The Miccosukee District serves all units from 54th Avenue North in Pinellas County and northward to the Pinellas/Pasco County line. 

Monthly Update from the District Commissioner

Dear Miccosukee Units,

Did you know Ranger Mike is Retiring? Let’s all wish him well at his retirement pool party (6/15) – PLEASE RSVP to attend @ https://scoutingevent.com/089-retirementparty

Also – Don’t forget, ensure your entire unit goes to the 2019 Scout Spectular at Spectrum Field – you can Get your tickets at https://scoutingevent.com/089-ScoutSpectacular

I also wanted to share with you that Internet Advancement 2.0 is Coming! For those who have not started playing with Scoutbook, now is the time. Internet Advancement 2.0 will be based in Scoutbook. They will be renaming “Scoutbook Lite” to Internet Advancement 2.0 – They expect this to be officially released in the coming weeks. There is an Internet Advancement 2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) located at the following link, we expect to have some more updates to this document in the next few days. The Full Detailed PDF is HERE.

Now, let’s talk about District Communication!

One thing I hear a lot of is we have a Communication Issues in the District. I wanted to share how I personally keep tabs on the district. Granted the list may be a lot, but this is what I use.

  1. District Website – I have been working really hard to keep our District updated with current information. Share this URL with your units https://Tinyurl.com/727Scouts – it will take you to this page.
  2. Council Newsletter – be sure you have signed up for this – https://tinyurl.com/GTBAC-Newsletter – This newsletter is a more overarching ‘council’ related newsletter. Council does not typically promote district events on this newsletter.
  3. District Newsletter – Be sure you have also signed up for the District Newsletter. As of this moment, officially registered with national, we have 22 Packs, 31 Troops, 5 Crew’s, 1 Post, and 1 Ship active in our District. This newsletter is for you. To sign up for it – you need to email James Reeves @ jreeves@tampabay.rr.com and ask to be added to his database.
  4. Bad Emails – Often, when I dig into why people are not getting registration alerts from Council or various other locations, it comes out that when the person goes to my.Scouting.Org the email is wrong or a very old one. (That’s where I pull your addresses from) I would recommend everyone check their email address in my.scouting.org and make sure the primary email is the one that they want to be used for scouting related items. I would remove all others. The one with the green check is your ‘default’ that’s the one we send emails to.
  5. Roundtable – Attend the District Roundtable – this is your chance to gain person to personal access to your District Key 3 and Commissioners.
  6. Facebook – If you are on Facebook, There are a few pages to “like”
    1. https://www.facebook.com/groups/201331701481/ (District Page)
    2. https://www.facebook.com/groups/480685062133018/ (Volunteers Page)
    3. https://www.facebook.com/GTBACBoyScouts/ (Council Page)
    4. And others…

Also – remember with Summer Camp, your scouts (And Adults!) will most likely need their ABC Health forms updated – https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2019/03/18/summer-camp-seasons-almost-time-annual-physical/ this is a great article that talks about it. Many years ago. I totally forgot to get my C Form completed. When I got to camp, I was not allowed in without it. Luckily there was a clinic down the road and we were able to get our ABC’s done (for a premium $$). Don’t chance it. Get your ABC’s done now!

Also, I wanted to also share a few events with you. Most of these are posted on our District Site at https://tampabayscouting.org/districts/miccosukee-district

Yours in Scouting,

Charles J. Love
Miccosukee District Commissioner

Microsoft STEM Camps

We have partnered with Microsoft to offer a new wide variety of camps to our scouts: to help earn badges, engage in STEM activities, and learn how to use productivity tools. Below you will find the camps that Microsoft is offering as well as more information on how to register and attend. Here is the Flyer for the Microsoft Summer Camp ’19 – Workshops

The camps run from May 27th – Aug 2nd. They will run from 10A – 12P, 1P – 3P, and 4P – 6P. They also run either Monday – Thursday or Monday – Tuesday and Wednesday – Thursday!

2019 Cub Scout Summer Camp

Summer Camp will be held at Camp Soule during the weeks of June 3-7 & June 10-14.

Cub Scout Day Camp or Twilight Camp is an accredited, organized, one- to five-day program for Cub Scouts. Using trained leadership at an approved site, these camps are held during daylight or early evening hours, but not overnight. It is a great opportunity for your son or daughter to enjoy several fun-filled days with his fellow Scouts at one of our nearby Cub Scout camps and/or local parks or churches. Day Camp is held during the morning and through the early afternoon. Twilight Camp is held in the early evening hours. Our Scouts will enjoy tried and true camp favorites such as BBs, Archery, Cooking, Sports, STEM, leadership, Scout Skills, hiking, and more. For more information, CLICK HERE *Ask about 5-day Volunteer Discounts!

Registration is now OPEN @ https://scoutingevent.com/089-2019cubscoutdaycamp 

 

2019 Scout Spectacular ...with the Threshers !!

Saturday, July 13, 2019 – Each summer, the Clearwater Threshers minor league baseball team hosts SCOUT SPECTACULAR, during and before a Saturday evening game. The stadium concourses and berms are jam-packed with Scout related adventure and Sponsor displays, as well as games and activities for Scouts of all ages. This is an exciting celebration of all things “Scouting!”  Post-game Fireworks Extravaganza !! Get your tickets HERE -> https://scoutingevent.com/089-ScoutSpectacular

SHOW UP IN UNIFORM to RECEIVE FREE GAME DAY PATCH !!

Clearwater Threshers vs. Florida Fire Frogs
Gates open & Spectacular starts @ 5:00 pm Game starts @ 6:30 pm
Spectrum Field @ Hwy. 19 & Drew Street – Clearwater

Questions about the event? Please contact Bruce Flatten (727) 572-7654 – Get the printable flyer here!

Get your tickets HERE -> https://scoutingevent.com/089-ScoutSpectacular

Ticket Prices are $20/person (Ages 4 & Under are FREE). Each Ticket includes Hot Corner Café seating, Fireworks & ALL YOU CAN EAT and DRINK FROM 5:00-7:30 PM

Food Includes: Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, Peanuts, Popcorn, Chips, Ice Cream Sandwiches, Soft Drinks & Bottled Water

 

Returning this year—Tampa Bay Lightning youth hockey skills challenge!

2019 District Camporee @ Camp Soule

SAVE THE DATE – October 11th thru 13th!!

The Miccosukee District Camporee returns to Camp Soule this October 11th thru 13th!! Our theme this year will be Scout Olympics. Join your fellow units for a weekend of Olympic Sport Traditional and Non Tradition and fellowship awaits. If your Troop, ship or crew does have a flag, get to work creating one because what is an Olympics without the parade of flags!   Guide and sign up link will follow before summers end.  Registration is NOT open yet.

2019 Webeloree

SAVE THE DATE !! – November 1-3, 2019. This year it’s Back to Basic (Training). The WebelORee is a fun-filled weekend for Webelos Scouts to earn their activity badges while being immersed in a Boy Scout program setting! They will see and learn about the Boy Scout program and get to work on a variety of different activity badges. As a Webelos event, one adult leader for every four Scouts and a minimum of two adults are required. If your pack is not attending, Scouts can come with their parent or you can team up with another unit. Activities are done on a patrol basis, to mirror the organization of Boy Scout troops. This provides Webelos Scouts with an understanding of how Scouting will change for them once they cross over from pack to troop. Registration is NOT open yet.

This is another “Dazed & Confused” Production

Council Calendar - LIVE

Council Events Calendar


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Merit Badge Counselor Info

In the District, we have been having a lot of conversations with people in our District regarding Merit Badge Counselors and how often they are supposed to re-apply to stay current. Please spread the word to all units; Merit Badge Counselors are asked to re-apply YEARLY, that’s right YEARLY. Monitoring this process is the responsibility of the Unit, not the District or Council. Renewing yearly gives the counselor the chance to add and remove some items that they may be more or less passionate about. All counselor’s drop from the Council Charter at recharter time. We are recommending you do this around November, as its a good time to update your troop records.

To Register or Renew your existing registration, you need to do a few things…

1. Ensure the Merit Badge Counselor has current Youth Protection, and print the certificate (Or verify it’s current via My.Scouting.Org.
2. Print and Fill out the Merit Badge Counselor Application – https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34405.pdf
3. Print and Fill out the Adult Application https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-501.pdf (Note, this is the NEW one with the Background Check Authorization)
4. Review and Understand items listed on https://www.scouting.org/programs/scouts-bsa/mb-counselor-guide/

Keep in mind – Typically, when you take the Merit Badge Counselor Class, they do this all with you during the class. I would recommend you provide all form,s to our District Executive, Ryan Cooper. Ryan is typically at District Events such as Roundtable, District Committee Meetings, and other activities around our district. If you want to set up a time to see when you can give him the paperwork, please give him a call at (813) 872-2691. If you swing by the Scout Shop, the office can get these papers to Ryan too. Please do not email or digitally save copies of the adult applications.

Email Info in My.Scouting.Org

Often, when we dig into why people are not getting registration alerts from Council or various other locations, it comes out that when the person goes to my.Scouting.Org the email is wrong or a very old one. Please ask your units to verify they have the correct emails in my.scoutging.org and that the primary one is the one that they want to use for scouting. I would remove all others.


When you log in, go to My Dashboard, Then Hit the menu selector (it’s called a hamburger) and go into “My Profile”.


Now here you can see what emails and mailing addresses we have for you. To edit an email click into it. To add a new one hit the green + Mark.

 


Once you are editing an email you can make it primary. You can also delete old ones here

New Community - BSA Parents

We all know how truly amazing our Scouting parents are. They go above and beyond, and they constantly ask what they can do and how they can help. In many ways, they are our best asset to help demonstrate the value of the Boy Scouts of America and to talk about what this great organization means to American communities. So, we want to make you all aware of a newly-formed group called “BSA Parents” that is forming and will launch on digital and social media this week.

The group was formed by and is run by parents of Scouts. The group came together so parents can use the Internet and social media to talk about what Scouting means to them. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is powerful stuff — I’m excited to share their launch video and site here https://www.bsaparents.com and on social media.

I also want to let you know that while BSA helped with some seed funding to get them off the ground, this is an independent organization. They are not affiliated with BSA and they formed to help parents tell their stories. It has no dues, it offers no programs, and is not competitive in any way with our Councils. Their mission and stories are ones we want to support!

We are excited to see so many people taking up the message of Scouting. I am writing today with the hope that you will share this site and these videos with parents in your area. More people need to see and hear from the parents who are so involved with — and so passionate about — Scouting. The BSA’s character building programs are essential for our youth and we are excited for parents to help propel that message forward.

BSA Parents on social media:

Twitter: @BSAparents

Facebook: www.facebook.com/BSAparents

Instagram: @bsaparents

Youtube: www.youtube.com/BSAParents

Patrick W. Sterrett | Assistant Chief Scout Executive, National Director of Field Service

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
National Service Center

Meeting Schedule

District Roundtable Meetings – Come join your fellow Scouters to learn the tips and tricks to help your unit run better and give your Scouts the best experience possible.  Open to all leaders and interested adults.  The objectives of Roundtables are to provide leaders with program ideas, information on policy and events, and training opportunities. The Miccosukee Roundtable is held at Camp Soule at 7:00pm on the 2nd Wednesday of every month. For questions about roundtable, please contact the roundtable commissioner, Mike Keeser via email mkeeser@tampabay.rr.com or (727) 742-1647.

District Committee Meetings – The monthly Miccosukee District Committee Meeting is a monthly gathering to review all District events, activities and plans in support of our Units.  This meeting is normally held on the 1st Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm in the Whitehurst Building at Camp Soule unless otherwise scheduled by the Key 3.  All Miccosukee District Chairs, committee members, nominating committee and interested Adult Leaders are invited to attend.  We encourage (1) representative from each Unit visit our District Committee meeting! For questions about Miccosukee District Committee, please contact the District Chair, Mark Livings via email marklivings@me.com  or call (773) 750-8284.

District Commissioner Meetings – Each month the Miccosukee District Commissioner gathers unit commissioners, roundtable commissioners, and other interested volunteers to discuss how to support our Scouts and Scouting units in the District. The Miccosukee District Commissioner Meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the 4th Wednesday of the month at either First Lutheran Church, 1644 Nursery Road, Clearwater, Florida, or are held online via video conference.  For questions about the District Commissioner Meetings, please contact the District Commissioner, Charles Love via email charlesjlove@outlook.com or (727) 501-3402.

Order of the Arrow, Osceola Chapter Meetings are generally held in conjunction with District Roundtable Meetings at 7:00 PM on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at Camp Soule, 2201 Soule Road, Clearwater, Florida.  Any future activity meetings held at a different date or location will be announced during chapter meetings.  See Uh-To-Yeh-Hut-Tee Lodge for information on the lodge schedule and events.

Looking for a specific leader training? If so, please reach out to Steve Tincher (727) 804-8692 to see what options are available.

District Key 3

District Volunteers

If any of this is incorrect, please let Charles Love know! 

District Professionals

Roundtable Recap

We will be posting items related to Roundtable in this section. We will be putting all kinds of information in our ‘RoundTable Recap Share’ that is posted here.

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Facebook Groups

Our District Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/201331701481/

Our Council Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/480685062133018/

Program Name

Remember, the name of our Organisation is STILL Boy Scouts of America. The old ‘Boy Scout’ Program is now called Scouts BSA. You can still call it a Troop, it’s just not a Boy Scout Troop, it’s a Scouts BSA Troop. For detailed info, please visit https://www.scouting.org/familyscouting/

OA Info

Once each calendar year a troop or team may conduct an election within their unit to select scouts (up to age 21) and nominate adults for membership in the Order of the Arrow. In order to be eligible for election, a Scout must have:

  1. achieved the rank of First Class
  2. participated in 15 days/nights of camping in the past 2 years (must include but may only count one long term resident camp under the auspices of the BSA)
  3. the recommendation of their Scoutmaster

Click here to request an election for your unit!

If you have any questions, please contact Chris Schwab (727) 278-4705 or Travis Baldwin (813) 999 5841

Scouts BSA Notice

Scouts BSA Troop 135 is the districts ONLY all-female Troop in our District. To learn more about this unit, please contact Jamie Bennett at 559-824-5002 or send an email to troop135clw@gmail.com. Want to learn more about what it takes to start a Scouts BSA Troop? If so, please visit https://www.scouting.org/familyscouting/ and visit the FAQ at This Link.

Commissioner Info

Make an IMPACT statement by working with a unit (Ship, Pack, Troop, Post or Crew) on being the behind the scene leadership on building youth with Character. Volunteer with a Purpose! Become a Unit Commissioner 

Bring your life experiences, education, and perspective, and in return, you will have an opportunity to combine those skills and experiences in a career that values and respects others.  Since 1910, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has helped change lives and build future leaders of this country by combining educational and outdoor adventure activities with lifelong value and fun.  While the BSA has a major focus on the development of young men, the BSA also has co-educational programs, such as Venturing, available to both young men and young women.

  • Bring your experiences to our district as a Unit Commissioner. The Commissioners mission is to keep Units operating at maximum efficiency so they can deliver a quality program to a growing membership. The Commissioners role is to develop strength within the Unit by providing program resources and acting as the liaison between the Unit and the District and Council. This helps Units provide the best possible Scouting program, which ultimately helps assure that individual Scouts have the best opportunity to achieve their best.
  • CEO, CFO, Parent, Retired Professional, Baker, Indian Chief, Eagle Scouts, Worker-Bee alike – all of you can be a commissioner.

If you are interested and want to learn more, please let the District Commissioner, Charles Love know. 

Scout Resources

Applications (National)

Eagle Rank Related (National)

Unit Resources (National)

Award Applications (National)

GTBAC Forms and More (Council)

Additional forms used by the Council are listed below:

Have questions or feedback about this page? Last updated May 17, 2019

Please contact the page authors with your feedback:

Ralph Snyder

Director of Support Service

Email

Charles Love

Email