Thank you for visiting Boy Scouts of America (“BSA”) Troop 577. If you are looking for a troop home for your son, you will find that each troop has its own unique personality. It is a combination of a troop’s history, activities, and people. Here is a little information to give some insight into our troop. We hope it assists you in determining if Troop 577 is the right fit for your son and your family.
Troop Specifics
- Troop 577 has been in existence for over 58 years. Our Chartering Organization is St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. We were the church’s first outreach ministry.
- Our Troop currently has over 100 registered scouts and at least 80% are active.
- We believe in a boy led, parent advised troop. Scouts elected to leadership positions attend troop sponsored leadership training.
- Our troop has qualified for the National Quality Unit Award for the past seven consecutive years.
- We serve dinner to the homeless at the Austin Street Center on the fourth Thursday of every month.
- Annual fund raising activities include the troop garage sale, popcorn sale, and poinsettia sale.
Meetings
- We meet each Monday at 7:30 for 1 hour, except for some holidays & summer camp, at the Scout Hut, located north across the parking lot from St. Luke's Episcopal Church, at 5923 Royal Ln. between Preston Rd. & the Tollway.
- Meeting activities include working on “Trail-to-First-Class" requirements, working on a Merit Badge, learning a scout skill, planning for a campout, patrol competitions, and games.
Camping
- Our goal is to go camping once a month during the school year. Activities on most campouts center on either a particular merit badge or a scouting skill. The majority of campouts are within a two hour drive.
- Younger scouts are STRONGLY encouraged to attend Summer Camp and/or Winter Camp. This is a tremendous opportunity to work on “Trail-to-First-Class” requirements. In June 2010, our scouts will have the option of attending either Camp Constantin located on Possum Kingdom Lake or Camp Hale in Oklahoma.
- Older scouts have opportunities to go to the three BSA High Adventure camps. These are Philmont (hiking and camping for up to two weeks in the mountains of New Mexico), Northern Tier (canoeing the boundary waters between the US and Canada), and Sea Base (scuba diving in the Florida Keys).
Rank Advancement
- We focus on getting new scouts to First Class as quickly as possible. Assistant Scoutmasters work with new scouts. Older scouts are assigned to assist the younger scouts.
- The majority of Scouts who join Troop 577 earn the Eagle rank. Of those scouts who earn the First Class rank, around 80% go on to earn Eagle. More than 100 Troop 577 scouts have earned the Eagle rank.
Merit Badges
- Merit Badges are a great way for a scout to learn more about topics that interest him.
- The troop teaches various Merit Badges during the year. Eagle required badges are taught on a three year planned curriculum. Summer Camp and Merit Badge College are also great places to earn Merit Badges.
Adult Leadership/Training
- We encourage parents and guardians to become leaders in the troop. Whether in an official troop position, assisting on an as-needed basis or simply helping their own scout set and achieve goals, their involvement is crucial to the troop and to their son’s success.
- All adult leaders are required to receive basic BSA adult training. Additional training is available for specific leadership positions within the troop. BSA has remarkable advanced training opportunities.
Age Requirement: To join a Boy Scout troop, a boy must be at least 11 years old, or one who has completed the fifth grade or earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but is not yet 18 years old.
To access a BSA Youth Application, go to http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/28-406.pdf.