News
Boy Scout Troop 73 celebrates Court of Honor
The Boy Scouts of Troop 73, Holy Trinity Church, Westfield, gathered on a beautiful summer evening this past Sunday to celebrate an end to this year’s activities with their annual dinner and Court of Honor.
The annual dinner was a potluck held at Holy Trinity School in Westfield with a variety of dishes reflecting the diverse backgrounds of the scouts and their families.
In the Court of Honor, the scouts celebrated their achievements over the past year and most especially the achievement of Eagle Scout by two members of the troop, Tim Stein and Justin Lang. Ben and Justin join well over 100 scouts who have achieved the rank of Eagle over Troop 73’s 82-year history.
The event also honored Seamus Cunningham who has completed three years serving as Scoutmaster. Rob Lang will take over as Scout Master for the troop.
In addition to recognition of various rank advancement and merit badge completions, the ceremony honored adult service to the troop through the Angel and Pryor Awards.
This year’s Angel Award was shared by Suzanne Wiegand and Karen Outten for at least 1 year of distinguished service to the troop. This year’s Pryor Award was given to Seamus Cunningham for at least 3 years of distinguished service to the troop.
Winnebago New Scouts and Parents Meeting
Hello Troop 73,
Troop Announcements – May 28, 2018
The End of Year Court of Honor and Eagle Courts of Honor for Justin Lang and Tim Stein will be held on Sunday, June 3, 2018
- If you have not already done so, please reply to the sign-up genius link that was sent out on May 20. This will help us plan headcount/food.
- Please bring your food to the cafeteria by 3:30pm to allow time to setup.
- Dinner will begin promptly at 4:00 PM in the Holy Trinity School cafeteria followed by the Courts of Honor in the gymnasium.
All paperwork and fees for Winnebago Summer Camp from July 8 through July 14 are due at the Court of Honor on June 3.
- If you have not already done so, everyone going to camp must complete the appropriate google form(s) – one is for scouts and the other is for adults. Your questions will be customized to what is needed from you based on your answers to preliminary questions, so you should be able to answer every question. On the form there are questions pertaining to your daily schedule. If you have just crossed over from Cub Scouts into Troop 73 you are required to participate in the Dan Beard Program which teaches a variety of the rank requirements through the rank of first class and you will also work on the Indian Lore, Leatherwork, and Fingerprinting merit badges. Older scouts, you will be required to provide which merit badges you will be taking so you can click here for the badges offered and schedules for them. Remember that you will have six time slots for merit badges at nine, ten, eleven, two, three, and four. Keep in mind you should not over book yourself. Also remember that there are requirements called prerequisites that are listed on the merit badge sheet that can not be completed in camp and should be brought to camp or you will receive a partial. Every question is required so you will receive an alert if you accidentally skip a question.
Yours in Scouting,
Seamus Cunningham
Scoutmaster, Troop 73
Scoutmaster’s Corner
Troop 73:
I am proud to announce that Troop 73 will again be honored at the 2018 Watchung Mountain Annual Awards and Recognition dinner on February 8th. First, one of our adult leaders will be receiving the Watchung Mountaineer Award – I will let the troop know once the winner is announced at the dinner, until then, it’s a surprise 🤐. Also, we will be receiving an award for being the troop with the most service hours logged in 2017 in Watchung Mountain District with a total of 2498 hours. Congratulations!
Once again, we have proven that Troop 73 has an outstanding Scouting program. The troop’s core values and programs have led 129 of our scouts to earn their Eagle Scout Award (with several more who will imminently earn theirs). Patriots Path Council has recognized us as one of their top Gold Award troops. Not to mention that our scouts, adult leaders and the troop itself have all earned countless awards through the years. .
One of the reasons I love Troop 73 is not only our outstanding Scouting program (which is proven), but also our desire to continuously improve. It is because of our parents and adult leaders that our program is always challenged to improve. We appreciate everyone’s feedback. The troop has recently implemented some great ideas and we will continue to use them going forward.
But, we cannot forget the core values that have gotten us this success – our scout-led program, scout leadership, scout accountability for their own advancement and success, and many more. These are some of the major differences between the boy scouting and cub scouting programs. I encourage everyone, especially new families that recently transitioned, to read the following article and remind themselves of the differences.between boy scouting and cub scouting
https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/11/20/difference-between-cub-scouts-and-boy-scouts/
As we all look for ways to continually improve our program, please remember these fundamental (and proven) core values that have been instrumental to our success. And as we are getting more areas for improvement, I am looking forward to those families getting directly involved in our program.
Seamus Cunningham
Scoutmaster, Troop 73
Eagle Scout Park Project Memorializes Fire Chief Dan Kelly
A ceremony was held Saturday to celebrate the installation of a bench dedicated to the memory of late Westfield Fire Chief Dan Kelly in Edgewood Tree Park (at Hanford Place and Edgewood Avenue, near where Kelly lived).
The project, which also included a landscaped area and stone walkway, was organized by Aidan Windorf, a Hanford Place resident and Boy Scout with Troop 73 out of Holy Trinity. Windorf conceived and executed the project as part of the requirements to achieve his Eagle Scout rank.
“I chose this project for two reasons,” Windorf said. “The first, to serve as a memorial to Chief Kelly, a true champion to the Westfield community. The second, to beautify a small piece of our neighborhood that’s a favorite place for kids and families to play.”
Members of Kelly’s family, including his wife Karen, brother (and current Westfield Fire Chief) David Kelly attended the event, as well as several members of the town council and Mayor Andy Skibitsky, firefighters, neighbors and friends. During the dedication ceremony, a bronze plaque commemorating the late fire chief’s 35 years of service in the Westfield Fire Department was unveiled.
Windorf thanked the dozens of people who supported his project, as well as local businesses including Williams Nursery, M&N Boychuck Stone and Master Memorials.
A recent graduate of Oratory Prep in Summit, Windorf will attend school this fall at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.