We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Archives for February 2019

2019 Akela Chess Classic

by

On Saturday, February 2 and Saturday, February 9 scouts from all over the National Capital Area Council competed in the Council’s five-round chess tournament, the Akela Chess Classic. The February 2nd event, held at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, VA, was the Scouts BSA tournament, open to all scouts in troops, crews and ships. Seventeen scouts competed in two brackets: age 10-12 and age 13 and up. In the younger-scout bracket, one scout took first-place honors, with one scout finishing second, and three scouts finishing third. In the older-scout bracket one scout took first-place honors, with three scouts finishing second and three scouts finishing third. The first-place winner in each bracket finished with a perfect 5-0 score.

The February 9th event, held at St. Raphael School in Rockville, MD, was the Cub Scout tournament, open to all scouts in Cub Scout packs. Twenty-seven scouts competed in two brackets: Lion/Tiger/Wolf and Bear/Webelos/Arrow of Light, with awards given for first, second, or third by rank. One Tiger took part, winning first place for his rank. There were one first-place, two second-place, and one third-place finishers in the Wolf rank. For the Bear rank, one scout finished first, one finished second, and two finished third. The Webelos rank had five first-place finishers, three second-place finishers, and one in third place. Rounding out the tournament were one first-place Arrow of Light scout, one in second place, and three in third place. The first-place Wolf and Bear each had a perfect 5-0 score.

Each round of the Akela Chess Classic is limited to one hour, with touch-move rules in effect; under these rules if a player touches a piece he is obligated to move it. All participating scouts must know, in advance of the tournament, the rules of chess and how to play. The 2019 Cub Scout tournament was the 14th annual tournament, and the 2019 Scouts BSA tournament was the 8th annual tournament.

A fun and exciting time was had by all participating scouts. All are looking forward to the Akela Chess Classic next year!

Your Baker Wants a License to Decorate; We Can Help with That!

by

Recognizing a Scout for attaining the rank of Eagle? Celebrating your pack’s Blue & Gold?

Whatever the occasion, submit your request for permission to use a commercial bakery for use of any Boy Scouts of America logos on a cake using the official licensing form.

Simply visit http://licensingbsa.org/trademarks/cake-request/ and fill out the requested info. Please note that it takes 2-3 business days to review requests and respond accordingly.

Warm Nights

by

My name is Zack Brandon, Troop 1283 Junior Assistant Scoutmaster and Patuxent Chapter Chief. On February 3rd, Super Bowl Sunday, our troop was gathered at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bowie, MD to assist them in an annual good turn: helping those less fortunate than us have a warm place to sleep at night.
Warm Nights is a program that many churches in our area participate in every year when the weather gets cold. Many men, women, and families rely on the program to get through the winter every year. They are cared for and sheltered for one week inside of the gym in the church, and are provided with a warm place to sleep at night, a large dinner, lunches, and toiletries.

Troop 1283 helps out every year by fixing lunches and preparing a large chili dinner for the guests. The twelve youth attendees collectively made four, large, delicious bowls of chili beforehand and brought it to serve. We arrived well before the guests did, and formed an assembly line to make their bagged lunches for the following days. After setting up tables, chairs, and tablecloths, we set up a television to stream the Super Bowl so that the guests could watch it while eating their dinner. Once all of the preparations were ready, the guests slowly started to arrive. Once they were all present, the Pastor of the church opened the meal with a prayer, and we began serving the guests their chili, salad, chips, drinks, and desserts. After serving around thirty guests, we went though the line ourselves and ate dinner with them. We were able to sit and cheer on the teams at the Super Bowl with them and talk to them about who they thought would win the game. Well-fed, we cleaned up the area and departed for home late that night. It was overall a magnificent experience, and I would recommend it to every Troop in our district!

Local Scout Hero – Cesar Casiano Awarded BSA National Award of Merit

by

Cesar Casiano Awarded BSA’s National Award of Merit at Troop 317 Court of
Honor

On Tuesday, December 18, 2018, Boy Scout Cesar Casiano of Troop 317 was presented with the Boy Scout National Award of Merit by Norm Carter, Unit Commissioner and Mr. Lance Deffenbaugh, former Cubmaster and mentor. It took place at Troop 317’s Court of Honor held at Stafford County Christian Church.

The following information is from Fire and Rescue crews that responded to the incident:

At 2034 hours on July 14, 2018 Engine 12 from the Berea station responded to a fire reported out at 201 Spring Park Ln in the Rappahannock Landing Subdivision.  Upon arrival, Engine 12 discovered fire damage to the main structural member of a deck with no extension to the home.

Three neighborhood boys had been riding their bicycles in the subdivision when they noticed smoke coming from the back of the residence. They immediately sprang into action. The boys discovered the base of the deck on fire and saw a garden hose attached to the back of the house. Without hesitation, the boys grabbed the hose and extinguished the fire. They then alerted the homeowner of the incident who called 911.

Their quick action prevented the home from catching fire. The house in question was a townhouse connected to six other homes, so the boy’s actions contributed to saving several hundreds of thousands of dollars in property and possibly saving lives as well.

The homeowner had been cooking on his grill and believes that embers fell down to the base of his deck starting it on fire. The homeowner was unaware of the fire until he was alerted by the boys.

When asked about their decision to act, one of the boys, Cesar Casiano, replied: “I’m a Boy Scout, so we’re trained what to do.” The boys were commended for their actions and will each be put in for a civilian lifesaving award.

Good thing those Boy Scouts were there, well-trained and lived the motto to “Be Prepared!” Great examples for all other Scouts everywhere.

Pack 194’s Youngest Popcorn Kernel Does His Best

by

For the previous two years, Pack 194’s Liam Brougham, currently an Arrow of Light Scout, has been the Pack’s top seller and has helped his entire Pack raise funds for Scouting. Sure, he enjoyed the prizes, accolades, and delivering the ceremonial pie in the face to Pack adult leadership – twice! But the 2018 fundraising season was a little different. In fact, the Pack almost did not conduct a popcorn fundraising event because there were no adult volunteers to be the Popcorn Kernel. Liam overheard his Pack 194 Committee Chair explaining this so what did he do? He demonstrated great Scouting characteristics and said, “Can I be the Kernel?” Did he do it for the prizes? Absolutely not. Because Liam further said, “I’ll stop trying to be the top seller by myself and help out the whole Pack instead.” And help he did.

Of course, first the Pack had to discuss the idea with the District Executive explaining how a Scout wanted to be Kernel. It was a bit of a surprise as Cub Scouts don’t usually lead such a pivotal Pack role and coordinate, promote, and lead all Kindergarten through fifth grade Scouts AND all their parents. But while ensuring proper youth protection was maintained with emails and interaction with others, Liam was off to the races.

Liam attended Regional Kick-Off training, asked questions, helped assemble presentation material, and spoke at Pack meetings on what Pack 194 was going to do. He set up five Store Front Sales and even went to meet with the store manager in his Scout uniform to show respect and commitment to raising important funds for his Pack’s Scouting effort. Liam had help with the ordering system, but it was he who analyzed the sales in prior years and predicted what popcorn the Pack would need to order. He made the orders (several of them), helped inventory at pickups, helped set up Store Front Sales and have sales material and popcorn on hand, helped train new Scouts, collected the end of sale proceeds, kept account of which Scouts were credited with sales, ordered the entire Pack’s prizes at the end, and answered other questions and placed more orders for Take Orders from the Pack. He learned how spreadsheets work and how they can be used to calculate. He practiced his math skills and REALLY enjoyed counting all the money (a lot of it as it turns out). And finally, he learned how internet sales and transactions worked and even upgraded the Pack’s technology to allow touch and chip credit card payments.

So how did Pack 194 do with fundraising under the leadership of Popcorn Kernel Liam Brougham?

The Pack vastly exceeded expectations. The original 10% growth target was left in the dust. The end result was more than double last year’s sales: that’s over ten times more funds available for Pack 194 Scouting events in 2019.

The entire Pack 194 enjoyed the experience of a Cub Scout in charge and shared in the benefit of Popcorn Fundraising. And Liam’s reward? Adulation from his Pack (sure), learning great life skills in sales, communication, logistics, accounting, … (OK those all definitely happened), but the REAL REWARD… a ceremonial THANK YOU by way of a pie TO HIS FACE for a job so very very well done.

Troop 1717 Scouts Pay Respects to Pres George H.W. Bush in Zero Dark-Thirty Ceremony: Scout Patriotism Never Sleeps

by

The 41st President, George H.W. Bush, was still lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda when Troop 1717 of Hartwood, VA held its weekly evening meeting on December 4th at historic Hartwood Presbyterian Church in Aquia District. It was there that Eagle Scout and Senior Patrol Leader Ben Motta asked youth and adult leaders if it was possible to pull together a delegation from the Troop to travel that very night to the U.S. Capitol to honor his service to our Nation.

It was very short notice and a school night, but SPL Motta challenged his fellow Scouts to step up saying that, if they could stay up all night playing video games, they could surely muster enough energy to stay up to honor a President of the United States. In his words, “Patriotism should never sleep.” Five Scouts in addition to Motta volunteered: Eagle Scouts Teddy Durrant and Ethan Crawford and fellow senior Scouts Zach Dankanich, Norman Carter, Jr. and Owen Knight. Leaving with four volunteer Assistant Scoutmasters around midnight, they arrived at the Capital about an hour later in full uniform and stood in line in the cold with other mourners for about an hour. Then, around 2:00 AM, they silently slipped into the Rotunda in single file to stand within mere yards of the body of the 41st President, his flag-draped casket held high upon a catafalque which once held the casket of President Abraham Lincoln.

Little did they know that their visit was captured by a WUSA9 TV reporter and C-Span cameras. After a few moments in silent prayer and reflection, they issued, on command, one last sharp Scout Salute to a President who, like all U.S. Presidents, served as the honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America. Later, they would describe the experience as “sad” and “heavy” but also “powerful” and ‘inspiring.”

They said they felt it important to make the extra effort to honor President Bush, a war hero and member of what’s come to be known as the “Greatest Generation,” who had dedicated his life to service to his Country.

“It was impressive to stand next to the President’s casket and think of all that he had accomplished throughout his life in the service of others,” Ben says. “I think that his example is one that all Scouts aim to follow.”

The Scouts and their leaders returned back home around 4:00 AM to take a short nap before rising again to go to school and work. Said SPL Ben, speaking for all the Scouts: “I was proud to be there, not just as an American, but as a representative of a movement and an ideology that stresses character, service, and loyalty to God, country and family.”

For more on this story, check out the WUSA9 story and video Boy Scouts pay respects to late President George H.W. Bush at https://www.wusa9.com/video/news/boy-scouts-pay-respects-to-late-president-george-hw-bush/65-8362333 or visit the Bryan on Scouting Blog to read Duty to country: Webelos Scout, Boy Scouts salute President George H.W. Bush at https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/12/06/duty-to-country-webelos-scout-boy-scouts-salute-president-george-h-w-bush/