Category: Posts

  • First Aid without the emergency

    First Aid without the emergency

    We had a lot to deal with, what with Scoutmasters Jenny, Mary and Annie’s (fake) injuries, but we learned some first aid to help them. Fake animals bit them. We had to flush things out of our eyes, and treated our scoutmasters’ fake burns and learned how to get a fish hook out of their skin. (We didn’t harm any scoutmasters in these practice scenarios.)

    Girl with water bottle gently drops water on another girl's face.
    Practicing flushing an object out of someone’s eye is best done when there’s not a real emergency.

    From our Scribe, Claire:

    “We learned about First Aid and demonstrated on Annie, Mary, and Jenny. We learned about how to get objects out of the eye, heal a bite from a warm-blooded animal, how to treat puncture wounds, and we also learned how to deal with second and third degree burns.”

    Two girls study the scout Handbook
    The Scouts BSA Handbook for Girls has all the instructions for First Aid rank advancement requirements.

    We’ll work on more first aid requirements in another meeting.

    Several scouts are taking the First Aid merit badge at summer camp. We’re covering many prerequisites for this badge, which are also required for rank advancement, in these sessions. (For the First Aid merit badge workbook, click here.)

    Did we mention that Scoutmaster Annie got a tick? This one wasn’t a fake scenario, but Scoutmaster Mary demonstrated how to remove it for all of us to see. That was a bit much for some of us.

    (Do you still need to turn in your health form? Go to our Resources page to download the forms.)

  • Five Miles of Smiles (and more)

    Five Miles of Smiles (and more)

    A five-mile hike is one of the requirements for advancement — and we have the perfect place for it!

    Strawtown Koteewi Park is a great park northeast of town with walking trails, Indian artifacts, a nature center, camping, fishing, zip lines, horseback riding, archery… We recommend Koteewi for a lot of outdoor fun.

    We met on a Saturday morning and got our compasses and maps and even bags for trash. Ginny had some camp songs for the trail, and there was a lot of enthusiasm. But picking up trash and having fun also means you might take a wrong turn…

    Don’t worry, it’s hard to get lost. We backtracked and got back on the trail and back to our adventure.

    We found a lot of evidence of wildlife in the area — we saw deer tracks, heard various birds, found snails and bugs, and even startled a snake (or maybe it startled us).

    The Koteewi trails are three miles for the southern loop and two miles for the northern loop (maybe 2.5). We started with the southern loop, then gathered at the parking lot for snacks and a bathroom break, then hit the northern loop. It’s true, that second trail was a little rough — everyone was getting tired, and we learned the challenges of chafing.

    The weather was perfect, though, warm enough to take off a jacket, cool enough not to get too hot. And the sun was just what we needed to have a perfect day.

    After the hike, we took a picture of the scouts who did an amazing job and succeeded — that’s everyone! Then we signed off some advancement requirements in everyone’s books. It was a great day.

    Girls gathered after a hike around a map of the park
    Success! Scouts celebrate after their five-mile hike
  • New Scouts Camp Out (at New Scout Campout)

    New Scouts Camp Out (at New Scout Campout)

    New Scout Campout was our first camping trip, and it sure was memorable!

    Maybe some people wouldn’t have fun camping on a rainy and cold March weekend, but the excitement of our first outing made it all worthwhile.

    Our site was Walking Bear campsite at Camp Kikthewenund (“Camp K”). We set up our tents on the platforms they use for summer camp (the tents they use aren’t up yet) and spent the day learning different scout skills that we need for our first couple of ranks.

    We learned first aid, hiking safety, how to raise and lower the flag, and knife skills. Mr. Sherrill gave everyone a knife to use, and once we demonstrated knife safety, we got to keep them. We got our Totin’ Chip and promise to make wise choices with knives.

    Mrs. D was our grubmaster for the weekend, and she cooked some delicious food. We all helped, including with cleanup. And in the evening, we had a campfire — and did some skits we’d practiced. And the dump cakes? Did we need THREE? But did we eat all three of them anyway? (Clearly, we did need them and we did eat them.)

    Sunday morning when we got up, we found that the raindrops on our tents had FROZEN overnight! It was cold. No one got a lot of sleep, but that’s what Sunday naps are for. We broke camp and cleaned everything up and had a Scouts’ Own service, and made sure to take a picture before we left.

    New Scout campout was great — and we can’t wait for more.

  • Troop 222 founded February 2022!

    A new Scouts BSA girl troop has started at Bethel Lutheran Church!