Scouting adventure in Plano since 1965.
The oldest continuously chartered troop in Plano — boy-led, adventure-driven, and proud home to 165 Eagle Scouts.
Welcome to Troop 291
We're a boy-led Scouts BSA troop chartered since November 1965 in partnership with the First United Methodist Church of Plano. Our scouts plan and lead monthly campouts, earn merit badges, and grow into capable, ethical young adults.
New families are always welcome. Come visit us any Monday evening — no appointment, no paperwork. Just turn up and see what a troop meeting actually looks like.
A troop with some history behind it
A boy-led troop with six decades of trail behind it
Founded in November 1965 and still chartered with the same partner church — the oldest continuously registered troop in Plano.
Our story
We are chartered by T291 Key3 Inc. in partnership with the First United Methodist Church of Plano. Founded in November 1965, we are the oldest continuously registered troop in Plano still active with its original chartering organization. We are part of the Chisholm Trail District, Circle Ten Council.
Boy-led means our scouts make decisions together, teach one another, and take initiative — with steady adult guidance, never a lack of supervision. A scout who joins as a shy eleven-year-old is, a few years later, the one running the meeting.
We camp monthly during the school year, September through November and January through June. Themes have included astronomy, rockets, canoeing, rock climbing, caving, shooting sports, family campouts, and water sports — plus the BSA High Adventure bases.
Our mission
Troop 291 prepares young people to become ethical adults by teaching and living the Scout Law. Scouting is a game with a purpose: we have fun while building citizenship, character, and physical, mental, and emotional fitness.
Meeting times & location
3160 E Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano, TX 75074
Mondays, 7:00–8:30 PM
First Monday of the month, 7:30–8:30 PM
scoutmaster@troop291plano.org
Who to contact
Every role has its own troop email address, so messages keep reaching the right person even after a role changes hands.
Assistant Scoutmasters
Troop calendar
Meetings, campouts, and events. Click any event for details, or subscribe to put the troop calendar on your own phone so it updates itself.
Put it on your phone
Subscribing is better than checking this page. The troop calendar shows up alongside your own, and every change we make appears automatically — no app, no login.
Standing meetings
Every Monday, 7:00–8:30 PM · FUMC Plano
First Monday monthly, 7:30–8:30 PM
Monthly, September–November and January–June
Merit badges & the trail to Eagle
Everything a scout needs to keep advancing — and everything a parent needs to know about how it works.
Merit badges
The Eagle trail
Records & tracking
How a merit badge actually works
The process trips up more parents than scouts, so here it is plainly:
1. Pick a badge and talk to the Scoutmaster. The scout — not the parent — asks. The Scoutmaster signs a blue card and points the scout toward a registered counselor.
2. Contact the counselor. Scouts BSA requires a buddy or another adult present at every meeting with a counselor. The scout makes the call and sets the time.
3. Do the work. Every requirement, exactly as written. "Discuss" means discuss; "show" means show. Worksheets help organize but they don't replace doing the thing.
4. Get signed off. The counselor signs the blue card, the scout turns it in to the advancement chair, and the badge is awarded at the next court of honor.
- To do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law
- To help other people at all times
- To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight
On my honor, I will do my best —
Twelve points, in plain English
A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
The Outdoor Code
As an American, I will do my best to be —
Motto & slogan
Summer camps & high adventure
Six decades of trails, lakes, and bayous. Troop 291 scouts have returned again and again to the BSA's premier High Adventure bases.
Philmont
Sea Base
Northern Tier
Swamp Base
Years marked with * are trips ahead of us, not behind.
Photos from our adventures
Summer camp
A troop tradition every June, and for most scouts the week where the most advancement happens in the least time. Merit badge classes run all day, the patrols cook and clean for themselves, and the younger scouts come home noticeably more self-sufficient than they left.
We deliberately move around — a different camp most years means new merit badges on offer, different terrain, and a long drive that turns into its own part of the story. In 2026 we returned to the New Mexico high country for the first time since 2017.
Where we've camped
- 2026 Camp Wehinahpay New Mexico
- 2025 Camp Rainey Mountain Georgia
- 2024 Lake of the Ozarks Missouri
- 2023 Camp Kia Kima Arkansas
- 2022 Camp Daniel Boone North Carolina
- 2021 Hale Scout Reservation Oklahoma
- 2019 Camp Alexander Colorado
- 2018 Camp Kia Kima Arkansas
- 2017 Wehinahpay Mountain Camp New Mexico
Missing a year, or have photos from one of these? Send them along and they'll be added.
Thinking about high adventure?
High adventure crews fill up a year or more ahead, and most bases have a minimum age of 13 or 14 by the time of the trek. If your scout might be interested, the time to say so is well before the trip year.
Resources, forms & handbooks
Everything links to Google Drive or Google Forms. Update the file in Drive and the link here keeps working — nobody has to edit this page.
Policies & information
Forms
Submit an expense
One submission per request, not per receipt. Attach every receipt for the trip in a single go — the treasurer gets it automatically.
Organizational
National resources
165 Eagle Scouts since 1970
The rank of Eagle Scout is the highest rank in Scouts BSA, and few who start the trail finish it. Every name below built something that outlasted them — a bridge, a garden, a shelf of books, a place for someone else's kids to play. Listed under the Scoutmaster who signed them off.
Scoutmaster Matt Leask 18
Scoutmaster Dan Mitchell 26
Scoutmaster Jay Brooks 25
Scoutmaster Tommy Lawrence 3
Scoutmaster James Donaldson 12
Scoutmaster Mike Meyer 5
Scoutmaster Russ Phillips 9
Scoutmaster Lynn Mears 6
Scoutmaster Dan Stables 6
Scoutmaster Ray Weaver 9
Scoutmaster Ken Dobbs 6
Scoutmaster Joe Milligan 16
Scoutmaster David Sweany 4
Scoutmaster Joe Cates 5
Scoutmaster Dick Raitt 10
Scoutmaster Reynold Noble 2
Scoutmaster Les Kaff 3
Missing or incorrect? Email eagle@troop291plano.org and we'll fix it.