Troop 325 - A Brief History
Troop 325 was founded in the autumn of 1959 and chartered to Country Lane Home & School Club in January, 1960. Country Lane Elementary School opened that same year, so Troop 325 was there from the beginning. In 2000, the troop moved to Easterbrook Discovery School at the invitation of Principal Dr. Gary Stebbins, as it had outgrown the M-U Room at Country Lane. Troop 325's first Scoutmaster was Louie Thayer. There have been a total of fifteen Scoutmasters in the troop's history. In 1960, Cub Scout Pack 325 was chartered to Country Lane Home & School Club, and in 1974, High Adventure Explorer Post 325. Post 325 disappeared sometime in the early 1980's, but was re-chartered in December 1993. In 1997 it evolved with the Scouting program and became Venture Crew 325.
In 1965, Troop 325 honored it's first Eagle Scout, Michael R. Rose. Over the years, the troop has celebrated 56 Eagle Scouts (as of November, 2004). In 1999, it recognized seven new Eagles, the largest number from a single troop in a single year in the 80-year history of the Santa Clara County Council. In 2000, the Troop recognized six new Eagles, in 2001, six more and since 2002, six more Eagles.
Over the years, the troop size has ebbed and flowed. The earliest roster we have dates to 1970 and shows 39 members. A few years later in 1976, the troop had dropped to 29 members. In 1981 it was up to 31 members. In 1985, it had dropped to 13 members. In 1990, it was down to just six registered Scouts with just three active. Then it began a period of steady growth that has brought the troop to its current 84 members as of the middle of 2004.
Troop 325 has always had an active and diverse outdoors program. A typical annual program includes: backpacking, camping, canoeing, hiking, rifle and shotgun shooting, river rafting, rock climbing, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snow camping, skim boarding and body surfing, and water skiing. The troop also participates in Pioneer District Camporee each year, Santa Clara County's Scout Expo, and the council's Bear Paw Winter Camping Experience. In addition, troop members participate actively in regional, national and international events. We have routinely sent the most numbers of Scouts from any unit in our council to International Rendezvous, National Jamboree, and World Jamboree. In 1999, we sent more Scouts and Venturers to the World Jamboree in Chile than any other unit in the Western Region.
In-troop training programs include the Trail to First Class outing for new Scouts, two Junior Leader Training seminars, and an Annual Planning outing. In addition to training programs within the troop, a number of Scouts from Troop 325 participate in the Council's Bristlecone Junior Leader Training each year, both as participants and as staff members. In 1999, Christopher Denise was SPL for Bristlecone.
Members of the troop are also active in Order of the Arrow. Currently, 22 members of the troop are in OA. In the last few years, the troop has supplied numerous committee chairmen and members to the local chapter and lodge. Three chapter chiefs for Hattape Chapter (Pioneer District) have come out of Troop 325, three administrative vice chiefs for the Miwok Lodge have come from 325, and the 1999-2000 lodge chief was Donald Gagliasso, a member of Troop 325.
A number of traditions have also developed within the troop:
- The first troop neckerchief was the red, official Scout neckerchief. In the early 1970s, the Scouts in the troop designed their own neckerchief, a black neckerchief with a yellow patch depicting a Scout hiking. In the late 1980's - early 1990's, they returned to the official red neckerchief. Then, in 1992, the Scouts designed a new neckerchief incorporating both: a two-sided neckerchief, red on one side, black on the other, with a new troop patch. When a Scout first joins the troop, he wears the neckerchief red side out. When he completes First Class, the Scout may turn over his neckerchief to wear black side out. He is also presented with the new official patch of the troop, showing a Scout with a hiking stave and backpack looking out over a broad river with snowcapped mountains in the distance. While the design incorporated the ideas of several Scouts, Chris Craver was the principal artist.
- In 1993, the troop designed an "official" troop t-shirt: a "Far-Side" cartoon by Gary Larson, entitled "Know Your Knots!" It shows a very shaky "almost" hanging victim sitting on the ground beneath a noose that has obviously become untied, while his supervisor re-teaches the hangman how to tie a noose properly: "OK, the rabbit comes out of the hole, goes around the tree several times...". The idea for this design came from the troop's nineteenth Eagle Scout, Brett Steiner.
- In 1994, the troop adopted the woggle (or Woodbadge Boondoggle) as it's official slide. When a Scout first joins the troop, he is presented with a white woggle, representing his newness to Scouting. When he earns the rank of Tenderfoot, he is presented with a red lanyard and instructions on how to tie his own woggle. The woggle is a single, continuous strand, representing the Spirit of Scouting, which goes on forever. It is woven back on itself three times, to represent the three parts of the Scout Oath: duty to God, duty to others, duty to self.
- The troop has an almost annual tradition of hiking the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail. This 28 mile trail was built in 1968 by the Boys Scouts of Santa Clara, Monterey, and Skyline Councils, with members of the Sierra Club and members of the Santa Cruz Mountains Hiking Club. That day was proclaimed Santa Clara County Trails Day. The following year, it was adopted by the state as California Hiking Days. A few years later, it was adopted by the nation as National Hiking Days! (Rumor has it that our troop can actually make it rain by scheduling that particular outing.)
- Another almost annual tradition is the troop's Russian River canoe trip. This is typically a one or two day event, usually totaling 11 miles per day. Our longest was a 50 miler completed in three days in 1994.
The troop has also sent contingents to Philmont BSA High Adventure Base, Northern Tier BSA High Adventure Base, and Sea Base in Florida in recent years.
This is Troop 325.