Troop 505 
1964 - ?

1964 Sept – Troop 505 is Chartered by Knox Presbyterian Church
Richard Conn leads first troop meeting, goes well, decides to have another.

1969 Jan – David G. Brown earns 505’s First Eagle

1969 July – First High Adventure
Canoeing the Namekogen River in the Chippewa flowage of northern WI, 6 days on the trail.

1969 Dec – First Survival Campout
Scouts survive, starts new tradition; the campout, surviving is still optional.

1970 July – Troop's First Philmont Trek
Contingent group of mostly 505 scouts, hike the mountains of NM.

1972 Backpacking the San Juan Mountains of southern CO

1973 Troop's First Boundary Waters Canoe Trip 

1984-1991 Summer Camp at Owasippe, Whitehall, MI
Rod Randall leads 7 years of 2-week summer camps at Owasippe. Look out for the blow up mosquitoes.

1987 Feb – First Pancake Breakfast
Rod Randall borrows the idea from the Kiwanis Club and starts the function that funds the Troop for the next 25 years.

1989 Jan – Robert J. Sabdo Jr. earns 505’s 50th Eagle
What a way to start our 25th year as a troop.

1995 Aug – High Adventure Backpacking Colorado and the Maroon Bells
The group had to turn around because of the snow pack in the beginning of Aug. Hiked over to the Collegiate Peaks, climbing Mt Yale – 14,000 ft. and rafted through the Royal Gorge – breathtaking scenery.

1996 Nov – First Troop Thanksgiving Feast
Troop explores the Maquoketa Caves for the first time. Turkey is great. 
The tradition begins!

2000 July – High Adventure Appalachian Trail Maine
After a 2 day hike on a brutal trail rafted for four days on whitewater. Also had a lobster/clam boil on an island… the boys loved it. For many of them it was the first time that had eaten lobster and clams.

2002 Feb – Alan T. Bernardi earns 505’s 100th Eagle.

2001 July – First Summer Camp at Ransburg
Troop 505 attends Summer Camp at Camp Ransburg in Bloomington, IN for the first time. 
We like it and keep going back to this day.

2006 – The Troop Purchases our First Troop Trailer, the one we use today

2008 Dec– Survival Campout at the Scout Ranch 
With 8 inches of freezing rain and a good time by all as we slipped down the road

2009 Jan – Joe Caruso’s 100th Eagle

2009 April – Devil's Lake, WI 
Hiking in a monsoon. Several scouts completed canoeing merit badge without leaving their tents. The scouts brought back so much mud that some parents received property tax bills from WI. 

2009 June – Mini-Adventure Returns 
Elroy-Sparta Trail, bike, canoe and fish. 15 second year scouts looking like they have been camping for years

2010 Feb – The Big Deal Returns
Get on the bus let’s go to Challenger Space Center & Wright-Patterson AFB.
Just add  Mr. Wilson’s cooking for a perfect campout. Thanks, Mr. Curtis.

2010 July – True Spirit of Scouting – Camp Ransburg, Bloomington, IN
Jonathan Oakley faces down a large  group to recover a handicapped scout’s rocket. He then covers half the camp to find him and return his rocket.

2010 July – National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, VA 
Scoutmaster Eric Claeys leads 10 scouts from 505 to brave the heat with 50,000 of their friends to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

2010 August – Des Moines Air National Guard Base
To spite being flooded out of our camp site Crew 505 enjoyed all the sites and simulators at Air Base before heading to Iowa State Fair. Now can anyone please explain that movie?

2010 Oct – Ranch-O-Ree, Scout Ranch, Rochelle, IL
The Flying Squirrel patrol shatters the district scout skills competition record; shaving 40 minutes off the record reducing it by more than half.

2011 March  First New Scout Camp-in – Knox Church – Naperville, IL 
Twenty-four new scouts all working with older scouts learning how to use the troop camping  equipment, completing advancement and having fun. Who said putting up a tent in the dark is fun? The fire starting contest burned up the night. We had a great breakfast –these kids can 
cook! 

2011 May – First appearance of the Beast, Greene Valley Forest Preserve, IL
The 1995 Suburban purchased by then ASM Jezza Sutton specifically to haul the troop trailer, makes it first scout event the spring COH. Nick named the beast by the scouts, the Suburban is a main stay at every campout for the next 7+ years. Making it to more campouts than even Mr. Sutton does. Adding a little extra adventure to every campout.

2011 July – 40 Scout & Adults, 5 crews head to Seabase, FL
All the snorkeling, fun, sand and jelly fish that you can handle in 7 days.

2011 July – Robert Stein earns 505’s 150th Eagle

2012 June – Our First Seabase Scuba Trip
Crew comes up just short of breaking the Seabase record for most dives. Oh for one more night dive.

2012 July – Missouri River High Adventure, SD
Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse & Minuteman Missile what more can I say but a ghost town that was a real ghost town all at 112o. Hiking the Badlands was awesome. A fast 50 miles on the Missouri River and it was time for shooting, horseback riding, swimming and more shooting. 

2013 July – Philmont NM
3 Crews head out on the troop’s most ambitious treks yet, can you say a 33.

2013 Sept – Troops First OA Vigil Honor 
Tony Matteson & Jonathan Buettner receive the Order of the Arrow Vigil Honor. The Vigil Honor is a high mark of distinction and recognition reserved for those Arrowmen who, by reason of exceptional service, personal effort, unselfish interest and have made distinguished contributions to scouting

2014 Feb – The Big Deal
Great Chartered Bus Ride to Kentucky to Visit the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum, Mammoth Cave National Park, Corvette Factory Tour, National Corvette Museum (Look Out for the Sink Hole). Like all true Scouts Repaired the Charter Bus with Duck Tape!”

2014 Troop 505 Turns 50
 After 50 years, thousands of campouts and service projects and 173 Eagle Scouts the state of the Troop is good.
 We are grateful to all those Scouts and Scouters that provide all the wonderful leadership that guided us through the first 50 years and set the Troop up for the future.  Many thanks to Knox Presbyterian Church for all the support through out the years!!!

2015 April – Third Silver Palm
Brandon Birch earns his 3rd Silver Palm (9 total Palms) representing 45 merit badges and 3 years of service to the troop beyond his Eagle.

2015 April – Troop 505 Largest Senior Class Ever
The 2015 Seniors started as a group of 27 new scouts in 2008. By 2015, 21 were still active in scouting with 17 earning the rank of Eagle. They had assumed the leadership of the troop with 4 SPLs and met every scouting, camping and high adventure challenge with thousands of nights of camping and service hours. 

2018 May – May Court of Honor Knox Presbyterian Church
The Troop gives special recognize and thanks to Committee Chair Kevin Williams and Scoutmaster Jezza Sutton for their leadership and commitment to our boys and the Troop during a time of unprecedented change.

2018 July – Death of the Beast, Naperville, IL
The 1995 Suburban commonly known as the Beast has happily (or not so happy sometimes) pulled the troop trailer to all manner of campouts for the last 7 years. Sadly the trip back form CFL was its last. All the sparkles in the oil pan spelled its end. But before it left us several of your scouts got a chance to work on the Beast for Automotive Maintenance merit badge. Oh Beast we barely knew ye. 

2018 January – Eagle Scout Project Saves Troop History, Naperville, IL
Joseph Noce's Eagle Project used wood savaged from David Caruso's 1996 Eagle Project bridge in Greene Valley Forest Preserve to build a ceremonial cross over bridge at the OA Circle in the Greene Valley Forest Preserve. Eagle Scout David Caruso was also Sgt. David Mitchell Caruso, USMC, whom gave his life serving our county in the Second Battle of Fallujah, Nov. 9, 2004.

July 2016 - Ransburg Summer Camp - Bloomington, IN: 
Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, and fun merit badge work was just the beginning. Scouts earned countless merit badges. Fun was had by all, especially on the canoe trip Wednesday night! 

July 2017 - Boundary Water High Adventure - Ely, MN: After surviving the first day where downpores were neverending, everyone had a blast the rest of the week. Canoeing, fishing, swimming, cooking, just to name a few of our highlights. Oh and I can’t forget to mention the portages!.

July 2017 - Summer Camp  - Camp Freeland Leslie - Oxford, WI:
Troop 505 First Summer camp at CFL. Summer Camp 2018 at Camp Freeland Leslie can be described in many words: Enjoyable, fun, challenging, even fascinating. Sometimes people think of learning something as going through a door into a room. CFL was like entering a room with a million doors. Us scouts of Troop 505 opened a lot of them.  More from Michael L

June 2020 - Joseph F Reed earns 505’s 200th Eagle.

Oct 2020 Crew 505 First Venturing Summit Award Cora Sakal
Crew 505 met at Herrick Lake on Sat 10/13 to celebrate Cora Sakal's achieving Summit/. Cora chose the location as it was the first outdoor event we organized with her as a crew member. The event was officiated by the crew president and was attended by many of the crew and crew aged scouts on a beautiful afternoon, as well as Cora's family and friends. This was the first one of it's kind and the first Summit award in the district. Cora leveraged the current Eagle CoH program that Troop 505 has used and came up with a great script that was both focused on Summit as well as feeling familiar. For a first Summit CoH this was a great success and we are very proud of Cora and very happy to have helped her over the finish line.

The Venturing Summit is the highest rank for youth in the Venturing program of the Boy Scouts of America. It requires Venturers to earn the Pathfinder Rank, participate in adventures, and demonstrate leadership, service and personal growth.

The Golden Feather award

When the Thunderbird District became the Chippewa District, the Silver Acorn Award  name was changed to the Golden Feather award.

The Golden Feather award, like the previously issued Silver Acorn award, is issued at the District level to recognize adult leaders for their contributions to their individual Scouting units. 
 

The Silver Acorn Award

This award was founded in the old Illinois District in memory of Scoutmaster Ed Rotollo. The Unit itself selects who this award is given to, which can be a uniformed or non-uniformed adult that does outstanding work within the unit to make it successful.

The acorn represents those who sow the seeds that help the unit grow, just like the acorn grows into a mighty oak tree. We recognize that oak is a strong and durable wood. The efforts of a good leader affect the unit's growth and make it as durable as the oak tree.


District Award of Merit

The District Award of Merit is the highest award that a District can present. The nominee must be a registered scouter who has rendered noteworthy service to youth in Scouting, or outside of Scouting, or both. The number of Awards is limited by the size of the District. Consideration is given to the nominee's positions during their scouting career and to outside activities that provided service over many years to youth, which can be from a variety of youth related organizations. The nominee's attitude and spirit with the District and/or council is taken into consideration. A formal application must be submitted with the nominee's history. An Award's Committee reviews and selects the person or persons noteworthy of this honor.

2017 Joe Caruso District Award of Merit