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Troop 506B & Troop 506G | La Jolla, CA
Jake Rasmussen is near the end of his path to Eagle with the completion of his project in San Diego’s Presidio Park. Located on on a heavily-trafficked trail, Jake’s project included replacing a section of retaining wall and constructing a cable railing to improve safety for hikers and bicyclists. Thank you scouts for your service and congratulations, Jake!
Troop 506B added another award to its already crowded troop flagpole – the Platinum Award for best campsite recently won at Camp Emerald Bay. Below are Zoom screenshots from the July 12 506B troop meeting when it was added to the myriad of awards already decorating the troop’s flagpole.
Troop 506B’s PLC met in person on July 12 at our Charter Organization, La Jolla United Methodist Church. Getting prepared for in-person group activities, the PLC hosted the meeting live on location while the rest of Troop 506B attended remotely on Zoom.
During the meeting, in addition to covering the scheduled topic of camping, the PLC demonstrated how in-person troop meetings would be conducted. Senior Patrol Leader, Zack Foster, described the meeting as a “soft launch of the troop’s in-person meetings. Our next troop meeting will be completely in-person and will be at the end of July.”
Additionally, Assistant Scoutmaster Dr. Tom Kozak led parents in a Safe Scouting Subcommittee on July 14. The Safe Scouting Committee serves as an ongoing sub-committee of Troop 506’s Parent Committee and will remain open to participation by all troop parents. Meetings will provide an open forum for dialogue, listening and collaboration to make recommendations to Troops 506B and 506G on topics like carpooling, appropriate use of masks and cooking in groups.
Dr. Kozak recently shared in an email to troop parents, “As all of you know COVID-19 is an ongoing evolving challenge and the presence of the Delta variant in our community creates some increased concern as it has been estimated to be significantly more contagious (likely at least two times more contagious than the original Wuhan version of the virus). This new COVID variant, unfortunately, increases the risks for a significant infection in the unvaccinated. Fortunately, we are not seeing a significant increase in severe disease in the pediatric population.”
For the first Safe Scouting Committee meeting, infectious disease expert Dr. Andrew Catanzaro, brother of Troop 506B’s Scoutmaster, Brian Catanzaro, is participating as a resource to answer questions about COVID-19 that are being gathered in advance of the meeting.
For more information about BSA’s official guidelines, please see the BSA’s National Statement on COVID-19.
Troop 506 Assistant Scout Masters Jeremy Adler PA and Tom Kozak MD were prepared and treated the victim, a scout from another troop who had sustained non-life threatening injury to one hand, as soon as he came ashore. After being treated by ASM’s Adler and Kozak, the scout was transported by helicopter to a Los Angeles area hospital where he underwent surgery.
Troop 506 Assistant Scout Master Chris Stransky, a marine scientist with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography who was also on site, connected Emerald Bay staff with a local shark expert following the incident in order to identify the shark’s species.
According to a statement posted on Twitter by the Los Angeles County Lifeguards, the scout and his father were “kayaking near Parson’s Landing when their boat was bumped by what is believed to be a shark of unknown size and type. During the encounter, the patient reached their hand into the water and was bit by the animal” (Lifeguards, 2021).
No Troop 506B scouts were on the water at the time of the incident, and our Troop 506G scouts had already returned home from their week at Emerald Bay. The water was closed for 24 hours for one mile in each direction and, as a result, our 506B scouts hiked rather than canoed to Parsons Landing as scheduled the following day.
Reference: LACoFD LifeGuards. (2021, June 30). @LACoFDLifeguards. Retrieved July 2021, from Twitter: https://twitter.com/LACoLifeguards/status/1410310859943907333.
The girls of 506G headed over to Catalina Island with our Venture Crew June 20-26, and the boys of 506B followed June 27-July 3. Many thanks to the parents who volunteered and made it happen! Here’s the trip by the numbers:
Image: Sunrise over Catalina Island, photo by Adrienne Markworth, 2021.