Den 4 had a very special opportunity on February 2 to visit Milton City Hall and learn how our municipal government works, including participating in their very own mock council meeting where they heard comments from citizens and voted on resolutions. Thank you for Drew Kimball for connecting us with city leaders, and thank you to the city leaders who took time out of their busy schedule to prepare a program and speak with us, especially Clerk Lowitt, Councilman Moore, and Mayor Jamison.

Our scouts completed their Buliding a Better World requirement on this visit by finishing the following components:

• 2. Learn about your rights and duties as a citizen.
• 3. Discuss the rule of law and how it applies to you.
• 4. Meet with a government or community leader.

Congratulations to Anderson Kimball, Zachary Hamil, and Sean Durkin for winning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the AOL rank for the 2022 Pinewood Derby! Anderson went on to represent our den in the overall championship, ultimately claiming 2nd place overall in a hard fought battle. Congratulations to Sean for also winning the best paint job award!

The scouts of Den 4 visited a Boy Scout troop meeting with Troop 3000 on Monday, January 10. We got to witness the patrol method in action with scouts organizing themselves for upcoming events. Troop 3000 is going on a skiing trip soon, so our scouts joined in with the activity portion of their meeting to learn all about ski equipment and ski safety. The troop also set up a fire pit and s’mores, which were much appreciated on a cold night.

This troop meeting visit completed component #2 (“visit a troop meeting”) of the Scouting Adventure requirement for those who attended. If you missed the event, please reach out to Jason or Phil about visiting a local troop. All of the area troops are happy to have visitors any time (it does not have to be a special open house night), but it is best to reach out to them first to let them know you are coming.

This activity counts towards requirement #2 (“do an act of service for someone in your family, neighborhood, or comunity”) of the Duty to God in Action required adventure for scouts that had not yet met that requirement.

Den 4 gathered at the BUMC scout compound for our last den meeting of the year on December 5th, 2021. Activities included the following:

• “Scouting Adventure” 5a: learned how to tie a square knot, two half hitches, and a taut-line hitch.
• “Scouting Adventure” 6: demonstrate knowledge of pocketknife safety and the pocketknife pledge (we put the safety guidelines into practice with hammers rather than knives afterwards, see below)
• Each scout designed and made their own wood slice string art ornament for Christmas.

Den 4 gathered at the BUMC scout compound on November 14 to work on Scouting Adventure requirements (page 156 in the handbook). Scouting Adventures has a lot of components in it! Some of them won’t be completed until January and March with with the Troop 3000 open house and campout, but we were able to complete the following components in our own den meeting:

• 1a, 1b, and 1c: this was a review of scout traditions that we’ve followed throughout our time in Cub Scouts (including signs, handshake, oath, etc.). We also discussed scout spirit and how we can show it by our actions and attitude in the community.
• 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d: this component was all about the patrol method. We learned about how Scouts BSA troops operate and how they organize into patrols (similar to a den in Cub Scouts, but youth-led). We also held our very own mock election and created a patrol for today’s meeting. 3d includes a plan to participate in a campout, which we will do with Troop 3000 in March.
• 5.b: Mr. Jason taught us how to repair frayed ropes (both nylon and natural fibers) by “fusing” and “whipping”. The scouts did a great job with this activity!

Please follow along at home if you missed this meeting, and as always let Jason or Phil know if you have questions.

Den 4 enjoyed the fall weather as we met at the BUMC scout compound to work on the Protect Yourself Rules (AOL) and Building a Better World requirements.

We completed the Protect Yourself Rules adventure (https://www.scouting.org/programs/cub-scouts/preview-adventures/protect-yourself-rules/). The AOL version of the adventure has the same video component as last year’s Webelo adventure. We chose to focus on online safety this year, and watched these two videos instead before working through the adventure requirements:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxySrSbSY7o
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eQ7creMm_Q

For Building a Better world, we did the following:

• 5) Planning an activity for your den
  • We brainstormed some ideas for a weekend activity. This will be a food charity drive followed by one of the fun activities that the scouts voted on. We’ll follow up with more details soon.
• 6a) Learning about scouting in another country
  • For this one we learned about scouting in Japan, especially looking for similarities and differences in their program and traditions. The scouts also learned how to use chopsticks and practiced using them.