View of our campsite at Tomahawk - August, 2017

Troop 66 Anniversary and Origins

February is the month when the Cub Scouts have their Blue & Gold dinner. This commemorates the founding of the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910. But the Twin Cities have had Boy Scouts for almost as long!

What we know as the Northern Star Council formed in 2005 from the merger of the Indianhead and Viking councils (according to our council's history page). The Indianhead Council was founded October 1, 1910 as the St. Paul Council, and the Viking Council formed on October 15, 1910 as the Hennepin Council. They changed their names in 1954.

In the early years of the Boy Scouts of America, troops would be chartered and then a chartering organization wouldn't renew their charter; the troop numbers, though, got reused. According to paperwork on-file at the Northern Star Council offices, Troop 66 was first chartered by the Hazel Park community from 1922 to 1923. After that, the Central Park Methodist Episcopal church (now known as the Recovery church) chartered Troop 66 from 1925 until 1931.

In 1931, St. Bernard's Catholic church chartered Troop 66. They maintained the charter until 1940. During World War II and the post-ware period, St. Bernard's retained Troop 66, but didn't maintain the charter every year. Different groups within the church would hold the charter, too. (Our current chartering organization is the St. Bernard's Men's Club.)

But June 1, 1957, is a notable day in the history of Troop 66. Our charter has been continuously maintained every year since that date, according to council records.  This means that June of 2017 will mark our 60th anniversary as a chartered troop!

Technically, our troop number is 9066, which was done during the Northern Star Council merger to avoid duplicate troop numbers. However, we are still entitled to wear "66" as our unit number, and count our years of continuous chartering from when we were just Troop 66.

Changes in Troop 66

Welcome!

Troop 66 has had a couple of changes, and lots of exciting plans. Let's take a moment to describe them for you.

New Scoutmaster

Our long-time Scoutmaster, John Stafford, has taken the position of Troop Committee Chair and Chartered Organization Representative, replacing Dave Misukanis. Our new Scoutmaster is Jacob Hugart, who has been an Assistant Scoutmaster, Pack Trainer, Cubmaster, and Den Leader in the Scouting Program at St. Bernard's.

New Boy Scouts

Three new boys - Aidan, River, and Theo - crossed the bridge from Pack 66 at the February 9, 2015 Blue & Gold Dinner. Senior Patrol Leader Noah says they will rebalance the patrols to incorporate the new Scouts.

SnowBase this Weekend

Troop 66 will be attending Snow Base this weekend. It promises to be a cold Saturday at Tomahawk, but they always provide great gear. Watch for another post and e-mail describing details!

Order of the Arrow Elections

We are planning to hold elections for any boys eligible for the Order of the Arrow, Scouting's honor society, on Monday, February 16, 2015 at our normal meeting time, 7:30 PM.

It's Never Too Late to Plan for Tomahawk

We've received information on the opportunities for Tomahawk this summer, and registration forms to reserve our campsite for Tomahawk in 2016.

Updates & New Boys

We recently obtained 7 new boys into our troop and the patrols have already expanded a lot more. We used to have 2 patrols of 4 but now we have Thor with 7 boys and Cobra with 8! We are nearly done getting them all their Scout Badge and have a busy April and May planned. April is intended to be a mix of all things from the Dangers of Drugs to Fire Building! We also have a Bike Hike planned for the end of April. May is going to be based on the Computer Merit Badge, which one of our Asst. Scoutmasters is a counselor for. Sometime in June we want to go swimming to refresh our skills a little while before Tomahawk as it turns to Summer.

Scouting Officers 3.0

New officers and patrols as of March 31st 2013.

Thor Patrol

Patrol Leader: Thomas Hugart
Assistant Patrol Leader: Griffin Backes

Members

Isaac Seashore
Colin Duquette
Jack Felling
Connor Solvang
Michael Donnelly


Cobra Patrol

Patrol Leader: Noah Frese
Assistant Patrol Leader: Gregory Ballen

Members

Jacob Rhode
Anthony Zinos
John Stafford
Elijah Frese
Cesar Larrazabal
Oluwadare Akinmusire

Other Jobs

Senior Patrol Leader: Anthony Zinos

Assistant Senior Patrol Leader: John Stafford

Scribe: John Stafford
Librarian: Griffin Backes
Webmaster: Thomas Hugart

Backpacking Trip

Yesterday we got back from a overnight backpacking trip to get us used to it so we could plan a longer trip some other time. Here are some pictures one of the leaders took on the trip. https://picasaweb.google.com/115966353748112094242/Backpacking2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzXzJSz4Y2SeQ

Scouting Officers 2.0

Senior Patrol Leader: Anthony Zinos

Asst. Senior Patrol Leader: Jon Stafford

Scribe: Connor Solvang

Librarian: Griffin Backes

Webmaster: Thomas Hugart

Den Cheifs: Griffin Backes, Noah Frese

Thor Patrol Leader: Connor Solvang

Thor Asst. Patrol Leader: Thomas Hugart

Thor Patrol Members: Griffin Backes, Max Donnelly

Cobra Patrol Leader: Jon Stafford

Cobra Asst. Patrol Leader: Noah Frese

Cobra Patrol Members: Gregory Ballen, Anthony Zinos