Citizenship Discussion at our Troop Meeting

Citizenship – 3 Branches of the Government

Each month, our Patrol Leader Council (the youth leaders) selects a theme that drives the group discussions and instructions at our weekly troop meeting. These themes, or Program Features as they are called by the BSA, focus on various aspects of Scouting that the Scouts can use for the rest of their lives.

For the month of January, the theme is Citizenship. To help emphasize that theme, we decided to have a guest speaker come in to talk about the 3 branches of our government, and other related items. We’re very fortunate to have connections with various people that are willing to help us out, and this month was no exception.

We were blessed to have retired Congressman John Shimkus join us to talk to the group. This isn’t the first time he has helped us out. On several occasions, he has taken time out of his busy evenings to help our Scouts learn some information about how our government works. Given his first-hand experience as a politician and as a teacher, he’s great at explaining concepts in a straight-forward and engaging way. We’re very thankful that he was able to join us!

First-Aid Review

During the first part of every troop meeting, the Scouts review one aspect of First-Aid from their handbook. Each week is a different topic chosen by the PLC. The discussion is short, but it serves as a good reminder to our Scouts about important First-Aid concepts and techniques.

For this meeting, they focused on aspects of constructing a stretcher. This was actually very timely, as they had just practiced this at the annual Klondike Derby event this past weekend.

After reviewing the technique at the beginning of the meeting, they reinforced what they had learned by having a “Stretcher Relay” at the end of the meeting. For this game, groups had to build a stretcher and then transport someone across the designated area, where they would then switch positions.