About Troop 979
Since the 1950s, hundreds of families living on the northwest side of Chicago and the surrounding area have sent their 11-year-old sons into the Boy Scout Troop 979 program and watched them emerge seven years later as outstanding young men. Many of these scouts became valedictorians, athletes, doctors, lawyers, firemen, engineers, architects, policemen, teachers, scientists, and business owners. All of them were better prepared to face the challenges and choices of young adulthood and life.
Boy Scout Troop 979 has been a success for more than 70 years. Our program is solid and time-tested. We DO things! We challenge our scouts. We challenge them with activities like camping, outdoor cooking, swimming, first aid, hiking, morse code, sailing, archery and more. We challenge our scouts to learn what it means to do the right thing and what it means to lead a life of integrity. And we
challenge them to Be Prepared — for life.
Find out how you can join Troop 979.
2012-2013 Meeting Log
November 1
Announcements New Scout David, friend of John B. has joined. Welcome David. Russ moved John B. and David from the Tigers into the Bears. But Quinn and Colin are in the Bears. Better move Quinn and Colin back to the Tigers.
Report on 20-mile to Kettle Morraine in WI from Steve B. Successful but cold at night. Russ claimed tha the air should have been warm at night because they were in a valley. Grant K. claimed that the air should have been warm at night because the Oompa Loompas who live at the center of the Earth should have been running their furnace. Seteve B. chastised those scouts who wore shorts on the hike. Especially Mike R. If you need a warm coat just for camping go to the thrift store and get one.
Adage alert: “If you bring it with you and it’s warm, you can always take it off; but if you don’t bring it with you...
Merit race: Bears -- 0, Buffalos -- 20, Pioneers -- 15, Tigers -- 20.
Scoutcraft Map symbols and sketching part dieux presented by Steve B. Scouts going for second class broke off into small gropu for instruction on knots and first-aid.
Scout Game Map sketching contest. A patrol won.
Gym A good long game of War! Mike B’s team always lost. What’s up with that?
Circle Saturday November 17 - Good Turn at the Church. Leaf cleanup 9 a.m. All hands on deck. Next week’s meeting Railroading with Jim H.
October 18
Announcements Russ remarked on the excellent leadership exhibited on the campout by the patrol leaders and SPL. Of special note was the construction of rain flys to ummm keep us dry. Russ continued to claim that he has power over the weather by offering up the fact that the rain held off until breakfast was completed.
To even out the patrols, Quinn B. and new scout Collin C. were moved from the Tigers to the Bears. Russ observed that Sean C. likes power and Sean C. agreed.
Lots of advancement was completed on the campout but more could have been done. Russ berated those scouts who fail to check their scorecards to discover what they need to pass.
Peter S. showed up. He has been busy with football at the “fancy” school he attends. Non sequitur: somebody left a fork and a hammer on the campout.
Francis reminded the patrols that the option for patrol hikes exist. In addition to earning a good chunk of merits they help to build the patrol and they are a lot of fun.
Scoutcraft Changed things up a little this week with more knots -- clove hitch, bowline, and tautline. Russ called out Christos G. for flapping his mouth
Scout Game A timeless classic: Crossing the River. One of the patrols won.
Gym A favorite of many -- Pinball
Circle
October 11
Announcements Passed out some left over merit badges. Get ready for the campout; there is going to be rain and mud, so wear boots not gym shoes. It’s going to be cold in the morning so wear something warm. Beef stew for dinner; Jack going for the Cooking merit badge.
Reaarrangement of patrol leaders.
Jeremy E. — pioneers
Ryan L. — Bears
Eric S. — Buffaloes
Sean C. — Tigers
Don’t goof around the first two weeks of college.
Scoutcraft More knots; followed by knots
Scout Game Crossing the River; 3 rounds; Buffs win the first, Buff win the 2nd, Tigers win the 3rd. Later it was revealed that game 3 was the good one, much to the chagrin of the Buffs
Gym Kick baseball; another thrilling contest that came down to the final out. No home runs. No grand slams. I can’t remember the last time someone hit an out-of-the-gym home-run in kick baseball. What’s up with that?
Circle Passed out info on 20-mile hike to Kettle Morraine in WI; revealed transportation for campout; number of jokes told: 0, YTD totals of jokes told at the circle: 0. A busy meeting that ended right at 9.
September 27 — Court of Honor
Merit badges galore were distributed; it was a productive two weeks at summer camp. Nobody had perfect meeting attendance this year. That’s a little sad. Russ handed out awards for almost perfect attendance — NOT!
The Buffaloes were crowned as champions of the merit with Grant K. accepting. The plaque is still at the engravers. Quinn B. and John B. were awarded the Golden Triangle.
Lots and lots of great slides from troop’s trips to Boot Lake and to Many Point summer camp — Thanks Ken and Fran!
Russ reminded all that we need help with transportation on campouts and recruiting new scouts.
The candle-lighting ceremony is always the highlight of the Court of Honor, and this year did not disappoint. pic
Thanks to the Mother’s club for the refreshments!
September 20
Scouts has begun again — Welcome Back!
Announcements We welcomed two new recruits David and Collin; they are checking the meetings out for a couple of weeks and then will look to join. Also the famous Frankie O. made his long awaited scout debut.
Russ apologized to Trevor H. and Jason M. for overlooking the fact that their fathers were also Eagle Scouts in the troop. Russ discussed the program for the upcoming year putting emphasis on some career-oriented, worthwhile badges that will be part of the program. These include: Fire Prevention (Vic S.), Safety (Doug S.), Crime Prevention (Mark K.), Railroading (Jim H.), and Woodworking (Jim M.). Russ has not yet organized the patrols.
Scoutcraft
The Admiral, Jeff P., eloquently recanted his summer excursion to Poland including his studies of language, culture, and kitchen. He also met a German girl.
Standing up for what you think is right. That takes guts. Russ retold the story from his army days of West and Western — two enlistees who were ridiculed by the others in the unit for attending church; later when the war got serious, the unit elected West and Western as its leaders. It’s OK to show what you believe in. People will respect you for it. Recruit a new scout.
Scout Game Kim’s game. No Patrol did very well. Bears and Pioneers did the best and split the merits.
Gym Whistle Ball (with three balls, whoa that’s crazy); King and Squire — Eric S. always aims for the head.
Circle * Permission slips for the October hike were passed out (due back next meeting). * Next meeting is Court of Honor with awards and pics from camp. * When recruiting, send potential joinees to troop979.org for more info.
2011-2012 Meeting Log
March 1
Announcements Parents’ Night is on Friday — make it a good one. Volleyball in the gym tonight and each patrol will get a turn at the stage to practice its skit. Some doubt was expressed whether Chess merit badge is a real merit badge but its existence has been confirmed. Admiral Jeff P. is planning to petition for a Battleship merit badge. Craig D. reminded us that Chess has a rich history, and we also discussed Craig’s new haircut. Ian S. will play shortstop this year in baseball. We welcomed John and John two new potential scouts who were visiting the meeting and checking out our troop. Merit race: Pioneers 50, Bears 170, Buffaloes 183, Tigers 32.
ScoutCraft Mike B. again (just can’t get enough of that guy). Learning the morse code in 5 minutes or less. R-K, P-X, U-G, W-D. Coca Cola! Zsa Zsa Gabor. BE! a good boy. F has two prongs and begins with two dots. L has only one prong.
Scout Game Signal Touch — always a great game for learning morse code. Using a signal flag, the name of an object in the room is spelled out in morse code, and the first scout to touch it gets a point. The Buffaloes won easily.
Gym Voleyball while the patrols rotated on skit practice time. Alex R discovered he CAN serve a voleyball. Weeks without an injury: 1 and counting.
Scout Circle Parents’ night setup on Friday. Scout need to arrive by 7 but Ken D. will be at the church at 4:30 if you need to arrive early to set up. Grant K. finagled a way to turn attendance at Parents’ Night into credit for a patrol meeting. Parents’ night program begins at 7:30.
Big Announcement Congratulations to Alex R. and Quinn B. on earning the rank of Second Class! Good job Alex and Quinn!
February 23
Announcements All the patrols are set for Parents’ night and the program has been sent to the printer. Russ reminded several scouts that they have completed zero (as in none) merit badges so far and that the deadline is fast approaching. The bane of Jason M’s existence continues to be Hiking merit badge which he has still not completed. There was some confusion about when the first session of the "Urban Jungle" would be taking place.
ScoutCraft Mike B. did another exceptional job explaining knife and saw safety. A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife. Wear gloves when you saw and get your right leg up there so that you can saw like a man. Let the the saw do the work.
Scout Game Sleeping Indian
Gym Basketball. Plus Michael R. got punched in the eye (accidentally) by Greg U. and needed stitches.
Scout Circle Chris L. distributed info on his Eagle project taking place on Sunday 3/4.
February 16
Announcements I am sure there were announcements but they were not recorded.
ScoutCraft Square Lashing and Diamond Lashing tonight. Each patrol had to build their own table by lashing PVC pipes together using square and diamond lashings. The square lashing is easy and pleasing to the eye. The diamond lashing requires more practice. The Tigers built more of a bar than a table.
Scout Game Sleeping Indian
Gym Basketball.
February 9
Announcements Get your Scoreboard signed. You are responsible for your own scoreboard. REMINDER: after April 30 no merit badges will be counseled by Troop counselors. Tempus fugit! Russ took an informal poll about who preferred the lodge to cabin on the Winter campout -- 8-4 in favor of the lodge. Where we go next year depends somewhat on the weather.
ScoutCraft Again with the knots: clove hitch, timber hitch, and bowline.
Scout Game Knot tying orgy
Gym Nerf Baseball.
January 26
Announcements All were reminded that Parent’s night is only six weeks away. Procrastination is evil. There was a shake up in the leadership of the Tigers as Christos was named the new patrol leader.
More Knots The fisherman’s and bowline took centerstage this week and of course that means the Crossing the River game. We had three rounds with round 1 and 3 won by the Bears and Round 2 won by the Buffs. Russ hid the piece of paper with the number of the winning round in with his leftover pie. When the note was read, the Bears (the winners of Round 3) were declared the victors. Shortly thereafter the Bears and Tigers faced off in a Pantomime Game sudden death in order to break the tie left over from the December Pantomime game. It took two rounds but ”Home Repairs“ was the Tigers’ downfall and the Bears prevailed. This meant two victories for the Bears in the same night! If only we had played patrol dodge ball in the gym; instead it was another rousing game of whistle ball.
There were no time for jokes. Permission slips for the February campout were distributed, and Russ reminded the patrol leaders to tun in the campout sheets to him no later than Tuesday. Saturday basketball for 1/29 is on.
January 19
Knots Can’t get enough of the knots! Featured this week -- square, sheet bend, fisherman’s and packer’s knot.
January 12
Nature Mike B. gave his famous constellation talk demonstrating the relatioship between Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and the Big Dog. Remember when Orion gets thirsty he likes to drink Betelgeuse which he keeps on his shoulder and of course he hunts with his dog Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky) at his feet. If only he could finally kill that bull, Taurus, but Aaw the Baron! (Aldebaren) keeps getting in the way. If only we could come up with a good way to remember Rigel.
Russ sent a morse code message by flag -- "Sing Old McDonald". The Buffaloes were quickest to decipher it and earned 15 merits as a result. /p>
January 5
World Famous Caesar’s Olympics Games Ceasar made his annual appearance in the scout gym and the Macedonians, Athenians, Spartans and Athenians did battle to the end. The competition was neck and neck throughout and came down to the final event -- the baloon stomp of death. The Spartans prevailed as the victors and took 25 merits as their spoils. Special appearance were made by alumni Matt K., Kevin K, Danny S., Tim M., and Kenny D. (Sunny D) aka Caesar.
Scoutmaster
Russ Gremel
Come Join Troop 979
If you are a boy between the ages of 11 and 17 you are welcome to come join in on the fun. Find out how to join Troop 979.
Cub Scout Pack 3979
Pack 3979 is an integral part of the success of Troop 979. Discover more about Pack 3979 at their webpage.
Troop 979 Alumni
and Alumni families
Check out the Troop 979 Alumni page.
Thank You Congregational Church
of Jefferson Park
The Congregational Church of Jefferson Park has been the sponsor of Troop 979 since the beginning. We couldn’t do it without them. Learn more about them at the CCJP website.