Quick Start Guide to the Troop

1.    If you haven’t already, complete your son’s application and pay the membership fee.

2.    Complete the Annual BSA Health and Medical form.  This form must be on file for your Scout’s ongoing participation in troop activities.

3.    Get a uniform for your son.  A khaki Scout shirt, with Troop 96 numerals is all you need to get started.  You can add pants, socks, hat, etc., later.

4.    Get a Boy Scout Handbook.  The Handbook is your son’s guide to all that the Scouting offers and is used to track his rank advancement.

5.    Together with your son, complete the Youth Protection pamphlet in the front of your son’s Scout Handbook. This is probably the last time you’ll signoff in his book.

6.    Talk to your son about joining a New Scout patrol.  We try to keep new Scouts with their friends from the Cub Scout Pack.  The Senior Patrol Leader (the elected youth leader of the troop) can help find the right patrol, too.

7.    Make sure your email is on our distribution list for the monthly Gazette and other communications (ask John McCall).  Check the website (www.boyscouttroop96.com) regularly for updated news.  Follow us on Twitter (Twitter.com/gltroop96).

8.    As a parent, complete an Adult Membership application and join the troop to help your son and his friends enjoy a strong Scouting program.  Consider attending the monthly Troop Committee Meeting.  The Committee generally meets the first Thursday of the month at 7 pm, typically at the Grayslake Library.

9.    Get ready to go camping.  We camp every month (except December).  We typically camp on the third weekend of the month.  Food for the campout costs $15 and is collected within the patrols, in cash, on the Monday before we go.  Scouts buy the food for their patrol so cash is needed for their purchases.  Complete a permission slip (found in the Gazette or on the troop website) and have your son turn it in to his Patrol Leader on Monday before the campout.  (Parents are always encouraged to camp with us.  Let us know on the Monday before the outing and bring $15 for food to the meeting.  We can loan you a tent and sometimes other gear as well!)