Who We Are
Troop 54 takes pride in serving our community and helping our Scouts learn essential life skills and leadership skills, all while having fun together. We are chartered by the Bethel Fish & Game Association, and have events year-round.
What We Do
Our Scouts meet for regular Troop meetings on Monday nights throughout the school year, and also have a camp out or trip each month. Troop meetings and camp outs are often focused on learning specific skills or merit badges; for example, in October we camped at our District Camp-o-Ree, which was focused on hiking. A long-standing troop tradition for November has been our Thanksgiving Feast campout, at which we cook a full Thanksgiving dinner (with all the trimmings) outdoors over the fire and camp stoves - nobody goes hungry that day!
Our monthly camp outs take place at a variety of locations, but we do try to stay relatively regional (within an hour or two) for the majority of them. Our own local Scout camp, the Hoyt Reservation in West Redding, is a favorite location. Over the summer we generally attend summer camp at Camp Sequassen as a troop.
We participate in service activities throughout the year (such as renewing flags with the American Legion prior to Memorial Day, and "guarding the fish" prior to the annual Fishing Derby). Our Scouts also volunteer with Cub Scout Pack 156, and help run Pinewood Derby races for the Pack and at the District level.
Our Scouts also participate regularly in larger scale and special events. For instance, we regularly participate in "Jamboree On The Air (JOTA)", an international Scouting event where Scouts learn to use amateur radio technology to meet and talk with other Scouts from around the world.
How We Operate
Scouting is a youth-led activity - our senior scouts meet once per month with adult leaders to help plan all the upcoming activities, and do additional planning as needed at the troop meetings. Adult leaders help the Scouts with the planning, ensure they have what they need to accomplish their plans, and coach them in learning new skills and leading the Troop. A further committee of parents and adults helps support the program through planning, fundraising, and all the "administrivia" on the back end.