BSA Troop 16 Sends Large Group to Summer Camp

Each summer Sycamore Boy Scout Troop 16, chartered by the Federated Church in Sycamore, attends summer camp. This year 33 scouts and 13 adults attended Tesomas Summer Camp in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. This was the largest number of scouts to ever travel to summer camp with Troop 16 and this group was the largest troop in attendance at Tesomas Camp.

This one week summer camp adventure offers rank advancement opportunities, camaraderie of scouts from many different areas, and great lifetime experiences for the scouts. Each day scouts worked on merit badges of their choice such as swimming, emergency preparedness, first aid, cooking, communications, wilderness survival, fishing, archery, leatherworks, rifle shooting, robotics, canoeing, kayaking, and more. The evenings were enjoyed with campfires, camp programs, and free time to enjoy high adventure activities including zip lining, shot gun, high and low rope courses, a climbing wall, and more. Adult leaders joined in the fun with the opportunity to earn the Old Geezer Award by completing various requirements within the week such as volunteering at various merit badge stations, a community service project, participating 6 different activity events, read a book, and take a nap! Summer camp is a highlight of the scouting year and is the favorite activity for many of the scouts. Scouts completed a total of 115 merit badges combined and the troop was part of the 85% Club since 94% of the entire troop attended camp.

12 scouts and 4 adult leaders were recognized and chosen in an American-Indian style “Tap Out” ceremony to be inducted into the Order of the Arrow, a national honors society of the Boy Scouts of America and special service organization within scouting. These scouts are selected by their peers and exemplify the ideas of scouting by living by the Scout Oath and Scout Law daily. The troop also enjoyed experiencing Fourth of July Fireworks program in Rhinelander.

Troop 16 is a strong troop with 35 active scouts. Any boy aged 11 through 18 is invited to join; no past scouting experience or background is required. Troop 16 meets most Sunday evenings from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm at the Federated Church in Sycamore. For more information about Troop 16, please contact Scoutmaster Tim Ruetten at 815.895.4940.