Ethical Navigators Weekly Update – May 7, 2017
Summary:
- Update: We had a blast on Saturday at the People’s Joy Parade.
- Update: Details are in place for camping May 19-21. Please RSVP this week!
- New: New Add-ons for wildflowers and preparing for the Eclipse.
- Initial planning has started for camping in June and July.
- Update: Our next General Meeting will be on May 14 at 9:45am at the Ethical Society.
- Update: We had a productive Council Meeting.
Outings
May 6 Add-On: People’s Joy Parade
Chapter 33 participated in the People’s Joy parade with about 10 kids and their families. We handed out candy and talked to the crowd, having a great time overall.
Some photos are available on Facebook.
May 13 Add-On: Springtime Impressions Wildflower Walk
There will be a guided walk of Indian Camp Creek Park in St. Charles County 9-10 am on Saturday to see, pick, and press wildflowers. Cost is $1. Pre-registration required.
May 19-21: Camping/Space/Mine
We will camp the weekend of May 19-21 in St. Francois State Park, combined with a visit to a Space Museum and/or a visit to a mining museum (the exact combination of museums and outdoor activity will depend on the weather – we’ll do more in museums if it’s a rainy weekend). We have a campsite reservation, and we need your RSVPs by Saturday to plan our food (sorry for the late notice).
Please see the flyer for more details.
June 17 Add-on: Eclipse Expo
In preparation for the great eclipse in August, there will be a St. Louis Solar Eclipse Expo at Queeny Park on June 17. Attendance is free if you register in advance.
Reminder: An add-on is an event that some families in Navigators might attend, but not an event for which we are having a formal presence. If you know of other events that might be fun for Navigators, please let us know, and we will advertise them and add them to our calendar.
June 23-25: Camping/Sailing
We have plans in place to camp at Carlyle Lake in central Illinois, with sailing on the lake all day on Saturday (with possible opportunities to sail all day on Sunday). Seniors and Polaris will be doing a special sail on Friday night and will be sleeping separate from the rest of the group with a hike back in the morning. Haley Pepper is planning this event. More details soon.
July 21-23 (tentative): Camping/Floating
We have tentative plans to return to Meramec State Park for camping and floating. Lance Finey and/or Andy Ford and Ellen Wilson are starting initial planning for this event. We will probably have some sun viewing activities to practice before the great eclipse.
General Meetings
May 14
The General Meeting will be at 9:45 am at the Ethical Society on May 14. Building on the lesson from last month about how much of what we need comes from agriculture (and combining with our upcoming camping outing that could include a trip to a mining museum and a space museum), we will talk about how things that we need on a daily basis come from the ground or from the space industry.
Organization
May Council Meeting
This morning, five members of the Council met in the Ethical Society or by phone:
Kyle Crawford (Jr. Co-Leader), Lance Finney (Communications), Mike Jones (Stargazer Co-Leader), Haley Pepper (Co-Leader), and Ellen Wilson (Sr. Co-Leader/Quartermaster).
The meeting was mostly focused on the details of upcoming meetings and outings as described above. In addition, we discussed the following topics:
- Retrospective – We discussed the success of the Parade, but recognized that a larger gimmick would be useful for that parade in the future. However, our approach from this event would be appropriate for a more typical parade, and we might want to schedule some of those.
- Organization – Pepper and Heck have been working to reorganize our registration forms and membership materials.
- Badges – Pepper has placed a large order of badges, but let her know if your Navigators have earned any new badges.
- The Pledge – We had a short discussion about the expectation of saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Some members of the Chapter have approached Council members with concern that enforced recitation of the Pledge is uncomfortably Nationalistic, but others have said that reciting the Pledge is part of teaching patriotism and the Freedom Compass Point. No decision was reached, but this will be an ongoing discussion.
- Costs – We had a short discussion about possibly changing the cost structure of certain outings, but no decisions were made.
- August Eclipse – Note that the Crawfords have purchased a bunch of Eclipse glasses for the Chapter, so members of the Chapter do not need to buy their own.
- Background Checks – At the 9:45 Forum in February, an attendee asked if our Leaders have had background checks, and the answer is no. We haven’t felt it was necessary because our outings include parents for almost all children, so Leaders are not alone with children. However, Pepper mentioned that having Background Checks is an industry standard. So, we will likely investigate the process of having our Leaders undergo Background checks soon.
June Council Meeting
Our next Council meeting is scheduled for 9:30 am on June 11 in the Nursery School Green Room. All are welcome to observe and comment.
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