Model Rocket Campout - December 11-12th

Our scout troop had their annual model rocketry campout on Friday and Saturday, December 11th & 12th. They spent the night at Brother Piquet's and watched an outdoor movie and campfire and slept in tents while it rained! The next morning, after breakfast, they launched the rockets on a hilltop next to his home. The boys were so excited to see their rockets fly. The scout families were invited to come and watch. You can see some of them in the video. Congratulations on another successful outing. Big thanks to all our leaders and their support!

Our New Scout of the Month

Congratulations, Chandler Hoopes. You have been selected to be our featured "Scout of the Month." Chandler is one of the newest members of our Young Men's group. He and his family have recently moved from Utah and now live in Sycamore Creek. He is a freshman at Centennial High School where he is an "A" student. He plays wide receiver on the freshman football team at school. He enjoys riding his skateboard and playing basketball. Chandler plays the guitar and is in a band called "Always Second Best." He is currently a Life Scout and working towards his Eagle.

Jarom Bennett Receives his Eagle Scout Award

Congratulations to Jarom Bennett for passing his Eagle board of review August 20, 2009. He is Troop 899's 10th Eagle in 4 years and our youngest as well. He is soon going to be moving into our Varsity Scout program and will have many more opportunities for advancement. He is pictured here next to his scout master Marcus Piquet who also sat on his eagle board. Great job Jarom!

Eagle Court of Honor

On the evening of August 25th our Scouting unit held an Eagle Court of Honor for 2 of our young men James Mayorga and Jacob Trainor. They both shared the spot light and received their awards presented to them by Bishop Aragon. Here are a couple of pictures from the night along with a video highlighting some of their scouting activities through the years. Congratulations to both of them for this great accomplishment.

Scout of the Month

Jordan Guthrie is our new Scout of the Month. He is 13 yrs. old and just returned from scout camp where he earned 6 merit badges. He just became a star scout and is currently working on his Nature and Lifesaving merit badges. Jordan is starting middle school next month and will be going to El Cerrito. His favorite subject in school is history and science. His dream job would be to work with animals at a pet shop. He loves scouting and campouts and has a goal of becoming an Eagle Scout.

Our Newest Eagle Scout

Congratulations to Jacob Trainor for passing his Eagle Board of Review tonight. Jake answered all the scouting questions put to him like a pro. He was very well prepared and is now the proud wearer of the Eagle Rank award.

Camp Emerson Slide Show

Scout Camp!

Today our Scout Troop and Varsity Team returned home from a week long trip to Camp Emerson in Idylwild CA. We had 9 boys in camp all week as well as 10 adults that stayed anywhere from 1 day to the entire week. The boys were really busy the entire time earning merit badges, but they still had time to relax or participate in all the various activities offered. One night all the boys went to the rifle range and did Black Powder rifle shooting. During the days some rowed boats at the lake, some did blacksmithing, others did art projects or spent time and the Indian village doing crafts and even an oceanography merit badge was earned and many more. Art projects included wood carving, sculpturing, basket making, leather working were some of the fun merit badges.

Some of our older boys participated in the E-Team (Extreme) high adventure program which among other events enjoyed rappelling and rock climbing. As for the food.... well, some complained and some didn't, which means the food met our expectations based on previous years. Judging on the amount of dirt on their faces (check out the video), and the fragrance that came home with them, I think they all had a great time. The total merit badges earned was 41 which allowed a few of the boys to advance in rank. Thanks again to all the adults that came to lend a helping hand throughout the week. Here are a few pictures from camp.

Bug Eating

Jarom Bennett's Eagle Project

Congratulations Jarom for finishing his Eagle service project. His project was to draw and then paint a huge mural of the world inside the public library at El Cerrito Middle School. This project was a major undertaking and required the help of many hands to complete. Next time you're at that library, head towards the back and admire his handy work. The most amazing part of this whole project is that he is only 13 yrs. old, and he has completed all the merit badges and rank advancements needed before he could start the project. He then had to arrange to get all the materials, secure donations, organize all the needed help and to supervise the labor to complete the project on time. This turned out to be another great Eagle project that has become a tradition of our unit.

Jacob Trainor's Eagle Project

Way to go Jake! It's been a great month for Jacob. He is not only scout of the month but he just completed his eagle scout service project today Saturday June 20th. Jake's project was to build 3 wood book carts that the El Cerrito library needed for their use. It took him several evenings to cut out all the individual pieces to be assembled, glued, nailed, and varnished. Today all the hard work was completed thanks to many helping hands.

Scout of the Month: Who is Jacob Trainor?

Jacob is very goal oriented. He started public school as a freshman in high school. He did fine but was not really happy with his grades. He decided that he was going to get straight A's and from then on he got all A's. He also decided in the spring of his sophomore year that he would like to graduate early and go to RCC. His plan was to get his AA done by his senior year and then go to BYU Idaho and graduate before he serves his mission. He will be receiving his AA this month and leaving for BYU I in Sept. He is right on Track to achieve this goal. He would like to become a surgeon and I have no doubt that he is capable of achieving this as well. He likes to be hang out with his friends. He works for Rick Piquet at his home and has learned many valuable skills like laying tile, landscaping, gardening and has developed some pretty cool muscles by carrying blocks around to build a retaining wall. Jake has many talents and skills but it is his obedience, willingness to serve, and genuine goodness that will get him where he wants to be in life.

Fathers and Son's Outing

This Friday and Saturday May 8-9 our ward had its annual Father's and Son's outing in the Blue Jay Camping area at the Falcon group campground. Friday night started off with setting up camp and everyone enjoyed socializing around a large campfire. The evening's program started with various skits with a song and a talk on the commemoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed several types of Dutch Oven cobblers.
Saturday morning the Bishopric cooked everyone a hearty breakfast of pancakes, hash browns, bacon and more! The days activities were busy with a Geo Cache (hidden treasures) hunt, Scavenger hunt, Archery range, Mother's Day flower pot decorating and card making craft table, Dart gun target shooting and it was finished up with a Water Balloon Toss/Water Balloon Fight. Awards for the events were given out at the end with everyone taking home a prize. A great time was had by all that attended.
Here are a few pictures from the various activities from the weekend.

Mountain Man Event

This last weekend our Varsity Team went to a Mountain Man activity sponsored by our council at Camp Emerson. Our two Varsity Scouts are Tyler and Shane Smethurst. The leaders that also came to enjoy the fun were Brian Smethurst, Matt Glade and Ed Waite. Shane and Tyler both did very well in the competition. Their favorite events included, Black Powder Rifle Shooting, Tomahawk Throw, Log Sawing (a timed event), Flint and Steel fire starting and Trap Setting. Congratulations on another successful outing and for all the adult support.















Here they are in the log sawing contest






Matt Glade throwing a Tomahawk.






Out of 12 teams they were 1 of only 3 teams that could get the fire started.

Lytle Creek - Middle Fork Day Hike

Today the Boy Scouts went on a day hike to the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek. It was a 6 mile out and back hike to "Third Stream Crossing".






The hike followed the river and had to cross it several times as they hiked their way to a waterfall where they ate lunch and swam.


Congratulations to Jordan and Jarom for having the courage to swim in what felt like frozen water.

Michael Bullock receives his Eagle Scout Award

Congratulations to Michael for passing his Eagle Board of Review on February 26th.
His Service project included the clean up and restriping of the parking lots at the Life Care Center in Corona. It had rained the night before his project but stopped just in time for the project to be completed and for all the paint to dry before it started raining again. Michael was also recognized at the last stake court of honor for receiving his Venture Silver Award and is almost finished with his Duty To God Award.
Michael is completing his senior year at Santiago High School and plans to attend RCC next fall. He enjoys bowling and is interested in working in the video game development field. He loves anything that involves computers. He's run out of advanced math classes to take at Santiago. He loves football and his favorite team is the Green Bay Packers.

Scout of the Month: Who is Jarom Bennett?

All About Jarom:

Jarom was shy about leaving Heavenly Father’s side and took six years to arrive in our home. Because of the trials we went through, we called him our miracle baby. He was born in Bellflower and almost named Zackary. Jarom was a very large baby with a large head. His nickname was “the brain”. He was a healthy eater and always had both his fists full of food.
He likes video games, baseball, basketball and mountain biking. Jarom loves his siblings and plays with them all the time. He is an artist, and dedicates more time then he should to drawing and reading books about drawing. At the insistence of his parents, Jarom reluctantly played the flute and now practices the piano. He also likes to wear a Boston Red Sox hat in Angel country and has been known to appear as the Easter Bunny on occasion.
Today, Jarom is a Life Scout with 38 merit badges and preparing for his Eagle Project. It was not so long ago he began his interest in scouting.
At age three, he insisted on hiking by himself 2.5 miles to Hoegees. The outdoors, hiking and camping, have always been enjoyable to Jarom.
He grew up fast and began cub scouts with more enthusiasm then his little body could hold. As a Cub Scout, he wanted to earn as many awards as possible. Sister Garcia, his Committee Chairperson, asked how many activities there were in total to earn arrow points. Jarom knew exactly how many and blurted out the answer to her surprise.


Pinewood derbies were not kind to Jarom, and his father was no help. His first attempt was poor - so Jarom decided to use his pinewood derby car and the track for a school science project. After using scientific methods, Jarom found out that the weight in the back makes the car faster. His science project did not make it to the district finals, but he was armed with prize-winning information. He was sure his second and final pinewood derby would have different results. He came in dead last. His first regatta race had the same poor results. The following year Jarom’s luck was changing. “Could this year be different for his last regatta race?” Jarom’s dad upped his game and found a blue print for a winning regatta. Jarom cut and painted the regatta according to the new design. Jarom finally won his first race in Cub Scouts and received a 1st place ribbon.
Since he was the only Webelo in our ward, he attended the El Cerrito’s ward. He finished his Cub Scout life by earning the Arrow of Light.
He started his first year in Scouting and kept a busy pace. Jarom earned his Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class Ranks after his 7th month in Scouts. By the time he turned Twelve, he had earned his Star Rank.
He was all by himself in the Deacon’s quorum. After many prayers, the Smethursts moved into the ward and Jarom was no longer lonely. Now Jarom has six quorum members with him and loves going on outings with all of them.
Both Jarom and his brother, Joshua, adore Marcus Piquet. It is always, “Brother Piquet said” or “Brother Piquet did”. Now, Jarom’s dad has to compete with a new and fully loaded boxcar.

As a Boy Scout, Jarom has operated a motor boat, fished, hiked 25 miles in the Anza Borrego Willows, hiked 10 miles through snow and water to Switzer Falls, survived one week of Camp Emerson’s food, been bounced around on Silverwood Lake, slept in a snow cave, pitch a tent at the top of a waterfall, shot black powered rifles, and been on a Bridge to Nowhere. In Jarom’s mind, it has been a slice of Heaven.

Best of 2008!

This video shows some of the years best moments.

Year In Review 2007

This is a video highlighting some more of the most memorable moments of the year

2007 Super Summer Activity

This is the super summer activity of 2007 for the Venture Crew and Varsity Team. The highlights of the trip were a white water rafting day at the American River and a backpacking trip to the High Sierra's near Mammoth Lakes.

2006 Super Activity to Zion's National Park

This is the video from our summer super activity to Zion's National Park that the Venture Crew/Priest Quorum and Teachers Quorum went on the first summer of our new unit. The highlight of the trip was a hike into a canyon called the "Subway".

The"Bathroom Buddy"

The Venture Crew working on their advancement had a great time with this assignment.

The project required for the "Arts and Hobbies" Bronze Award was...
1st: Invent a new product that hasn't been invented yet
2nd: Create commercial to promote and market the new product

They had to do the project with only their team and could receive no help from the adult leaders. They were encouraged to make it funny, and to use other youth in their project.
This entry was submitted by Kevin Guthrie, Joel Bradley, and Brandon Guthrie.

Just Getting Started

Welcome to the beginning of our unit 899 scouting blog! We will try to keep an ongoing record of all of our special events, campouts, and activities. I will start by uploading past video's and pictures and work forward to include our current happenings. Enjoy.

Jason Guthrie- Young Men's Pres.