Upcoming events for Communications and Citizenship in the Community merit badge participants…
First, a reminder that those working on either Citizenship in the Community and/or the Communications Merit Badges will attend the D-11 School Board meeting which will be held THIS Wednesday, December 11 at 6:30 PM at the D-11 Administration building located at 1115 N. El Paso Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903. We will stay only an hour so please plan on picking your Scout up no later than 7:30 that night. If your Scout cannot attend that meeting, they may watch it on the D-11 channel but will have to take a quiz to reflect their understanding of what was discussed. Other options would need to be discussed with me.
Second, the boys have decided on the volunteer work they will be doing as a group for the Citizenship merit badge. As a reminder, this merit badge requires significant volunteer work with and research on a non-profit organization (8 hours of service work). They will be doing set-up/hosting for the Bob Telmosse (Santa Bob) toy giveaway. Dates will be Sunday, December 15 from 9-2 AND Saturday, December 21 from 1-4. The event is being held at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center at 3950 North Nevada (80907). Even if you are not working on the merit badge, you are welcome to attend one or both service days. All volunteers should bring a sack lunch on Sunday. We will have two adult volunteers present both days.
The merit badge requires 8 hours of volunteer work with one organization. If your Scout cannot attend both dates for the Santa Bob toy give away, they should choose another option. Some suggested options include food sorting with Care and Share, bell ringing with the Salvation Army or food service/clean up with one of the soup kitchens in town. The other options would be organized on an individual or pair basis and need to be set up and determined by each Scout in cooperation with their parents. Parents would need also to attend such events with their Scout in those instances. If you or your Scouts have other ideas for completing this volunteer work requirement, please let me know.
Finally, within the next few weeks we will be watching portions of “A Class Divided” to discuss the topic of racism and see how one teacher chose to positively impact her community (to meet requirement 5 on watching a video on how a person or group of persons positively impacted their community). While the original experiment occurred some time ago, the lesson is timeless. I am hopeful the Scouts can relate to this on many levels (including even anti-bullying issues). Please review it in on your own in advance. Contact me with any questions or concerns. The link follows and we will be watching Chapters 1 and 2:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html
See everyone at the troop meeting on Tuesday.
