About Our Troop

Welcome to Troop 306 & the Rexburg 6th Ward Deacons Quorum!

This page outlines who we are, our purpose and how we like to do things. We're excited you're joining us and we look forward to learning and having fun together.

Who Are We?

We are the 12 and 13 year old boys, as well as the adult advisors, that make up Troop 306 of the Grand Teton Council of the Boy Scouts of America.  We are also known as the Deacon's Quorum in the Rexburg 6th Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  The ward is our chartering organization. The 11 year-old boys in our ward belong to the New Scout Patrol within our Troop.

What is Our Purpose?

Our purposes as Deacons in the Aaronic Priesthood are nicely outlined here in detail.  But the short version, paraphrased from the Church Scouting Handbook is:

Scouting can help young men and boys enhance close relationships with their families and the Church while developing strong and desirable traits of character, citizenship, and physical and mental fitness.

Scouting functions as part of the Church’s activity program for boys and young men.

Scouting activities should be planned to fulfill gospel-centered purposes.

The Mission Statement of the BSA is very similar

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical choices over their lifetime by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

How do we do it?

The Aims of Scouting are pretty simple: they are character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness.

How we go about accomplishing these Aims are our methods, and in Scouting there are eight methods, all equal in importance.

• Patrols
• Ideals (Scout Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan)
• Outdoor Programs
• Advancement*
• Associations With Adults
• Personal Growth
• Leadership Development
• Uniform

As members of Troop 306 we try very hard to plan, execute and evaluate activities that will accomplish the Aims of Scouting using these methods.

Schedule

• Every Week
• Troop Meeting
• Tuesday or Wednesday evenings at 7PM (check Calendar in sidebar)
• Usually we meet for Opening Exercises with the rest of the Young Men and Young Women at the Rexburg East Stake Center building.  Afterwards we may stay at the building for our meeting or go somewhere else to work on a specific merit badge or service activity
• Occasionally we will meet somewhere else, or at a different time.  When this happens we will try very hard to let everyone know ahead of time and post it on the Troop Google Calendar.
• Sunday Meetings
• Sacrament Prep
• Quorum members should report to their president in the Chapel 15 minutes before the Sacrament Meeting begins so that assignments can be made
• Quorum Meeting
• Once a month, a quorum member will generally be asked to help prepare a 15 minute lesson to complement the lesson to be presented by the Quorum advisors.
• Twice a Month
• Quorum Presidency Meeting/ Patrol Leaders Council
• This meeting usually occurs immediately following Church services on the second and fourth Sundays of the month.  
• This meeting is used to plan for upcoming campouts and weekly Troop meetings as well as the needs of the Troop Members
• When necessary, adjustments to this meeting schedule are made on the Troop Google Calendar
• Once a Month
• Camp Planning Meeting
• Usually this is done during the weekly Troop Meeting of the week of the campout.  At this meeting we:
• Make duty assignments (cooks, cleanup etc.)
• Create a menu
• Plan activities
• Campout
• Times and locations will vary depending on the month.  Usually the date will be set the month before, but may be set several months before  - as is often the case with the week-long summer camp.  When the date is set, it will be updated on Troop Google Calendar
• Once accomplished, we usually post a recap with pictures on the blog.  When we have enough boys, this job is assigned to the Troop Webmaster.
• Fast Offerings
• The first Sunday of each month the boys should gather as directed by their Quorum President at the bishop's office to be assigned a route for gathering fast offerings.
• Timing will be arranged by the Quorum President and occasionally the Fast Sunday may be changed to accommodate Stake, Regional or General Conferences.
• Flags (On designated holidays)
• Scouts gather at 7AM to put out flags along their assigned route
• At 7PM the Scouts will meet to gather the flags and store them
• Once Quarterly
• Court of Honor
• Generally we hold a Court of Honor on a Sunday evening to present rank advancements and merit badges formally.
• Times vary and will be posted on the Troop Calendar
• Advancement records are recorded in TroopMaster.  Families may request access to their individual scout's records through the Unit Advancement Chair.
• Rank advancements may be awarded in Troop Meetings and worn immediately after they are earned.
• Once a Year
• Planning Campout (usually in January): 
• On the evening of the campout we have an annual scoutmaster's conference with each boy to review and establish their own personal goals as well as their goals as a member of the troop.
• The following morning we have a leadership training session taught by one of the youth leaders and then we have our annual planning session where we decide on twelve merit badges the boys want to work on and the twelve places they would like to camp in the coming months.  We then try to meld the two lists into a workable and complementary plan for the coming year.
• Flag Fundraiser (usually May)
• The boys distribute flyers advertising the Flag Fundraiser
• The following activity night they circulate to collect donations
• Flag Days
• Memorial Day 
• Flag Day 
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Election Day
• Veterans Day
• Week-Long Camp (end of July, first of August):
• The Grand Teton Council has three camps, and the boys in their yearly planning session will decide which camp they'd like to attend.  
• To accommodate leaders and parents who work at BYU-I and would like to attend, this often follows the end of the Spring Semester at BYU-I.
• Historically the Rexburg East Stake has had an Aaronic Priesthood camp on odd numbered years which replaces our Troop week-long camp.
• Scouting for Food (mid-October)
• Usually the Cub Scouts pass out flyers during their weekday meeting and then the Boy Scouts pick up food, sort and deliver it to the local food bank on Saturday morning.

Our activities are the lab courses for life!

* 11 year old scouts will generally keep track of their advancement progress in the back of their Scout Handbooks.  As occasion permits these will be entered into Troop Master.  Older Scouts' records are kept within the TroopMaster application. This includes partial fulfillment of merit badge requirements.  Reports will be given out to the Scouts and their parents on an as-needed basis.  Although an important method in Scouting, advancement is not an end in and of itself.  We wish to welcome all boys in the Troop; especially those who may feel that Scouting is "not for them", because they've equated Scouting with a march to Eagle rather than a lab in which to practice life skills.