On Thursday evening after the Court of Honor, I joined the Scouts in the playground outside the church.  Allen gave me a most welcome tour of the latest proposed changes to what the church wants to do with the layout of the playground (his proposed Eagle Service Project), and I tested them on a Presidential history trivia question that had stumped all of the adult leaders from troops in the area at our Round Table earlier in the week: "Who is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms?"  EVERY Scout knew that it was Grover Cleveland -- several knew that he was #22 and #24 and that Benjamin Harrison was #23 between the two terms.

Scouts --

For those of you who have shivered along with me as I told the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's epic adventure of saving his crew when their ship was crushed in the ice off Antartica, here's another real-life Antarctic story.  This one is the story of an Eagle Scout, Paul Siple, who first went to the South Pole with Admiral Richard Byrd in 1929, and devoted his life to exploring the Antarctic.  It's a 28-minute PBS documentary, so you know it will be good.  It won't be broadcast on TV in Washington, but you can stream it here any time you want a short break from studying for exams!  https://www.pbs.org/video/paul-siple-boy-scout-maqe7s/

There will be a solar eclipse on April 8.  It will be a partial eclipse here, not total, but all Scouts are eligible to earn the Solar Eclipse patch, which would look very cool on your uniform.  It's easy and straightforward to earn it.  Here are the requirements:  https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2024/01/24/how-to-earn-the-bsa-total-s...

There are a number of changes to requirements for merit badges, effective January 1.  Some are minor, and some are quite significant.  Both Scouts and Counselors should review the changes.  At the botom of this link, there is a click-through to a .pdf file that has all of the changes : https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/k9SxecU1qxEsynDooTzzoTCH

Effective January 1, 2024, Scouts no longer have to wait three months between Eagle Palms. They have to earn five additional merit badges, and live by the Scout Oath and Law.

The Cyberchip has been phased out. Scouts should use the Personal Safety Awareness training for both Scout and Star ranks.  Here is the link to the new requirement: https://www.scouting.org/training/youth-protection/scouts-bsa/