and link it to your Google, MSN, or iCal calendar (optional)

• Print out our one-page annual calendar on our Facebook page under “files”

• Make sure you are receiving Troop 57’s weekly email newsletter

• Sign up for the Tidewater Council’s monthly newsletter - TIDEWATER COUNCIL ELECTRONIC KNAPSACK (EK) - SIGN UP

  • • • This is optional, but it has lots of great information and sometimes events that your Scout can do that Troop 57 may not be participating in

• Fill out the BSA Scout Medical forms and turn them into our medical chair - BSA Medical Information

o   If your Scout is NOT planning to go to summer camp but will be participating in weekend camping trips, you just need to fill out BSA Medical forms A & B.  You do NOT need to have it filled out by a doctor. Your Scout cannot go camping without these medical forms filled out and they must be given to our medical coordinator.

o   If your Scout IS planning to go to summer camp and participate in weekend camping trips your Scout need to fill out BSA Medical forms A, B & C.  You WILL need to go to your doctor to fill in part C.  Your Scout cannot go to camp without these medical forms filled out and they must be given to our medical coordinator.

• Purchase some awesome Troop 57 apparel to show some troop pride (optional) – contact our apparel coordinator.

• If you are a parent or guardian and wish to camp with your Scout you will need to:

o   Be a registered adult with the troop

o   Complete the Youth Protection Training

o   Turn in the BSA medical forms to our medical chair (BSA medical forms A & B if just weekend camping or A, B & C if planning on going to summer camp)

• Volunteer!  Our troop could not run without our wonderful volunteers.  It does not have to be a huge time commitment.  For a list of all our volunteers and volunteer openings go to our Facebook page under “files” and look for the volunteer’s pdf.  You can also talk to our committee chair.

Tips:

Boy Scouts is fun and should be fun!  However, to rise through the ranks of Scouting it takes the effort of the Scout, his leaders and of course his parent(s) or guardian(s).

We suggest that parent(s)/guardian(s) go over with their Scout once a week what they are working on and look through their Scout Handbook to see what skill they can get signed off at the weekly meeting.  Look over the merit badges they are working on and see what they can do that week to get just a little more done.

For a Scout to rise through the Scouting ranks it is a team effort but, in the end, it should be a fun and a positive experience.

We look forward to getting to know you and your Scout!

If you have any questions please reach out to any adult leader in the Troop, and we’ll do our best to get you pointed in the right direction!