NoriSkin

Can you believe that it's already time for the last weekend of this year's Woodbadge course?!!
THIS WEEKEND is just the beginning for course 16-773-23 as they will begin working their tickets.

Good luck! You all will have the tools to complete your ticket and earn your beads.

You got this.
- a good ol 🦉

Happy 113th birthday BSA!

Can you believe that it's already time for the next Woodbadge course?!!
THIS WEEKEND is the beginning 16-773-23.

Good Luck to all of our wonderful staff.

And Congratulations to all of our new Beavers, Bobwhites, Eagles, Foxes, Owls, Bears, Buffalo, and Antelopes.

You got this.
🦉

🎄Scout’s night before Christmas:

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the tent,
Not a creature was stirring, everyone was just spent.
The stockings were hung by the fire with care, In hopes that the Great Cub Master soon would be there.
The Scouts were all nestled all snug in the their sleeping bags,
While visions of foil packs danced in their heads.
And Ma in her neckerchief and I in my hat,
Had just settled in for a long winter’s nap.
When out on the woods there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my cot to see what was the matter.
Away to the tent flap I flew like a flash
Unzipped the zipper and undid the clasp.
The ice on the trees and the new fallen snow,
Made me shiver when the wind began to blow.
Then what to my wondering eyes should appear?
A miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.
With a burly old driver so lively with luster,
I knew in a moment it was the Great Cub Master.
More rapid than Den Leaders his courses they came,
As he whistled and shouted and called out their names.
On Tigers, on Wolves, on Bears and Webelos
On, Tenderfoot, on Life Scouts, on Ventures and Eagles.
To the top of the tent, to the top of the chow hall,
Now dash away, dash away, dash away all.
As wet clothes before the scout cabins fly,
When they meet with a bottle rocket bound for the sky.
So up to the chow hall the courses they flew,
With a sleigh full of badges and the Great Cub Master, too.
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The tapping and clawing of each little hoof.
As I made my way to the chow hall with nary a sound,
In through the door the Great Cub Master went with a bound.
He was dressed all in kaki from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all ironed and neatly put.
A bundle of badges he had in his pack,
He looked like a hiker unrolling his knapsack.
His eyes, how they glistened! His smile, it did glow.
His cheeks were all rosy from the cold and the snow.
His uniform demanded respect,
I could see,
I could hardly believe what was happening to me.
A piece of beef jerky he held tight in his teeth,
And the light from the fireplace encircled his head like a wreath.
His Cub Master patch glowed like a star in the sky,
And his unit numbers soon caught my eye.
He was tall and rugged, a right jolly old man,
I laughed when I saw him, just because I can.
A wink of his eye and a nod of head,
Soon led me to know that I must get back to bed.
He spoke not a word but went straight to his book,
And laid out all the Achievements the Scouts earned from all their hard work.
And placing his fingers in the air as he should,
He recited the Scout Oath as low as he could.
He jumped in his sleigh, to his team gave a shout,
You know, he didn’t even wake one Scout.
But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all and to all Scouts…Goodnight.”

District Award of Merit winners

2022 Scouters Choice award recipient-
Mike Lindsey

2022 Distinguished Scouters

2022 Plugger Award winners

2022 Energizer Award Winners

2022 Unit Attendance

Our wonderful Unit and Roundtable Commissioners

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Scouts, Scouters, and their families!

Adventure Zone & Pow Wow 2022 im the books!

We:
learned bike safety
Became Rolling Tigers,
Played Marbles,
Became Good Knights,
Played Tiger-iffic games,
Became Super Scientists,
Learned to be Caring Cubs,
Learned to be Aware & Care,
Saw Adventures in Coins,
Had an Art Explosion,
Saw how Earth Rocks,
Played with Yo-yos,
*AND*
Followed rule #1 in Cub Scouts- Have Fun!!

Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers!

This coming Saturday is Adventure Zone for the cubs (Tigers- AOL) and Pow Wow for the leaders!
Register now!

Upcoming event!
Adventure Zone is Tiger - AOL ranks ONLY.
Register in advance!

Coming up *THIS Saturday*
Jamboree on the Air. & Radio merit badge

Fall Camporee was a success!
We've heard tales of the fun, and activities completed.
Special thanks to Troops 157 and 1157 for putting on a spectacular event.

Day 1 of the 10-Day Scouting challenge!

For 10 days I will select an image from a day in the life of Scouting that has an impact on me, or has been particularly memorable, and post it without a single explanation. Each day, I will also nominate someone to copy & paste the challenge to their Facebook Wall. That's 10 days, 10 Scouting photos, 10 nominations, and 0 explanations.

Be active, be positive, be passionate... Most of all, help to grow the program. Grow any program that helps make you a better version of who you are.

Today's Nominee: ALL of Choctawhatchee Disrtict

HAPPENING NOW!
Hop a ride on the S.S. Minnow with the Skipper, the movie star, the professor, the millionaire & his wife, and the zany first mate, Gilligan.
Choctaw's Camporeee at Spanish Trail Scout Reservation

Catch any amazing action shots over the weekend? Send them over to [email protected] - We'd love to feature them in a post about the whole event!

We have a event coming up on November 12th for Adventure zone in Mary Esther 9am- 3pm.
They are looking for help for Adventure Zone. We need only need instructors for the following adventures: Earth Rocks, yo-yo, and Good Knights. Please let us know if you are able to help and we can get you all the details.

We have a event coming up on November 12th for Adventure zone in Mary Esther 9am- 3pm.
They are looking for help for Adventure Zone. We need instructors for the following adventures: Earth Rocks, yo-yo, Tiger-iffic and Good Knights. Please let us know if you are able to help and we can get you all the details. We will have information. and supplies for you to teach the adventures. Even have 30 new yo-yos to work with.

Absolutely!
Thank you to all of our wonderful leaders making a difference in our scouts lives.

Troops, please register ASAP so the scouts can be prepared to host a fantastic event!

http://www.gulfcoastcouncil.org/event/2913924

Shooting sports is happening NOW!

Don't forget to wish Mr.Dave a very happy birthday while you're there!

Get any awesome action shots? Send them over to [email protected] and later today we'll make a post with all the photos sent over!

Tomorrow night!
7pm at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church (Niceville)
3 groups- Something for everyone
Cub Leaders ✅️
Scouts BSA leaders ✅️
Scouts BSA Youth ✅️

Please put this on your unit and family calendars. This is a fun fund-raiser for the Choctaw District and Gulf Coast Council. Come out to Destin Commons, eat, and vote for our great team! Later, you can watch some fireworks. We'll have more posts later, and we hope to see you there.

A message from District Chairman Mic:

5 Mar 2022. 3, 2, 1, Go! Had a fun time at the District Pinewood Derby. It was good to see our Scouting future having fun together. Congratulations to all of our participants and winners. And a very special "thank you" to all of our volunteers for putting on and supporting this event.

2021 Adventure Zone is coming up soon and we need instructors. 10 to be exact, so each rank has 2 leaders.
Please contact Courtney at [email protected]

Hello Choctaw,
Here are some upcoming events to put on the calendar!

Cub Range Officer Training is Tues Sept 14th before Roundtable
Holy Name of Jesus Education Bldg. from 5:30-7pm.
We need trained adults to assist at the Cub Shooting Sports Day. Please consider taking this class. Also, if you can help an Officer at a booth, that would be great, even if it is for a couple hours.

Cub Scout Shooting Sports is Sat, Sept 25th
Niceville’s Festival Site @ College Blvd. & Hwy 85
Sign up for a time slot between 10am and 3pm.
$10 per scout/sibling.
Parents free to accompany youth.
Youth will have a safety briefing, then have 15 minutes at three shooting booths. After the shooting, they move to the game area.
See flyer for details and district website to register for a time slot.

Scouts BSA Choctawhatchee Camporee* is Oct 8-10th
“High Adventure Base Camp”
STRS Camp Euchee
Bring your “crew” to show your skills and have fun!
$10 per scout/scouter for camporee.
$8 per AOL/scouter for Saturday visit from 9am thru campfire.
See Scouts BSA and AOL guidebooks for notes and district website to register.

*AOLs are invited to camporee for the day on Sat, Oct 9th.
Visit your sister troop, come as a den/crew, or join other council AOLs for a fun event.

Go to http://www.gulfcoastcouncil.org/2727 for all the information you need

Home Hello Choctaw! Let's keep our scouting spirit in the forefront of these challenging times. Continue to "Be Prepared" and provide continuity of the scouting program to the youth who need it now more than ever. 

We heard of an old troop meeting location that is going to be destroyed. We went and rescued a bunch of items and are auctioning them off during our silent auction tonight. All proceeds from these items will go to the Ethan Giving Tree.

Please feel free to join us at AMVETS Post 78 (910 Valastics Ave, Valparaiso, FL 32580) from 5:00-7:30 for our annual spaghetti dinner ($7/person) and bid on these, and other stuff (proceeds from food tickets and other items go to help our troop go). If you just want to come and bid on the items listed here, feel free to do that also!!

If you are interested in any of these items, and can not make it tonight, you can email me at [email protected] with what you are interested in and what your max bid will be (email before 5pm Friday, Aug. 13). We will monitor the items and bid for you in increments of $1.00.

We have multiples of several of the items, highest bid will get first choice and then we will go down the line.

Hello Choctaw!
Fourth of July celebrations are on the way. With that comes the Annual July 3rd Smoke on the Coast at Destin Commons.

Our district has a booth again this year and we can’t do it without your help!
Brad Gable is cooking up the BBQ for the big competition.
Come out and support the district and volunteers working the event. A vote for the BBQ and booth helps us out!

We also need help to:
Set up.
Serve for BBQ.
Clean up.
Any help is greatly appreciated and counts for community service.

Contact Bonnie ([email protected]) or Michelle ([email protected]) to pick a shift.
Booth set up shift 11am-3pm
Booth prep & spirit team 3pm-5pm
Serve BBQ 5pm-6:30pm or 6:30-8pm

Clean up 8pm-10pm

Please let us know if you can work a shift. Thanks and have a safe holiday!!

Did you know that you help our organization just by feeding the meters at Destin Commons. Funds collected help The Gulf Coast Council an Choctawhatchee District. Together, we are changing lives one coin at a time!
Destin Commons

Happy 111th birthday BSA!

2020 Cub STEM Nova Blast in the books!
Thank you to all of our leaders making it possible for these scouts to complete a STEM.

Coming up:
December 29th!

Attention Scout Leaders and ScoutBook Users:
Scoutbook went through a domain name change yesterday. It is now https://scoutbook.scouting.org. Leaders may have to clear their cache and cookie settings in order to log in under the new domain. To clear your cache and cookie settings please follow these steps below depending on the browser you use. Thanks to our Scouting friends in Michigan for the image.

ENCAMPMENT UPDATE

We dodge hurricane Eta, but we can’t dodge covid-19.

Due to covid-19 cases spiking in several of our counties, the Department of Health has advised us that we need to postpone the encampment scheduled for this weekend.

We are just as disappointed about this as you are.

We will be working on scheduling a new date for sometime after the first of the year.

Chris Sams
Encampment Chair

Jim Boksa
Council Program Director

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159016643971967&id=233503716966

Events Being Postponed For This Weekend

All activities and camping at Spanish Trail Scout Reservation have been cancelled for Friday and Saturday.

If you were registered for IOLS, please check your emails for updates.

If you are on Wood Badge staff, watch your emails later today and tomorrow for updates on the staff development scheduled for Sunday.

Please be careful and we hope everybody is being safe through all this.